Tennessee schools got $1B funding boost under new formula, report finds

Yahoo

21-02-2025

A new state report found Tennessee's school funding formula enacted in 2023 infused more than $1 billion in additional state funds into K-12 public schools and yielded largely positive feedback from district leaders statewide.
The report, released Wednesday by the Tennessee Comptroller's Office of Research and Education Accountability, mapped out the first year of results under the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, or TISA.
Under TISA, lawmakers set a budget of just over $6.5 billion in the 2023-24 school year — up from roughly $5.3 billion the previous year under the old formula. The extra funding in 2023-24 worked out to a 21.6% budget increase, far outpacing increases in the previous 12 years.
However, state funding increases varied widely by district, the reported showed. Madison County saw a nearly 40% increase in state funding, while Richard City Special School District saw around a 0.5% increase.
The report also included the results of a survey given in June 2024 to district directors statewide that showed they were generally happy with the transition to TISA. The survey drew responses from 110 of Tennessee's 147 public school districts. The survey also revealed some snags in the formula's first year, including difficulties tracking student data and a general lack of clarity and information when it first rolled out in 2023-24. Nearly half the respondents said they were still experiencing TISA-related issues in 2024.
The report largely focuses on the initial rollout of the new formula and stops short of analyzing whether it has improved student outcomes, like test scores.
"Evaluating the formula's effects on districts' spending decisions and the resulting impact on student achievement will require more years of data," the report states.
The report also showed that the Tennessee Department of Education met most requirements mapped out in TISA but fell short in several key areas.
The law behind TISA requires the department to offer professional development training for school personnel and district leaders. The full scope of training required by the law has not yet been made available by the department, the report said. Additionally, some districts in the survey said they were not aware of the existing training. The report also said a committee to review TISA progress annually had been formed but not yet met, and that a committee to review the outcomes of TISA met several times in 2022 but had not met in 2023 or 2024.
TISA replaced the Basic Education Program. TISA calculates funding on a per-student basis and hinges on student enrollment and the learning needs of students, according to the Comptroller's office. The old formula was based on school resources like textbooks, teacher salaries and other items, then scaled based on student enrollment. The new formula weights funding based on the needs of students, including those who are economically disadvantaged, have unique learning needs or live in a small or sparsely populated district. It also awards more money to districts that meet student achievement goals, or have rapidly-growing or declining student enrollment.
The full 90-page report, along with more details, can be found at TNcot.cc/OREA.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee schools got $1B funding bump under new formula, report finds