Tennessee
K-12 public schools in Tennessee enroll about 972,000 students, with 50% in poverty, 3% learning English, 32% minorities, and annual expenditures of more than $7.5 billion. (Most recent NCES data)
Litigation
In a series of rulings between 1993 and 2002, the Tennessee Supreme Court declared the state’s school funding system unconstitutional due to disparities in funding levels across school districts. The legislature revised the funding system to work towards equalization of funding, including equalization of teachers’ salaries.
More recently, in 2009, ‘Memphis City Schools’ has had some success in compelling the city of Memphis to fund its share of the school budget.
In 2009, Memphis City Schools successfully sued the City of Memphis to compel the city to fund its required share of the school budget. The city council appealed, and the appellate court ruled in January 2010 that Memphis has a legal obligation to fund its schools.
In Tennessee Small Schools I, in 1993, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the state’s system of school finance, which resulted in substantial disparities in funding levels and educational opportunities among school districts, violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution.
After the legislature revised the school funding mechanism to provide for incremental progress towards equalization, the court in Tennessee Small Schools II, in1995, upheld the new system, finding that equality in educational opportunity could best be achieved by incremental increases toward equalized funding. The court also held, however, that the funding formula must provide for equalization of teacher’s salaries.
The plaintiffs returned to court in Tennessee Small Schools III challenging the proposed teacher salary plan. The court held in 2002 that the plan failed to meet the state's constitutional obligation to maintain a system of public education that afforded substantially equal educational opportunity to all students. In 2006, the trial court closed the case after the legislature added equalization of teacher salaries to the school funding formula.
In 2009, in State of Tennessee, ex rel. Board of Education of Memphis City Schools v. City of Memphis, Memphis City Schools sued the City of Memphis to compel the city to fund its share of the school budget as outlined in the school funding formula, the Basic Education Program. The trial court ruled that the city is responsible for funding the city school district at the amount it provided in previous years—at least $84 million. The council had previously voted to reduce funding to $27 million. The city council appealed and the appellate court upheld the trial court holding.
For more detailed information, email Education Justice.
"The state of Tennessee recognizes the inherent value of education and encourages its support. The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools." Tenn. Const. art. XI, § 12.
Pre-K
Tennessee initiated the Early Childhood Education Program (ECE) in 1998. In 2005, the Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) for Tennessee Act was passed and this encompasses the ECE. VPK targets low-income children, with an ultimate goal of serving all 4-year-olds in the state.
VPK is rated an exceptionally high 9 out of 10 on the established quality indicators and served 21% of 4-year-olds in the 2009-2010 school year.
VPK is administered by the Office of Early Learning within the Department of Education.
There are three tiers of priority for enrollment. Top priority is given to 4-year-olds who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. Pending availability of space, additional children who have an IEP, are in state custody, have a history of abuse or neglect, or are English Language Learners may enroll. Children who meet locally-determined risk factors such as single-parent families, low parent education level, teen parents, or a parent on active military duty, may enroll only if spots are still available for children meeting the state-specified risk factors have enrolled. The VPK program serves only 4-year-olds, but programs may enroll at-risk 3-year-olds if space permits.
VPK provides a full day kindergarten program, 5 days a week. This program is free of charge to parents.
In the past, VPK was previously funded through general education revenue and lottery revenue, which aided in its expansion. However, in the 2009-2010 school year the program received only inflationary adjustments and no additional expansion funds.
Funding for VPK is distributed to the local education authority and allocated on a competitive grant basis. Selection of pre-K sites is based, in part, on consideration of those areas with the "highest need."
While only public schools can compete for state grant-funded VPK programs, public schools may subcontract with private child care agencies, Head Start agencies, institutions of higher education, public housing authorities, and any three star-rated private or community-based child-serving agency.
For VPK programs (but not ECE programs), school districts are required to contribute matching funds. The amount of such funds is determined by the applicable state and local classroom component ratio in the state’s funding formula.
According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Tennessee served 21% of all 4-year-olds in its state preschool program in 2009-2010.
The number of 3-year-olds served remains steady at 1%.
Quality Analysis
The annual NIEER analysis rates the VPK program at 9 out of 10.
Teachers are required to have a Bachelor’s degree and specialized training in early childhood education. The program has a limited class size, an appropriate student to teacher ratio, provides at least once meal a day, and has a screening and referral service. In addition, VPK is monitored and evaluated through a site visit program.
Assistant teachers are not required to have an associate's degree or a Child Development Associate credential, failing only this NIEER benchmark.
The Office of Early Learning (OEL) is responsible for program administration, technical assistance, monitoring, oversight, and data collection. This office coordinates and collaborates with local school systems, intra-state agencies, and community providers to gather information on best practices in support of early childhood education. The OEL assembles and provides an annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly on the status and quality of the pre-kindergarten programs.
Program providers must also track and assess program quality by using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) and the Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) assessments to create action plans to remedy any areas of need.