Tennessee, Ranked Dead Last in School Funding, is First in Teacher Loss
Turns out, people aren't eager to teach in underfunded schools for little pay
In the 1990s while campaigning for Vice President, Tennessee U.S. Senator Al Gore famously said of the state of the country, “Everything that should be up is down and everything that should be down is up.”
Today, that same sentiment could apply to the state of education (and many other issues) in Tennessee.
Recently, Tennessee earned the distinction of ranking dead last in the nation in school funding. We’d need $1.9 billion to even catch up to the next lowest state, Mississippi.
Now, a report on year-over-year teacher turnover shows Tennessee leads the nation in teacher loss.
Tennessee classrooms are losing teachers at a higher rate than any other state in the nation, according to a new report from the National Education Association.
The report found Tennessee saw the largest percentage decline in its teacher workforce between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, losing 10.36% of its educators during that period, or more than 7,400 teachers.
Tennessee policymakers don’t support the state’s schools, the teachers in those schools, or the students.
The expansion of school vouchers provides $300 million in taxpayer dollars for unaccountable private operators. Meanwhile, Gov. Lee has refused to participate in a summer program to provide food assistance to families. And, kids in state custody are still sleeping on office floors while the state provides hundreds of millions of dollars to build a football stadium for the billionaire owners of the Titans.
The message is clear: Kids come last - our policymakers can’t be bothered to fund their schools or provide them with meals or ensure they have an education environment equipped with well-supported educators.