Last July, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office presented lawmakers with a report detailing the significant role federal dollars play in education.¶
Students across the state receive meals at school through more than $463 million in child nutrition dollars, while Title I funding provides $346 million to support economically disadvantaged students, and those with disabilities benefit from $301 million from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), according to the Comptroller.¶
A new report from the Millennial Debt Foundation’s In the Black initiative argues that federal education funding “rests on shaky long-term economic foundations” due to rising spending on Medicare and Social Security and the growth of federal interest expenses. In the Black Policy Director William Glass cites projections that show federal net interest costs rising from 3.1 percent of GDP in 2024 to 6.3 percent by 2054.¶
“These two trends jointly consume an increasing share of federal revenues, leaving less fiscal room for discretionary programs such as Title I, IDEA, and school nutrition funding,” wrote Glass in the report. “As interest and mandatory expenses take up more of the envelope, education becomes an easy target for retrenchment, or even block grant restructuring.”¶
In the Black argues that school districts should adopt a reversal of the categorization Tennessee required them to use for federal pandemic funding. According to the report, the Tennessee Department of Education required every district to align pandemic Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funding into four clear categories:
