House members choose not to recommend rejecting federal education funding

Tennessee House members who served on last year’s panel that looked into the possibility of rejecting federal education funding are not recommending doing so.The House report signed by four Republican state representatives and released this week did go further than a Senate report from earlier this month by providing the Tennessee General Assembly with five recommendations including:

1. Requiring any new federal rules or directives related to education grants be presented before the House Government Operations Committee.
2. Requiring any new rule directives or interpretations from the U.S. Department of Education (USDA) to be made available to lawmakers for review.
3. Directing State Fiscal Review to evaluate federal funds in its fiscal impact analysis.
4. Directing the House Education Instruction Committee and Education Administration Committee to implement annual hearings to review federal education testing requirements.
5. Directing the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Department of Education to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of food waste in Tennessee public school systems.

In total, Tennessee receives more than $1 billion in education dollars from federal grants.All 148 school districts receive at least 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.No state has ever rejected its annual federal education dollars, but some Republican lawmakers have expressed an interest in doing so to avoid complying with the requirements that come with that funding. The Joint Working Group on Federal Education Funding held multiple hearings on the topic last fall.Senate members of the working group chose to break from their House counterparts and release a separate report. It largely recapped information provided in those hearings and did not include detailed recommendations like the House report provided.

Reducing School Lunch Waste

Of the five House report recommendations, food waste appears likely to attract the most attention.A study quoted by the USDA in 2010 found roughly 31 percent of food served in schools nationwide, including free and reduced lunches, is wasted. The federal government does not collect its own data on food waste.The House report noted that several Tennessee school districts are collecting food waste data to save costs and that model could serve the state.“A targeted inquiry to evaluate potential waste is recommended to identify any necessary adjustments to improve program outcomes,” wrote House members. “If food waste could be decreased or eliminated, there may be a pathway via waivers for use of those savings to serve other nutrition needs of TN students.”Last school year districts served approximately 161,613,688 meals under the United States Department of Agriculture Child Nutrition Program.House members on the working group additionally made the point that this discussion on federal education funding is not over. Members committed to continuing deliberations on the topic upon receiving new information, including data that could come from the five recommendations.“Members of the House of Representatives will continue to evaluate options on how to replace certain federal funding or eliminate unwanted restrictions placed on the state due to the receipt of such federal funds. Through these continued efforts, the Representatives aspire to achieve a less restrictive environment for fostering success of all students in Tennessee schools,” wrote House members.The lone House Democrat on the Working Group, Representative Ronnie Glynn, D-Clarksville, did not sign the report.