TNEdReport and the Commercial Appeal reported yesterday on the Shelby County School Board’s resolution asking the state for $99.5 million in additional funding to meet the state’s BEP 2.0 requirements. From the TNEdReport:
The board is asking the state to pay $10,000 more toward teacher salaries and fund 12 months of insurance premiums for district staff, instead of 10. The requests are also the top recommendations from the state Basic Education review committee from last year.
The Report also notes that while BEP 2.0 was implemented in 2007, it was never fully funded.
Its good to see our school board passing this resolution, but I think that this falls short of what we need. The problem is the way we would get it. The Governor has indicated, along with is new taskforce, that while they will look at the BEP formula they are committed to funding it from existing dollars. That is, if we are to get this $99.5 million in Shelby County, it will have to come from another district’s pocket.
You may ask – can’t we just get it from somewhere else and void the lawsuit? Not to the tune of what we need. In the same post I cite above, we highlight the lack of funding options for our schools. Property taxes are already high in Shelby County and sales taxes have been almost maxed out. If we are going to receive the funding sources we have a change of actually making up this funding gap.
We wrote a piece back in April on different funding options available to Shelby County, in it proposing a different alternative – threaten to sue the state. From the April piece:
If all else fails, counties and special school districts across the state could consider banding together and suing the state for full funding of the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP). For perspective, former Governor Bredesen overhauled BEP in 2007 and proposed to allocate an additional $475 million to public schools each year. However, the legislature has never fully implemented this plan, and is projected to fall short by $146 million this year.
This is the most extreme option and not to be taken lightly given the backlash that it is likely to cause. However, a precedent for this type of action exists as districts across the country have been doing this for some time. Courts in Kansas and Washington have in the past ruled in favor of local school districts that brought suit against their state governments charging that inadequate amounts of money were being spent on education. Currently ten states across the country have school-finance challenges working their way through state courts, and most recently districts in Texas won their suit for increased funding.
If successful, this option would produce an enormous windfall for counties and special school districts to the tune of the a fore mentioned $146 million yearly. Locally, Shelby County would see an additional $28.4 million per year if BEP were fully implemented.
Should this be a first solution? Probably not given the backlash it would cause. But it should at least be seen as a viable option and we should start introducing it into our conversations as such to let the state know we mean business. We’ve been at the bottom too long when it comes to overall per pupil funding for education as well as teacher salary growth. While spending alone does not ensure higher outcomes, it is a vital component.
In sum, good start SCS Board, but I think we need to go further to show that we are willing to do what is necessary to secure the funding we need for our kids future.
By Jon Alfuth
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