Educators say BEP funding formula flawed

NASHVILLE — Through a $175 million investment, first-year Gov. Bill Lee was able to say he fully funded the state’s Basic Education Program formula.

But Tennessee teachers, administrators and school boards say the education funding formula isn’t hitting the mark for Tennessee’s schools.

The BEP, as it is known, is a complicated rubric with 46 components the state uses to determine how much money schools get for items such as teacher salaries, books and transportation.

Why, if millions of dollars more are going to education in recent years, do district officials and teachers complain they are not receiving the necessary resources?

It’s all about what isn’t in the formula, said Chris Henson, Metro Nashville Public Schools chief operations officer.

“It is antiquated,” said Henson, who has spent years on the state’s BEP Review Committee and is an expert on the topic. “The current version of it might be fully funded, but that doesn’t mean the BEP funds everything that it should and at the level that it should.”

Education and the needs of Tennessee’s children have evolved over the years, but the BEP has remained mostly unchanged. Counties more and more are taking on the effort to fund schools.

The BEP has become a long-term problem spawning complaints from teachers and superintendents, as well as lawsuits from school boards.

Lee said the BEP is a topic he’d like to explore in the next year.

“We want to look at it and begin to understand why so many are unhappy and is there a better way to do it,” Lee said Wednesday. “I want to look at the way other states fund their education programs. I just want to make sure that we are appropriately putting funds where they need to be. We’re going to engage teachers in particular with understanding how they view the way we fund schools.”

Where did the formula come from?

The BEP was created because of a lawsuit against the state by 77 small school districts, which argued the state’s previous funding formula was unconstitutional due to inequities.

Adopted in 1992, it was last updated in 2007 by former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Under former Gov. Bill Haslam, parts of that update were rolled back.

Since the BEP’S inception, the needs of the state have changed.

For instance, online testing is a major requirement of districts now. The state, however, does not provide enough funding to support that with only $40 million a year for technology, Henson said.

Henson said the state’s BEP Review Committee has identified a long list of items that should be included in the formula.

“You could go back 10 to 15 years and there are numerous BEP recommendations in an attempt to improve it,” Henson said. “In recent years the priority has been to condense those down to five and concentrate on certain things.”

Blount County Schools Superintendent Rob Britt agreed that the state is fully funding the BEP, but said it is not accurate to say the state is fully funding school systems to meet the needs of children today.

“We earn so many music, art and PE teachers from the formula, but it is not enough to serve the total population of our student body,” Britt said. “Nurses are another example. We don’t earn enough guidance counselors.

“A lot of those additional staff we are picking up locally to best staff schools and meet student needs.”

The BEP requires a local match

The BEP funds about 70 percent of the cost of instructional items, Henson said. At one point it was 75 percent, Henson said.

The lower share from the state, coupled with the items that aren’t in the formula, means the burden on local communities is greater.

Tennessee Education Association President Beth Brown, leader of the state’s largest teachers union, said Lee might provide salary increases for teachers, but that doesn’t mean the additional money will be in their paychecks because of the formula.

“I think about my district, and we have prioritized some of our student needs and funded literacy coaches and specialists even though they are not funded by the BEP,” Brown said.

And districts also have used money earmarked for raises to instead fund counselors, psychologists or teachers who can’t otherwise be funded due to what the BEP provides.

“The result is stagnant wages and trouble recruiting to districts like mine,” Brown said.

Legal battles

There is a legal battle over funding over the BEP’S shortcomings.

The Shelby County and Metro Nashville school boards, along with other communities, are suing the state, arguing that Tennessee schools are underfunded and not meeting the constitutional obligation to provide kids with a “free, adequate, and equitable education.”

Shelby County Schools Board Chairwoman Shante Avant said in Shelby County, where nearly 40 percent of children live in poverty, the needs exceed the resources available.

“Teacher pay is one thing,” Avant said, adding that she supports raises for teachers. “Fully funding the BEP to fully meet the needs of kids in Shelby County is a whole different thing.”