Gov. Bill Lee Leads TN to the Bottom in School Funding

Volunteer State fails to keep up with neighbors, falls behind nation in support for schools

Tennessee has long ranked near the bottom in the country and among the lowest in the Southeast when it comes to investment in public schools.

Gov. Bill Lee, however, has taken Tennessee’s standing to new lows.

While Tennessee historically ranks in the bottom 10 nationally - usually in the 44-45 range - we’d usually end up with funding above some of our Southern neighbors.

Thanks to Bill Lee, not anymore.

Tennessee ranks dead last among neighboring states when it comes to investment in schools after six years of Lee’s “leadership.”

As the numbers in the chart above indicate, Tennessee ranks 47th in the country and last among neighboring states in per-pupil investment. The next closest state, Mississippi, spends nearly $1000 more per student than Tennessee.

If this were a race to the bottom, we’d be winning by a mile.

Consistently Disappointing

This is the exact opposite of what Lee promised when he pushed state lawmakers to adopt a new school funding formula, known as TISA - Tennessee Invests in Student Achievement.

Back in 2022, when TISA was signed into law, Gov. Bill Lee said the formula would take us to a “new frontier.”

Apparently, he meant we hadn’t been as low as we could go - if you thought school funding was inadequate and disappointing before Lee took over, look out - Lee knew we could do worse. And he proved it.

The news of Tennessee’s funding ranking comes as the state prepares to launch a massive school voucher scheme - estimated to cost $1 billion at full implementation.

Legislative Democrats say the report is a wake-up call:

“This report is yet another wake-up call. Tennessee ranks near the bottom in what we invest in our public school students, and our teachers are still earning less than they did a decade ago after inflation,” Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar said. “It’s time for state leaders to refocus on supporting our public schools — not handing out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.”

Imagine if, instead of funding the type of school voucher scheme that has failed students and bankrupted state budgets everywhere it has been tried, the state spent the voucher scheme cash on our public schools.

Instead, if we keep following the path Lee has laid out, Tennessee is likely to find itself dead last in the nation in funding for and support of public schools.

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