Problem in school funding memo delays cigarette tax vote

By ERIK SCHELZIG, Tennessean.com
Associated Press Writer
May 22, 2007

A Republican-controlled Senate committee will not take up Gov. Phil Bredesen'' cigarette tax proposal until a dispute over education accountability standards is cleared up.

The Senate Finance Committee put off a scheduled vote on the 40-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike until at least Wednesday because of what was described by an administration official an inadvertent mistake in an 11-page memo distributed to members the night before.

The memo included bullet points about accountability that had been discussed between Republican senators and the Democratic administration. But a draft of the proposed legislation included none of the agreed-upon language.

State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said the memo reflected a "miscommunication in an effort to be responsive, and we're going to fix it."

Bredesen earlier this month presented the Legislature with a plan to revise the state's complicated funding formula called the Basic Education Program, or BEP. The entire proposal would cost the state about $476 million a year, but Bredesen has said he wants to start out by funding about a $280 million segment of it in the upcoming budget year.

The cigarette tax hike would raise about $200 million for education. The current cigarette tax is 20 cents per pack.

The proposal, which was worked out with the leadership of the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic House, would boost teacher salaries, pay for the increased costs of educating students from poor families and bridge a funding gap for fast-growing school districts.

Most of the education spending proposal has been worked out with legislative leadership, Goetz said. But Republicans don't want to green light the plan without the accompanying attention to accountability.

"If we don't have real accountability measures within this plan, we are merely increasing the unit-cost of education without increasing outcomes," said Senate Education Chairwoman Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville.

According to the memo, the legislation would seek to give school districts more power to create incentives for teachers in hard-to-staff subjects and schools; create performance standards in principals' contracts; give the state more power to intervene in failing schools; and increase the rigor of teacher education programs.

Goetz said he was planning to have the corrected version of the document to lawmakers by the end of the day today — "unless I have to shoot somebody."

"Well, don't do it on the carpet," responded Sen. Raymond Finney, R-Maryville.

Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis said that he intends to call for the earliest-possible vote on the cigarette tax to keep the Legislature on track for adjourning by the end of next week. Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris responded that he doesn't want to rush.

"The push with the incorrect information that had been rapidly disseminated by the administration last night along with this push to move forward with this cigarette tax is a recipe for disaster," said Norris, of Collierville. "Whenever you see them hurrying like that it's time to slow down."