A report found Tennessee has shortchanged public schools by hundreds of billions of dollars over the last decade, widening long-standing inequities for students.

The report showed 42 states devote less money to education than they did 20 years ago. Nationwide, the decline in effort amounted to nearly $600 billion in lost state and local revenue from 2016 to 2023.

Bruce Baker, professor of education and human development at the University of Miami, said Tennessee’s most affluent districts spend about 1% more than needed to reach outcomes matching the national average, while the highest-need districts spend almost 40% less. He argued students are worse off for it.

"One of the findings in our state reports is that the percent of students in below-adequate districts in Tennessee is, 83.1% of students are in below-adequate districts, putting Tennessee 43rd among states," Baker reported.

The state passed the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act in 2022 to provide additional resources to meet student needs. However, Baker believes not much has changed. He contended the state still does not fund schools properly and the funding and adjustments in the measure were chosen without clear reasons, serving more as a political move than real reform.

Baker stressed Tennessee needs a new school funding formula to direct significantly more money to students and districts with the greatest needs. It means using much higher weighting for factors like poverty levels, concentrations of English learners and possibly racial isolation. Distributing funds evenly across all districts would help improve educational equity and opportunity.

"Tennessee, even if they were putting up the same level of effort they did in 2006, would be generating 8.3% more money per year, $6.58 billion over a three-year period," Baker outlined.

Baker noted the opportunity gaps are not solely determined by economics but also by race and ethnicity. The report found African American students are twice as likely as white students to be in districts with funding below estimated adequate levels and three times more likely to be in “chronically underfunded” districts. The discrepancies between Hispanic and white students are smaller but still significant.

Source: Public News Service