by Jon Styf
As Tennessee begins looking at revamping its Basic Education Program (BEP) to fund public schools, one factor looming in the discussion of a new funding formula is teacher pay.
Legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle recognize teacher pay and how the BEP funds teacher pay are an issue.
As of the most-recent data available from the 2019-20 school year, Tennessee paid its instructors an average of $54,577 a year, ranking the state 41st in the country, according to the National Education Association. Tennessee ranked 38th the year before.
Public school teachers, a different category from instructors, made an average of $51,862, which ranked 41st in the country after ranking 37th the year before.
As Tennessee’s pay has regressed compared with other states, according to state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, part of the issue is the state’s portion of public school funding has adjusted for cost of living but federal and local funds have not updated for cost of living.
The state has $5.6 billion in its budget this year for BEP funding while roughly $1 billion in federal funds and $4 billion in local government funds also go to schools.
Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, the chair of the House Education Administration Committee, said one thing he hears from school superintendents as he travels the state is the BEP is not fully funding the instructors necessary and required by law to provide public education.
The BEP, created in 1992, funds one teacher per 25 students. The NEA data, however, shows Tennessee has 14.8 students per teacher based on average daily attendance and 16.2 students per teacher based on total public-school enrollment.
White said some of that is because of Response to Intervention (RTI) teachers, who are able to step in and help students who are struggling with a lesson.
“We want to increase teacher pay,” White said. “In many ways, the BEP could be outdated. We are not fully funding the BEP formula.”
Johnson said 11,000 state teachers are not funded by the BEP and inflation issues mean Tennessee teachers now make less than they did 10 years ago adjusted for cost of living.
“Any review of the BEP funding formula must include more than recommendations on how to change the formula,” said Beth Brown, president of the Tennessee Education Association. “Until the state makes a significant increase in public education funding to address many challenges plaguing our schools, updating a formula will not get us where we need to be to provide the high-quality public education Tennessee children deserve.”
Tennessee lawmakers approved $43 million in additional funding for teacher pay across the state in January. This year’s budget included $120 million for teacher raises, creating salary minimums of$38,000 for starting salaries and $41,605 for those with an advanced degree.
“Between [fiscal year] 2016 and [fiscal year] 2020, lawmakers enacted a total of $429 million in recurring increases for teacher pay,” The Sycamore Institute wrote when Gov. Bill Lee proposed his budget plan for fiscal year 2022, which started July 1. “Since that time, growth in Tennessee teachers’ average pay has begun to catch up with inflation.”
“We think that it’s time that, if we are taking a step forward, it’s time that we take a serious look at this while the attention is there,” White said. “Because, with the last 20 months of virus interruption of education, now is a good time to get a handle on this.”
The pay increase allocations, however, cannot be guaranteed in the state’s funding formula. It also won’t lead to a specific pay raise across the board since each district has a differing number of teachers from the BEP’s 25-to-1 student to teacher funding ratio.
“The reality is that Tennesseans aren’t dumb and Tennesseans, on both sides of the aisle, like their public education,” Johnson said. “Our rural counties already feel like they are getting the short end of the stick and this is not going to make things better for them.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter for The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
There are millions of people who “worked” during the pandemic- not just teachers. The entire education system in Tennessee is a mess and throwing more money at it does not work..
The comments above show a clear lack of understanding as to what is taking place in the classroom. This is my 33 year as a public high school teacher; as a side note – I have ‘never’ belonged to a teachers union and I am also very conservative. Although there are many liberals at my school – there are just as many conservatives. As for staying home, that is just not true. We have worked through the pandemic with in person teaching the entire time except for the Spring of 2020. In addition, my work day doesn’t end at 3:30, I always put in another 4-5 hours Monday – Friday grading papers and preparing for the next day.
The problem with most people who comment on teaching and teachers is that they think they know what it takes because they were once a student. That makes as much sense as a person who thinks they know what it takes to be a doctor because they have been a patient.
Although I do believe in private schools and in having a voucher system – I also believe – you get what you pay for.
Public School Teacher – Thank you for your work to educate our children.
However I must take exception to your comment ” I also believe – you get what you pay for.”
I challenge it because I am paying a whole lot of money per student for some very substandard results. And teachers are not the only ones working long hours without direct compensation for those extra hours. So I have no sympathy for that statement.
And I still challenge you to list the salaries by states along with their cost of living. I am confident that putting these two in juxtaposition will prove my point.
‘ “The reality is that Tennesseans aren’t dumb and Tennesseans, on both sides of the aisle, like their public education,’ Johnson said.”
I do not have a clue where Johnson gets this idea. Tennessee public education is a bad joke – especially in the larger districts. The “experts” have thrown more and more money at the problem with no improvement. The system is broken and the unions are a big part of it. Teacher pay is in line with other occupations and comparing it to others nationally is a failed argument. ON top of that they have a pension system that virtually no one else has.
List the states from highest to lowest teacher pay and one will find that the big, liberal states lead the pack because their cost of living is much higher than that here in Tennessee. Comparing the two is an insult to my intelligence.
Lee needs to shut his yap on education and spending. He is an abject failure as governor. Just because he is rich does not mean that he needs to make us little people pay more for his failed education system.
Teachers unions have ruined the profession.
Teachers are at home now more than in the classroom.