This week's newsletter is focused on the explainer resources for the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) and recent news around public education funding. Keep reading for more details and how to share these resources with the public!
Tennessee is Putting Student Needs First Through the TISA
Funding Focus: The Base
Student-based funding starts with a base. This covers what each student needs for their K-12 public education, including factors like teachers, school facilities, materials and transportation. Under the TISA, the proposed base amount for each student is $6,860.
Certain elements are essential to providing a K-12 education to students. In a student-based formula, these expenses make up what’s known as the funding base. The base serves as a launchpad for students, so each can pursue an education aligned with their life goals.
Every Tennessee public school student receives base funding. Additional funding for students may come through weights, direct funding or outcomes funding.
Base funding aims to provide a strong education foundation for all students. Schools are allocated base funding for each of their students. This approach offers each student in Tennessee — whether they live in an urban, suburban or rural community — a irm education foundation.
Base funding covers the basics of education. It accounts for elements such as teachers, school counselors, principals, facility operations and much more. These elements meet all students’ primary education needs.
Overview of Tennessee Public School Funding: Learn about the history of Tennessee public school funding and why now is the time for the state to transition to a student-based public school funding formula.
TISA By the Numbers: This overview provides a high-level breakdown of Tennessee education numbers associated with the funding review public engagement process and proposed student-based public school funding formula.
Base Funding: This overview explains how and why student-based funding starts with a base amount for each student.
Funding Weights: This overview explains how students’ individual education needs are supported through funding weights.
Direct Funding: This overview explains how direct funding goes toward specific programs.
Outcomes and Accountability: This overview provides details on how student-based funding encourages reporting and acknowledges student growth and improvement.
Understanding Local Contribution: An animated video to explain how local and county governments contribute to public school funding.
TISA FAQs: Developed after conversations with directors of schools across the state, these FAQs provide more detail on implementation of the proposed formula.
Share on Social Media!
The Funding for Student Success website has so much to offer to Tennesseans! There are resources that can help YOU learn more about how Tennessee could fund public education.
Now you can spread the word and share graphics with your family and friends on social media to better inform how Tennessee is putting students first. Click the pictures above to download these graphics, available in English and Spanish. For more graphics to share on social media, click here.
“‘I am pleasantly pleased with the details as I have been on the steering committee and had the opportunity to hear the ideas presented several times…I feel most members of the General Assembly will determine this is much better than the current BEP formula,’ Haile said via email.” - Lebanon Democrat
"This approach is a vast improvement for two key reasons: transparency and accountability. First, everyone — parents, educators, and taxpayers alike — can easily understand how much we are spending on each child’s education, a far cry from the current model. This transparency alone will improve educational outcomes, because when we know how much we spend and on what, we can demand more accountability." - Tennessean
"'There was a lot of good input received statewide. We had an opportunity to review all of those and I was just glad to be a part of it,' said Dickson County Director of Schools Dr. Danny Weeks, who chaired the Instructional Leadership Subcommittee. 'Now that we’ve actually seen what that’s going to mean for Dickson County, we’re very positive about that and looking forward to it working its way through the legislative process.'" - The Dickson Post
"'I am very excited,' said Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis. 'Every year that I am on the committee, I hear about issues with the BEP. I really think we have something that we can get behind.'" - The Rogersville Review
"'The best way that I can explain the difference is that in this new formula, the main character is the student,' Kim [Education Reporter] says. 'And in our current or older formula, the main character is staff salaries and materials for classrooms. So it’s a complete kind of mental shift in how to approach funding.'" - WPLN News
"'It has been exciting to be a part of the engagement process as we envision the possibilities that having a student-centered funding approach can have on the future of our students and on our state,' said Mischelle Simcox, Director of Schools, Johnson County Schools. 'We know this is the right time for our state to move towards a student-based funding formula, which will help us focus on student outcomes and achievement.'" - The Tomahawk
What is Student -Based Funding?
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