The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is proposing sending school districts across the state an extra $215 per student next school year.
If approved by the Tennessee General Assembly, that funding would increase the base amount districts receive for each student under the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) funding formula from $6,860 to $7,075 a year. TISA replaced the Basic Education Program (BEP) funding formula the state had been using last year.
TISA also provides districts with additional funding on top of that base amount to serve students who are economically disadvantaged, those living in small communities, and those who have unique learning needs.
TDOE Chief Financial Officer Maryanne Durski and other department leaders made the case for the funding increase to members of the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee Tuesday morning.
“The increase in the base is designed to account for all of the normal increases that we have seen in the past funding formula in the BEP. Things like inflation, teacher salaries, insurance, and most of all growth in our student population,” said Durski. “We looked at each of those areas and determined what amount was needed to be added to the base in order to cover those increased costs.”
Durski says that extra $215 would include $39 for cost of living increases, $47 for staff insurance increases, and $129 for last year’s teacher salary increase.
Under the proposal, the state would spend $125 million providing that extra $129 in base student funding to provide all teachers with a salary that’s no less than:
- $42,000 for the 2023/2024 school year.
- $44,000 for the 2024/2025 school year.
- $47,000 for the 2025/2026 school year.
- $50,000 for the 2026/2027 school year.
“We are comfortable that the $125 million money will allow all of them to meet that minimum salary,” said Durski. “We believe that everyone will have enough in the new salary dollars to cover the required increases.”
Durski also addressed another concern some have had about TISA. Much like the prior BEP, communities are required to contribute local “maintenance of effort” dollars as part of the new funding formula.
Senator Page Walley, R-Savannah, told committee members he’s heard from communities that worry about being able to afford that match in the future.
“I’ve had one county I’m thinking of in particular that are having to kind of, there’s no fat in their system so they’re having to cut into muscle already to just try to prepare for the next three plus years to meet that requirement,” said Senator Page Walley, R-Savannah. “How is this addressing their needs?”
Durski told committee members that TISA did not initially increase the local contributions districts were paying. She also said the department is working to ensure the maintenance of effort requirement doesn’t become a challenge in the future.
“When we moved to TISA in fiscal year 2024, all of our districts were already putting in more than was required by the TISA formula and in some cases significantly more. We are looking at that going forward and ensuring that no district is going to bump up against their maintenance of effort and have to increase local taxes,” said Durski.
The full $6.9 billion TISA budget proposal for next fiscal year would also include funding for other education improvements and investments, in addition to the student base funding increase.
