| TennesseeRecent
Events | Costing Out Historical Background
In 1993, the Supreme Court of Tennessee ruled, in Tennessee
Small School Systems v. McWherter, 851 S.W.2d 139
(Small Schools I), that the state's education
finance system violated the Tennessee constitution's
equal protection clause. The court rejected the argument
that local control provides a "rational basis"
for vastly unequal school quality: "even without
deciding whether the right to a public education is
fundamental, we can find no constitutional basis for
the present system, as it has no rational bearing on
the educational needs of the districts." Having
found the school system unconstitutional on equal protection
grounds, the court did not analyze the adequacy of the
system under the state's education clause.
After the legislature revised the funding system, plaintiffs
argued that the new scheme violated the state's equal
protection clause because of the slow timetable for
reform and the failure to equalize teacher salaries.
In 1995, the state supreme court upheld the incremental
approach in Tennessee Small School Systems v. McWherter,
894 S.W. 2d 734 (Small Schools II). However,
the court also ruled that "the exclusion of teachers'
salary increases from the equalization formula is of
such magnitude that it would substantially impair the
objectives of the plan." As a result, the legislature
passed the Teachers' Salary Equity Plan in 1995.
In 1998, plaintiffs returned to court seeking equalization
of teacher salaries across the state. In October 2002,
the Supreme Court held, Tennessee Small School Systems
v. McWherter, 91 S.W.3d 232 (Small Schools
III) that the 1995 teachers' salary equity plan
failed to provide substantially equal educational opportunity
and found no rational basis for excluding the largest
and most important component of that opportunity (i.e.
providing teachers) from the cost-driven BEP. The court
also held that the cost
determination and annual cost review are indispensable
parts of the Basic Education Plan.
Finally, in 2005, the legislature amended the funding
formula to include teacher salaries, and in 2006 the
trial court closed the case, ruling that no compliance
issues remained.
Recent
Events
In 2007, the governor and legislature agreed to increase
funding of the Basic Education Program (BEP), the primary
conduit of state education funds, by $517 million over
three years. Fueled in part by a 42-cent per pack increase
in the tax on cigarettes, the BEP was expanded by $290
million in 2007. However, with the economic downturn,
the full funding increase may now take five years to
implement, The Tennessean reported.
Costing
Out
While the 1993 decision was pending before the supreme
court, the Tennessee legislature enacted the Educational
Improvement Act of 1992. The bill adopted the Basic
Education Program (BEP), which appropriates and distributes
school funds based on a formula for 42 components (including
special education, textbooks, and capital expenditures).
While a costing-out study was not performed, the state
indicated that the initial BEP funding amount was intended
to cover the costs of an adequate education, and the
costs are reviewed annually. The State's share of the
cost of classroom-related components is 75%.
In 2003-04, a coalition of Tennessee's professional
education groups hired education finance experts to
conduct a costing-out study,
which estimated the additional cost of funding an adequate
education statewide as $1.1 billion in 2002-2003.
Last updated , March 2008 |
