Stage set for school funding feud

Rural, urban districts likely to square off in legislative session that opens in 2 weeks

By MICHAEL A. WEBER, Tennessean.Com
December 25, 2006

One of the biggest battles during the upcoming legislative session — slated to begin Jan. 9 — is shaping up to be a tussle between urban and rural school districts over funding.

The Basic Education Program funding formula for K-12 schools is being challenged by urban school systems, who say that their portion of state tax dollars is falling while their costs are growing.

"This is of particular interest in Shelby and Davidson and other large counties," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle, D-Memphis. "This has been a festering issue out here.

"We are not where we want be on education, especially K-12," he said. "This is an area (where) the governor is going to have to show some real leadership."

The BEP formula was established in 1992 as part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by 77 rural school districts. At the time, the rural districts complained that because of their smaller tax bases, a system needed to be enacted that would equalize the tax revenues used to fund schools.

"The number one priority is education and education funding," said House Minority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol. "This is why we need to pass the education budget first to show it is our top priority."

He proposed upping teacher salaries to attract teachers to rural schools.

But the issue goes beyond parity among teachers.

Some legislators said the formula doesn't entirely account for the special needs of some kids in urban school districts.

"There's long been this concern that the BEP did not really measure issues like high-risk children, who are found in both rural and urban schools," said House Majority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville. "And then (there's) the English as a second language."

But defenders of rural counties are afraid any changes will return the system to pre-1992 standards in which small tax base counties were penalized for their size.

Comptroller John Morgan has floated the idea of a statewide property tax dedicated to funding public education, which could raise as much as $900 million. That idea faces opposition from some Republicans.

"There will not be a statewide property tax increase," said Senate Majority Caucus Leader Mark Norris, R-Memphis. "We are opposed to that. Nor do we favor an increase in the gas tax."

But the battle over schools funding is just one of the many issues facing the legislature next year.

Tax debate expected

Republicans and Democrats are trying to work out how the recently passed referendum on property tax relief for senior citizens will be implemented.

There are tax reform advocates who want to set the income level for eligibility high, while smaller localities are pushing for a lower threshold.

"We need to legislate a ceiling that could be accepted by local and county governments," Norris said. "Senate Bill 2, which I am sponsoring, has a $50,000 ceiling."

Local governments may opt out of the tax relief program for any reason.

"We didn't want to legislate the ceiling too high so that local governments would opt out," Norris said.

The issue has pitted some senior citizens against local governments.

"A lot of members are going to be hearing from local governments on this issue," Mumpower said.

Legislative debate on the topic is expected to be heated.

"There are a lot of views and viewpoints on this, and I don't know if there is one answer to this problem," Kyle said.

Immigration issue back

Immigration is a holdover issue from the last session of the legislature.

"Immigration issues are on the minds of my caucus members," Mumpower said. "This is the issue our constituents have contacted us the most about."

He added: "Social services and schools are strained by illegal immigration."

Some of the most far-reaching immigration proposals met with stiff opposition, some legislators said.

"We approved legislation in the Senate last year, that was killed by the House, to allow the Highway Patrol to be trained by immigration and customs officials at federal expense to expedite the processing of detainees," Norris said.

As a result of the issue's divisiveness, some legislators are questioning whether immigration measures should even be considered during the coming session.

"Don't get me wrong, we have immigration problems," Odom said. "But I don't see how they're (the General Assembly) going to effectively address the issue."

He would prefer that the problem be addressed in Washington.

"I think the regulation of immigration is a federal government responsibility," Odom said.

Health plan gets going

Cover Tennessee opened bids for health providers last week as legislators on both sides of the aisle urged caution.

"I think the thought was to get this up and running as soon as possible rather than following a specific time line," Odom said.

But, he said, "it's more important to do it right."

Other legislators said they want to make sure the state has learned from past mistakes.

"We have to make sure this program is foolproof and doesn't turn into another TennCare," Mumpower said.

Ethics could be revisited

Mumpower and Kyle raised the possibility of revisiting ethics legislation.

"I think there will be some modifications to the ethics bill," Kyle said.

Mumpower wants to evaluate the effectiveness of the new law.

"I'm looking to see if ethics legislation is working or if it is causing some unnecessary problems," he said.

However, Bruce Androphy, executive director of the Tennessee Ethics Commission, cautioned against moving too quickly.

"We got such a late start, we want to see how this first year works before changing the law," he said. Androphy is expected to brief legislators about ethics on Jan. 19.

Kyle also is looking at Tennessee's open meetings law.

The Tennessee Coalition on Open Government pushed last year to tighten the state's open meetings law, to ensure appropriate public access to their government. The legislature set up a study committee, which was expected to make recommendations during the coming session, but that report is scheduled to be delayed until 2008.

"To those this issue is really important to, it is real important," Kyle said. "To those who don't think it is important, they really don't think it is important."

Governor has agenda

Some of the governor's agenda will be unveiled at the State of the State message.

"There is always something that comes up that was not anticipated," Mumpower said. "We'll see what the governor says on February 5."

Either way, some legislators said they were anxious to get started.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to work," Norris said.