News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
One local Tennessee Education Association member says state leaders need to change the BEP formula to fully fund school positions.
Governor Bill Lee has called for a review of the state education funding formula also known as the BEP formula. Overton County Education Association President Jennifer Eilender said the current formula causes inequalities among schools.
“If you’re just going to put the same amount of money in there, it doesn’t matter how you cut it up, because it is not going to solve the problems we have in place right now,” Eilender said. “If they are going to more adequately fund it and add more funds to account for these different schools, that would be a great step in the right direction.”
Currently, school systems get a set number of paid positions based on student enrollment, Eilender said. However, the formula does not consider the number of schools that share the funding. Eilender said this leads to a district qualifying for less employees than schools in the system.
“A county might have five elementary schools and two high schools, and so because of that, a county based on their numbers might qualify for fewer librarians than they have elementary schools or high schools,” Eilender said.
Eilender said often times, local funds are then used to fill in the gaps. Eilender said this leads to differences in pay and money spent per pupil.
“The BEP isn’t fully funded,” Eilender said. “It’s funded at a percentage, and it is based on the local tax base. The local is expected to put in so much percentage also. So that’s where inequalities come from across the state in different counties.”
The BEP formula has not been meaningfully updated in some 30 years. Eilender said Tennessee ranks among the lowest in the nation in per pupil funding, but the state has experienced a large uptick in revenue.
“So there is no reason that they can’t go in and adequately fund the BEP and fund it the way the schools actually operate in the state,” Eilender said.
