Lee has gotten what he wanted, the destruction of public education. It has been apparent to me since he began this second term that his goal was to bankrupt public education and promote vouchers and charter schools. There is still time for the legislature to end this mess, but it will require citizens to speak up and show up. We can now show our representatives what is really going to happen with TISSA. The results are coming in.
(I posted this as a comment on this blog but the display system on sub stack is essentially an echo chamber promoting device so I thought I would share this directly to you because you seem like a logical person that deserves exposure to some of the intricacies of this issue.) "TN has the 2nd lowest dropout rate and is 29th in public education quality according to wallethub's extensive 2025 school system review. Also TN was at or below the natl average in 2019, 2017, and 2013 in math and reading scores but above natl average in 2024 in both! (nationsreportcard.gov) The TN comptroller's office found that more than 1 billion MORE dollars were invested in Tennessee schools in 23-24 over the previous year because of the TISA (https://comptroller.tn.gov/office-functions/research-and-education-accountability/prek-12-collection/dashboard.html - for anyone interested in the actual data). I would cite more but the point I feel is made - The subject is much more nuanced than "less per-student $=bad", I suspect our population boom has something to do with this per-student funding rage baiting... Just as an aside though, Utah, the state with the lowest per-student funding is ranked as the 15th best school system and Florida is 42nd in funding but 11th best."
...suspect our population boom has something to do with this per-student funding rage baiting... Just as an aside though, Utah, the state with the lowest per-student funding is ranked as the 15th best school system and Florida is 42nd in funding but 11th best.
Is Governor Lee on the low end of stupid? Evidently , he does not want to be alone. Tennessee children deserve BETTER! For the Love of God , someone step up and end this mess he's created
Lee should be “held accountable”! He just not following through on his previous committments! He’s one of the worst Governors or should I spell it “governors” Tennessee has had in the last fifty years!
Money spent never equates to quality of education. If that was true, America's schools would be rated #1 in the world, because we spend more on education K-12 than any nation on the planet. Test scores, graduation percentages and number of students moving on to college or trade schools should be the benchmarks of K-12 education - not money spent. China for example is rated #2 in the world in education, but #29 in spending per pupil.
Based on that logic, we should just zero out our support for schools - In fact, Mr. Blind, numerous studies establish more than a correlation between investment in schools and educational outcomes. Do dollars spent need to be deployed wisely? Sure! Does decreasing investment help? Not typically.
TN has the 2nd lowest dropout rate and is 29th in public education quality according to wallethub's extensive 2025 school system review. Also TN was at or below the natl average in 2019, 2017, and 2013 in math and reading scores but above natl average in 2024 in both! (nationsreportcard.gov) The TN comptroller's office found that more than 1 billion MORE dollars were invested in Tennessee schools in 23-24 over the previous year because of the TISA (https://comptroller.tn.gov/office-functions/research-and-education-accountability/prek-12-collection/dashboard.html - for anyone interested in the actual data). I would cite more but the point I feel is made - The subject is much more nuanced than "less per-student $=bad", I suspect our population boom has something to do with this per-student funding rage baiting... Just as an aside though, Utah, the state with the lowest per-student funding is ranked as the 15th best school system and Florida is 42nd in funding but 11th best.
Thanks for that, Drake - I'm not sure we should be encouraged that our per student investment relative to our neighbors is declining. Also, both the BEP and TISA create base weights for average daily membership - TISA being explicitly student-weighted, as such, a population increase would automatically generate a new "pupil" and a new unit of funding.
Our neighbors in Kentucky consistently invest more than we do - and, especially when it comes to kids from low income families (qualifying for free/reduced lunch), KY kids score higher in both math and reading - I'd say that's an investment that is paying. Sure, you can't just "throw money" - targeted expenditures matter. I would certainly say that it is not good news that we are falling behind other Southern states when it comes to investment in schools.
FWIW - I'm a "low-income", single parent of 2 middle school kids in an Appalachian community. Their school may be an exception but they provide free meals to all students regardless of income, every kid gets issued their own windows-based laptop, they both have fine arts classes every semester plus the opportunity to join band, choir, AND a monthly after school STEAM program. They host reward days for meeting educational and behavioral benchmarks(mini carnivals, movie days, or tech lab fun), a library with new books added throughout the year (my daughter is close with the librarian so she's even made a few suggestions and then seen them end up on the shelves soon after), a decently maintained but admittedly dated campus, a diverse selection of extracurriculars\sports, and the county provides a free summer learning STEM camp. I say all that acknowledging that I don't know what other states offer their students and that there is some relationship between spending and overall school performance. I'm going to go back and read the entire TISA so I can personally reconcile the population increase and per capita funding issue you raised. I thought that TISA replaced BEP, maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding but investing over a billion dollars more in the schools is a pretty big chunk of change, and there has been incremental improvement so it can't be all bad, can it?
Thanks for sharing that perspective. I would agree, many TN schools do a lot - and, impressively, do a lot with less than our neighboring states offer.
TISA did replace BEP - but, our state pop. was growing even before TISA - and, student numbers generated BEP dollars, and do so with TISA as well.
YES - 100% agree that the $1 billion in new money dedicated as part of the TISA “reform” helped - and in some districts, helped a lot. I think the formula is flawed and will leave some locals on the hook for a greater share - but, YES - it IS good that we injected some much-needed cash into the system.
Here’s how I’d analogize it: TN is playing KY in football. In the first half, KY scores 100 points and we score 0. In the second half, we score 50 points (or, inject $1 billion via TISA) - that’s good. And yes, credit to Gov. Lee for at least putting some money in. But, at the end of the day, we still lose - states like KY and AL and MS are all economically similar (or, even, not as prosperous) and they still manage to fund schools at a higher level. Many estimates suggested pre-TISA we need $2 billion in new money to “adequately” fund schools - to meet the needs in terms of staffing, infrastructure, etc. TISA got us halfway there - and, as this data shows, other states were also moving forward - they weren’t just standing still.
The 50k minimum is a requirement starting in the 25-26 academic year - so, not quite yet - and, it should be 60K - our neighbors are kicking our asses in both investment in students and pay for teachers. Most high quality privates start at 15 k or more - and our neighboring states are making schools a priority - funding significantly better than we do (and the results show it)
Ummm....no, sorry, we do NOT make a starting wage of $50,000. I am currently in my 11th year of teaching in TN, have 3 Master's in various areas of education, and barely make above $50,000 before taxes. Please do your research before making a comment when you have no idea. However, one thing I can say about TN is that we have the biggest hearts when it comes to our students. We manage to show extraordinary growth with our them, and do so with very little.
Thanks, Jennifer, for that dose of reality - I posted a story a while back that indicated that only 25% of TN teachers would see a salary greater than $60,000/year in their careers - the numbers are disappointing and reflect a consistent lack of investment in education.
Ummm....no, sorry, we do NOT make a starting wage of $50,000. I am currently in my 11th year of teaching in TN, have 3 Master's in various areas of education, and barely make above $50,000 before taxes. Please do your research before making a comment when you have no idea. However, one thing I can say about TN is that we have the biggest hearts when it comes to our students. We manage to show extraordinary growth with our them, and do so with very little.
Lee has gotten what he wanted, the destruction of public education. It has been apparent to me since he began this second term that his goal was to bankrupt public education and promote vouchers and charter schools. There is still time for the legislature to end this mess, but it will require citizens to speak up and show up. We can now show our representatives what is really going to happen with TISSA. The results are coming in.
(I posted this as a comment on this blog but the display system on sub stack is essentially an echo chamber promoting device so I thought I would share this directly to you because you seem like a logical person that deserves exposure to some of the intricacies of this issue.) "TN has the 2nd lowest dropout rate and is 29th in public education quality according to wallethub's extensive 2025 school system review. Also TN was at or below the natl average in 2019, 2017, and 2013 in math and reading scores but above natl average in 2024 in both! (nationsreportcard.gov) The TN comptroller's office found that more than 1 billion MORE dollars were invested in Tennessee schools in 23-24 over the previous year because of the TISA (https://comptroller.tn.gov/office-functions/research-and-education-accountability/prek-12-collection/dashboard.html - for anyone interested in the actual data). I would cite more but the point I feel is made - The subject is much more nuanced than "less per-student $=bad", I suspect our population boom has something to do with this per-student funding rage baiting... Just as an aside though, Utah, the state with the lowest per-student funding is ranked as the 15th best school system and Florida is 42nd in funding but 11th best."
...suspect our population boom has something to do with this per-student funding rage baiting... Just as an aside though, Utah, the state with the lowest per-student funding is ranked as the 15th best school system and Florida is 42nd in funding but 11th best.
...
Ugh substack strikes again 😂
Is Governor Lee on the low end of stupid? Evidently , he does not want to be alone. Tennessee children deserve BETTER! For the Love of God , someone step up and end this mess he's created
Tennessee, there's a place I'd hate to be!🎶
Lee should be “held accountable”! He just not following through on his previous committments! He’s one of the worst Governors or should I spell it “governors” Tennessee has had in the last fifty years!
More money definitely doesn't mean better education! Look at Chicago!
Money spent never equates to quality of education. If that was true, America's schools would be rated #1 in the world, because we spend more on education K-12 than any nation on the planet. Test scores, graduation percentages and number of students moving on to college or trade schools should be the benchmarks of K-12 education - not money spent. China for example is rated #2 in the world in education, but #29 in spending per pupil.
Based on that logic, we should just zero out our support for schools - In fact, Mr. Blind, numerous studies establish more than a correlation between investment in schools and educational outcomes. Do dollars spent need to be deployed wisely? Sure! Does decreasing investment help? Not typically.
TN has the 2nd lowest dropout rate and is 29th in public education quality according to wallethub's extensive 2025 school system review. Also TN was at or below the natl average in 2019, 2017, and 2013 in math and reading scores but above natl average in 2024 in both! (nationsreportcard.gov) The TN comptroller's office found that more than 1 billion MORE dollars were invested in Tennessee schools in 23-24 over the previous year because of the TISA (https://comptroller.tn.gov/office-functions/research-and-education-accountability/prek-12-collection/dashboard.html - for anyone interested in the actual data). I would cite more but the point I feel is made - The subject is much more nuanced than "less per-student $=bad", I suspect our population boom has something to do with this per-student funding rage baiting... Just as an aside though, Utah, the state with the lowest per-student funding is ranked as the 15th best school system and Florida is 42nd in funding but 11th best.
Thanks for that, Drake - I'm not sure we should be encouraged that our per student investment relative to our neighbors is declining. Also, both the BEP and TISA create base weights for average daily membership - TISA being explicitly student-weighted, as such, a population increase would automatically generate a new "pupil" and a new unit of funding.
Our neighbors in Kentucky consistently invest more than we do - and, especially when it comes to kids from low income families (qualifying for free/reduced lunch), KY kids score higher in both math and reading - I'd say that's an investment that is paying. Sure, you can't just "throw money" - targeted expenditures matter. I would certainly say that it is not good news that we are falling behind other Southern states when it comes to investment in schools.
FWIW - I'm a "low-income", single parent of 2 middle school kids in an Appalachian community. Their school may be an exception but they provide free meals to all students regardless of income, every kid gets issued their own windows-based laptop, they both have fine arts classes every semester plus the opportunity to join band, choir, AND a monthly after school STEAM program. They host reward days for meeting educational and behavioral benchmarks(mini carnivals, movie days, or tech lab fun), a library with new books added throughout the year (my daughter is close with the librarian so she's even made a few suggestions and then seen them end up on the shelves soon after), a decently maintained but admittedly dated campus, a diverse selection of extracurriculars\sports, and the county provides a free summer learning STEM camp. I say all that acknowledging that I don't know what other states offer their students and that there is some relationship between spending and overall school performance. I'm going to go back and read the entire TISA so I can personally reconcile the population increase and per capita funding issue you raised. I thought that TISA replaced BEP, maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding but investing over a billion dollars more in the schools is a pretty big chunk of change, and there has been incremental improvement so it can't be all bad, can it?
Thanks for sharing that perspective. I would agree, many TN schools do a lot - and, impressively, do a lot with less than our neighboring states offer.
TISA did replace BEP - but, our state pop. was growing even before TISA - and, student numbers generated BEP dollars, and do so with TISA as well.
YES - 100% agree that the $1 billion in new money dedicated as part of the TISA “reform” helped - and in some districts, helped a lot. I think the formula is flawed and will leave some locals on the hook for a greater share - but, YES - it IS good that we injected some much-needed cash into the system.
Here’s how I’d analogize it: TN is playing KY in football. In the first half, KY scores 100 points and we score 0. In the second half, we score 50 points (or, inject $1 billion via TISA) - that’s good. And yes, credit to Gov. Lee for at least putting some money in. But, at the end of the day, we still lose - states like KY and AL and MS are all economically similar (or, even, not as prosperous) and they still manage to fund schools at a higher level. Many estimates suggested pre-TISA we need $2 billion in new money to “adequately” fund schools - to meet the needs in terms of staffing, infrastructure, etc. TISA got us halfway there - and, as this data shows, other states were also moving forward - they weren’t just standing still.
13k plus. Wow you could put all kids in private school for less. Teachers start ar 50 k in Tn.
The 50k minimum is a requirement starting in the 25-26 academic year - so, not quite yet - and, it should be 60K - our neighbors are kicking our asses in both investment in students and pay for teachers. Most high quality privates start at 15 k or more - and our neighboring states are making schools a priority - funding significantly better than we do (and the results show it)
13k plus. Wow you could put all kids in private school for less. Teachers start ar 50 k in Tn.
Ummm....no, sorry, we do NOT make a starting wage of $50,000. I am currently in my 11th year of teaching in TN, have 3 Master's in various areas of education, and barely make above $50,000 before taxes. Please do your research before making a comment when you have no idea. However, one thing I can say about TN is that we have the biggest hearts when it comes to our students. We manage to show extraordinary growth with our them, and do so with very little.
Thanks, Jennifer, for that dose of reality - I posted a story a while back that indicated that only 25% of TN teachers would see a salary greater than $60,000/year in their careers - the numbers are disappointing and reflect a consistent lack of investment in education.
A comment written by a man who has clearly never looked up teacher salaries or private school tuition before.
Ummm....no, sorry, we do NOT make a starting wage of $50,000. I am currently in my 11th year of teaching in TN, have 3 Master's in various areas of education, and barely make above $50,000 before taxes. Please do your research before making a comment when you have no idea. However, one thing I can say about TN is that we have the biggest hearts when it comes to our students. We manage to show extraordinary growth with our them, and do so with very little.
13k plus. Wow you could put all kids in private school for less. Teachers start ar 50 k in Tn.
13k plus. Wow you could put all kids in private school for less.