In the wake of business tax cuts and dried-up federal stimulus funds, Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower is predicting a tough budget for fiscal year 2026-27.
Mumpower, who chairs the funding board that sets the budget growth rate each year based on economic forecasts, told the Lookout he believes it will be “the tightest budget year the Lee administration has experienced” in nearly eight years.
“There’s so many demands for money and resources,” said Mumpower, a former Republican lawmaker. “Prioritization is going to be the word of the year.”
Yet Republican lawmakers are pushing for an increase in funding for the state’s new private-school subsidy program, which cost $144 million this year.
Gov. Bill Lee also wants to add to the 20,000 students receiving $7,300 to attend private schools. The state has declined to say how many of recipients were enrolled in private school already, though 66% were expected to come from private schools.