Comptroller: Teacher equity plan to shift burden over time
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen’s plan to equalize teacher pay across the state will eventually shift more of the cost of education to local property taxes, Comptroller John Morgan told a House committee Wednesday.
The state Supreme Court has three times held the state’s funding system for K-12 education, Tennessee’s greatest single expense, unconstitutional. The court ruled how the state distributes its tax money makes it impossible for students in poor counties to receive an education equal to that of students in richer counties.
Bredesen has proposed a plan to address the court’s concerns that would be the first major overhaul of the Basic Education Program, the funding formula for K-12, since it was created more than a decade ago.
The governor’s plan would put more money into teacher salaries, defining the cost of a teacher as $34,000 a year, an average increase of nearly $6,000 per teacher. It would divide that money according to the local schools’ ability to pay, as required by the court and currently done. It also would institute an annual review.
The plan would drop the state’s aggregate responsibility for funding teacher salaries from 75 percent to 65 percent, with local systems picking up the rest. The increase in the local share is 40 percent overall.
“Over time this will shift funding responsibility for K-12 education from the sales tax to the property tax,” Morgan said. “By shifting responsibility to the local level we shift it to the property tax.”
Patrick Smith, legislative liaison for the administration and point man on the bill to make the proposed changes, said there is no guarantee Morgan is correct.
He points out that local school systems this year put $766 million into voluntary salary supplements over what the BEP required them to pay. The changes in the required local match will reclassify $350 million of that as BEP matching funds, but it won’t require locals to raise more money.
“While I can’t say there will never be a required increase in local revenues, this is about making a fundamental change whereby teacher salaries become truly part of the BEP,” Smith said. “The formula has always required a local match.”
Rep. Nathan Vaughn, D-Kingsport, said: “There is no doubt that communities such as mine are losing, big time. They’ve tried to go the extra mile. The message here is, ‘Don’t try to do any more.’ I really don’t think we’ve solved many of these issues.”
Kingsport officials have been critical of the proposal, mostly about the way the state calculates a local government’s ability to pay its share than to the equity plan itself.
Smith acknowledged the index used to calculate the required local effort may need to be reviewed to see if it reacts quickly enough to changing economic conditions. He said that will be one function of the enhanced review process contained in the governor’s bill.
“It would seem to me we’re going to increase teacher pay on the backs of local property tax payers,” said Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland. “It looks like we’re asking the locals to take another hit.”
Smith reminded committee members it would be dangerous for the state to ignore the problem.
“We’re having to deal with the court decision,” he said. “I would point out this is the third time the Supreme Court has said the way we fund education is unconstitutional. We don’t want a special court master running our schools.”
Morgan noted that changes in the governor’s plan are far greater next year than they would be in future years.
“This is a big event because we’re doing something major,” he said. “Next year it will be much, much smoother, because we will already have made the big changes.”
After the Finance Committee hearing, the bill making the required changes to implement the governor’s plan was approved by a House subcommittee.
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On the Net:
See HB3510 at:
Tennessee General Assembly: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/