State Senators break with House counterparts on the possibility of rejecting federal education funding

Senate hearing room (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Five Tennessee State Senators who served on last year’s panel that looked into the possibility of rejecting federal education funding are breaking with their House colleagues and submitting a separate recommendation.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, created the Joint Working Group on Federal Education Funding to undertake a comprehensive review of federal education funding and study whether the state can provide education services without those dollars.  Members held multiple hearings on the topic last fall and the initial plan was for the group to issue a final report with recommendations to the General Assembly by January 9, 2024.

The bipartisan group of Senators on the working group chose to submit their recommendations separately Tuesday in a 12-page report.“At this time, the House and the Senate have not agreed to mutual recommendations,” wrote the five Senators.

The Senate report is largely a recap of information provided by the various speakers who testified in last year’s hearings, including details on the more than $1 billion in education dollars Tennessee receives from federal grants and the requirements that come with accepting that money.

All 148 school districts in Tennessee receive one or more federal grants for education and most implement at Title I program for disadvantaged students. Federal funding also provides schools with dollars to support students with disabilities, programs for teachers, support for English learners, and programs to support rural education.

The report also detailed some of the drawbacks to rejecting federal education dollars by recapping a report from non-partisan think tank the Sycamore Institute that found Tennessee may have the funds to do so, but such a move would have consequences.

“While the state revenues are available, the decision to reject and replace recurring federal funding for K-12 education would come at the expense of other potential investments,” wrote Senators. “$1.1 B is also more than any of the recurring increases to TDOE over the last decade and more than the budgets of all but about 4-5 state agencies (IDOE, TennCare, TDOT, THEC, and TDOC).”

Senators also recapped testimony from last fall’s hearings that questioned whether Tennessee would actually avoid federal requirements by rejecting federal education dollars.Some requirements for federal dollars align with state requirements and rejecting federal education dollars from one particular grant could impact other funding.

“There are more questions than definitive answers about what rejecting federal K-12 dollars could mean for Tennessee's obligations because no state has ever done so,” wrote Senators.  “Many federal requirements could still apply to Tennessee schools even if the state rejected federal K-12 dollars, creating questions that would likely be resolved in court. Because of its broad application, the requirements associated with that broad definition of federal financial assistance could still apply depending on the scope of the state's rejection of any federal dollars.”

House members on the working group have yet to provide their report to the Tennessee Firefly.