Why is Tennessee Last in the Nation in School Funding?
Volunteer State hits rock bottom in school funding, lags behind Southeastern neighbors
Tennessee has finally done it. After back-to-back GOP Governors and more than a decade of a GOP supermajority in the legislature, the state is now dead last in school funding in the United States.
While Gov. Bill Lee and lawmakers found $300 million in next year’s budget for a rapidly expanding private school discount coupon scheme, the state’s public schools (and the nearly 1 million students in them) are coming up losers.
A breakdown of the most recent national analysis of school funding by state finds:
Dead last — 51st — in per-student spending. Tennessee spent $12,147 per student in average daily attendance in the 2024–25 school year, ranking 51st nationally — last among all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That’s a three-spot collapse from the prior year’s 48th-place ranking. The national average is $19,393 per student — more than $7,200 above what Tennessee invests. (Per NEA Rankings of the States 2025; page 30)
$1.9 billion needed to catch closest neighboring state. At dead last, Tennessee also ranks worse than every state on its borders. Virginia spends $19,168 per student — roughly the national average and more than $7,000 above Tennessee. Even Mississippi, the closest neighboring state in per-student funding, spends approximately $2,000 more per student than Tennessee. To only catch up with Mississippi’s per-student investment, Tennessee’s student funding formula would need to generate an additional $1.9 billion.
I recently noted that Tennessee teacher morale is below the national average - while that story addressed issues other than pay, resources provided to schools and teachers certainly play a role.
Teacher morale is declining nationally, a new report suggests. And, the morale of teachers in Tennessee is below the national average (and below several of our neighboring states).
Education Week provides the national and state-level data based on a survey of teachers across the U.S.
Tennessee teachers reported a +10 - an overall positive ranking, but lower than the national average of +13. Tennessee teachers also reported lower overall morale than those in some neighboring states (South Carolina, 16; Arkansas, 24; Mississippi, 16; Georgia, 13).
The NEA report also notes the sad status of teacher pay in Tennessee:
40th in average teacher pay — and teachers are earning less in real terms. The average Tennessee public school teacher earned $61,222 in the 2024–25 school year, ranking 40th in the nation. After adjusting for inflation, Tennessee teacher pay has fallen 6.5% over the last decade — meaning teachers are being paid less today in real dollars than they were 10 years ago.
Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar said of the report’s findings:
“While Gov. Lee and Republicans were busy shoveling hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into their private school voucher scam, they left nearly a million kids in Tennessee’s public schools with less funding per student than anywhere else in the nation. This isn’t an accident — it’s a choice. And Tennessee families are paying the price.”
Andy,I don't think the super majority cares. It has been the mission of the Lee administration to devalue and end public education. So far they were unsuccessful, but not for lack of trying. I can only hope that the voters will look at what they have done and pledge to restore funding and support for public education.