Lost amid the election hubbub of the week were headlines about Gov. Bill Lee on Monday signing into law the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act. It’s the new Tennessee school funding bill that replaces the Better Education Program, widely known as BEP and something everyone in Tennessee loved to hate.
What we still don’t know, despite the bill’s approval by the General Assembly last week, is exactly what this so-called “student-based” funding will do. And how it will flow down locally.
It is supposed to focus on the needs of each individual student and “follow” each individual student to provide extra money for needs like disability and economic disadvantage.
Time will tell how quickly parents decide to love this school funding formula or, perhaps, hate it, too. Comments throughout the state during public meetings last year by State Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn were largely more about wants than about what the new law may actually offer.
At a public town hall in November at Howard School, parents and teachers called for smaller class sizes, better support for low-income students, increased post-secondary opportunities beyond college tracks and better teacher pay, among other things.