Leader of taskforce to study rejecting federal education dollars casts doubt the group will recommend spending less on education

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, attracted national attention this fall when they created a joint taskforce to study whether Tennessee can reject federal education dollars.

One of the co-chairs of the Joint Working Group on Federal Education Funding opened the group’s first meeting by casting doubt members will actually propose spending less on educating children.

“In this memo there is nothing that tasks this group with cutting one dollar of education funding,” said Senator Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol. “I think the discussions we’re going to have are going to be eye opening, frankly not only for us but I think the citizens of Tennessee and I think that’s important.”

The memo Senator Lundberg referenced tasks the joint working group to study, evaluate, analyze, and undertake a comprehensive review of federal education funding. That will include identifying the amount of federal funding the state receives for educational programs, how it intends to use that funding, and whether there are conditions to accept the money.

The working group will additionally provide a report next year on the feasibility of rejecting federal education funding and recommend a strategy for either how to do so or how to eliminate unwanted restrictions.

Monday’s meeting illustrated just how difficult it would be for Tennessee to reject those federal education dollars.The Tennessee Comptroller provided members of the working group with a report showing federal education funding is providing Tennessee with more than a billion dollars in 2023 and that money is especially important for rural counties.

“Federal funds tend to be higher in districts with lower incomes or more rural areas and they tend to be a lower percentage of school district revenues in more affluent areas,” said Linda Wesson, Assistant Director of the Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability.

The Comptroller’s office says the average school district received more than 11 percent of its education revenue from federal funds in fiscal year 2019. Campbell County lead the state with more than 18 percent of its education revenue coming from federal funds. On the other end of the spectrum, Williamson County saw just over 3 percent of its educational revenue coming from federal funds.

The statewide percentage jumped to more than 19 percent in fiscal year 2022 in part because of additional COVID funding.The Comptroller says much of those recurring federal dollars comes from five grant programs that provide assistance to help disadvantaged students and those with disabilities, along with funding for career and technical programs, and programs to provide school lunches.

Wesson says some of the federal requirements that come with accepting those dollars would still be required by Tennessee even if the state chose not to receive those grants.

“Some of these things are in state law,” said Wesson. “The requirements to accept the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) federal grants, many of those same requirements are in state law so even if you did not take those federal grants, those are requirements for like every student to have an IEP (individualized education plan) and be educated in the least restrictive environment. That kind of thing is in our state law.”