Dive Brief:
- A proposal that passed through a Tennessee House panel and is now set to be considered by a Finance Committee would amend the state constitution to grant the General Assembly sole discretion over school spending.
- Bill sponsor Rep. Bill Dunn (R), says the legislation will protect taxpayers from activist judges who might rule the state is not adequately funding education, and from situations in other states where courts have increased taxpayer burdens.
- Seven Tennessee school districts are currently in the middle of lawsuits against the state related to equity in school funding distribution in precedent-setting state court decisions like the Small Schools case.
Dive Insight:
The lawsuits faced by Tennessee allege the state is already falling behind when it comes to educational fairness, and that the Volunteer State is failing its constitutional obligations by not providing adequate funding. Last March, the board of education in Hamilton County, sued the state over its funding formula after realizing that some districts in the state struggled to purchase basic items like toilet paper, as well as meet larger line items like teacher pay and health insurance. State lawyers claimed the suit does not belong in court, and instead the issue discussed should be taken up with the General Assembly. Three other districts successfully sued the state prior to 2015 over funding inadequacies.
Tennessee is far from the first state to be sued over funding formulas, and states like Washington and Kansas, where funding formulas are proving contentious, should pay attention. In November 2014, a number of Pennsylvania school districts, parents, and the state's NAACP filed suit against former Gov. Tom Corbett, as well as state education officials and legislative leaders, alleging that Pennsylvania violated its state constitution by failing to provide adequate education for its students.