Today's meeting with school leaders may be Haslam's last chance to avoid lawsuit

Gov. Bill Haslam announces a healthier communities initiative at the state Capitol in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. The governor told reporters afterward that he is urging fellow Republicans in the Legislature not to let the upcoming convention of the National Rifle Association in Nashville influence their consideration of a slew of bills seeking to loosen state gun laws.
Gov. Bill Haslam announces a healthier communities initiative at the state Capitol in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. The governor told reporters afterward that he is urging fellow Republicans in the Legislature not to let the upcoming convention of the National Rifle Association in Nashville influence their consideration of a slew of bills seeking to loosen state gun laws.
photo FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2015 file photo, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam speaks to reporters in an office suite at the state Capitol in Nashville, Tenn. Haslam is pivoting to another tough fight over what he describes as the ruined brand of Common Core education standards. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)
photo Jonathan Welch

NASHVILLE -- Gov. Bill Haslam's expected meeting today with the heads of Tennessee's four largest school systems could be his best -- and last -- chance for avoiding a lawsuit over state education funding, school board members say.

In fact, Hamilton County school board member Jonathan Welch said the local district -- one of seven that have authorized litigation -- could file suit this week unless there's agreement today over pumping new money into the state's Basic Education Program.

"I think the motion that our board [approved] stated the lawsuit would be filed unless the governor had a plan endorsed by the General Assembly to meet the BEP Review Committee recommendations."

Welch said "the potential to keep dialogue open is really at stake" in today's meeting.

"And I think that it's important that we continue to talk," he added. "If you can't talk, there's no chance of reaching resolution outside of litigation."

Haslam plans to meet later today with directors of the Hamilton, Knox, Shelby and Metro Nashville school systems to discuss the situation. All four systems, plus many smaller systems, say the current $4.07 billion formula is inadequate and underfunded.

Last week, Haslam, a Republican, told reporters he is cutting other areas of government, in part to help boost BEP funding. His proposed 2015-2016 budget would add $147.4 million, with nearly $100 million going toward boosting teacher pay.

"We are always going to work not just to adequately fund, but do it in the right way with the right outcomes," Haslam told reporters.

He added, "Once you're in litigation with people you have a little different conversations because you realize everything you say could end up in court."

Estimates are the BEP is a half billion dollars below what it should be. Tennessee funded only half of its "BEP 2.0" reforms in 2007, the last major change made by the General Assembly.

The formula is supposed to provide the state's share of education funding in areas ranging from the number of teachers, psychologists and principals to insurance and more. Local taxpayers provide the rest.

Local systems complain the formula understates actual costs for all districts, making hometown taxpayers especially in urban areas put up more than their fair share.

On Friday, 11 school board members from the Big Four districts sent their schools' directors, including Hamilton County Director Rick Smith, a list of specific questions they want posed to Haslam.

Just last week, Smith presented a budget to the school board that would require a 40-cent increase in the county's property tax rate. A majority of county commissioners already says that's not going to fly.

The various board members who signed the letter, including Welch, want to know if the governor will "acknowledge that the BEP does not adequately fund public education costs in Tennessee."

The letter asks whether the governor will "commit to exploring all options concerning additional revenue sources to fully fund the BEP for the 2015-16 school year."

It asks if he will agree to "immediate state and local moratoriums on unfunded mandates, including but not limited to the state's charter [school] law and expansion of the Achievement School District, which continue to put fiscal strains on urban school systems."

And finally, the board members want to know if the governor will "oppose" yet more "unfunded mandates" -- including a pending school voucher bill in the General Assembly.

Board members say vouchers "would drain additional resources away from urban school systems at a time of fiscal duress."

The voucher bill would let low-income students in the state's bottom 5 percent of schools use taxpayer dollars to attend private schools. Charter schools created by nonprofits get funding from state and local governments and operate largely free of many restrictions binding traditional public schools.

The Achievement School District, meanwhile, was created to take over the bottom 5 percent of public schools with the goal of pushing them into the top 25 percent.

photo Rick Smith

As to whether the meeting today will accomplish anything, Metro Nashville school board member Will Pinkston said, "Based on the totality of what the governor has said previously, I don't think anyone is harboring any illusion that he's going to put forward a plan."

The systems were willing to hold off on pushing hard to give Haslam time to get through his first term and allow state revenues to recover, Pinkston said.

"When we did start communicating with the administration, their response was to form a BEP Task Force and then promptly to not look at adequacy, which to us sent the ultimate message that either he doesn't get it or he doesn't care. And now what you're seeing is districts that are frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement of the problem and the clear unwillingness to put forward a plan."

Adding "insult to injury," Pinkston said, "they continue to add all these radical reforms [and] overreaching initiatives from lifting the cap on charters to allowing the ASD to start recruiting kids from outside the school zone."

The BEP, passed in 1992, was born in litigation filed by a coalition of small school systems, based on Article XI, Section 12 of the Tennessee Constitution that says the "General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools."

Small school systems won that lawsuit and have won two related suits since.

This time around, however, the push includes both rural and urban systems.

In addition to Hamilton County, school boards that have already voted to sue are Bradley, Polk, McMinn, Marion, Grundy and Coffee counties. Shelby and Knox counties are also actively considering suing.

Nashville Metro Schools Director Jesse Register, a former Hamilton County schools chief, has sought to delay his board's joining in. But Metro school board members recently gave Register a 30-day ultimatum to get something done. Register is leaving the system later this year.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

Upcoming Events