Question

Gutek, Levine, and Ornstein, Foundations of Education, Chapters 1-6.

Discuss how public education is paid for in Tennessee: (1) Local support (name the taxes), (2) state support (name the taxes) and (3) federal support (name the taxes).

Answer 1

Public education in Tennessee is funded through both the help of state funding and local funding and both the factors possess various factors that determines the level of funding ins much schools.

(1) Local Support - The operating costs for the schools are not a very small amount, rather it is an amount that is quite high based on the number of schools and their level of education in Tennessee. Around 60% of the costs are derived from local support which is the Metro General fund which includes various tax factors like Taxes including the Local Option Sales Tax, Local property tax and along with that there are fees generated from various licenses and permits.

(2) State Support - Around 35% of the total operating costs are funded by the state direct funds out of which the Basic Education Plan (BEP) has an aggregated formula based on which funding is done to the schools. There are other type sof funding as well which are special and may be granted by the state of the federal funds. For example there can be special lunch program funds, funds for school development, etc.