NASHVILLE (AP) — After months of gathering input from across the state on how Tennessee should fund its multibillion-dollar K-12 education system, Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn say they are close to finally revealing their plan for how the formula should be rewritten.
Supporters say the goal is to finalize the overhaul by the end of the legislative session. However, many inside the Republican-dominant General Assembly have not yet had a chance to pore over the new proposal. Lee and Schwinn promise the legislation will be shared Feb. 24, possibly leaving lawmakers with just a few weeks to take on the massive task.
"Time is running short," Sen. Jon Lundberg, acting chair of the Senate's education panel, told reporters Thursday. "Candidly, I would have liked to have seen it this week but I'll see it next week."
While Tennessee lawmakers aren't under a deadline for when they have to adjourn, most of them are currently running for reelection and are eager to hit the campaign trail. This has placed pressure on them to wrap up their business as soon as possible.
Lee has held two news conferences over the past two weeks in which he promised a revamped formula was coming soon. He then announced in a news release on Tuesday that the official proposal would come out next week.
"I don't think I've ever seen an announcement that we're going to have an announcement," said Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, a Democrat from Nashville.
Yarbro added that it was "reckless" to attempt to overhaul public education funding without giving lawmakers and the public enough time to review the legislation.
But Lee said recently that he has "every expectation that we will get this done during the current legislative session."
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican from Crossville, said he wouldn't criticize the amount of time it's taken Lee's administration to get the funding proposal ready, saying that if they need extra time, "It's fine."
The nearly 3-decade-old Basic Education Program uses 45 components to determine funding for each school for expenses, including teacher salaries. It's been criticized as complicated and outdated and has even faced lawsuits from school boards, which said it falls short of Tennessee's constitutional obligation to provide students with a "free, adequate, and equitable education."
One legal challenge, originally filed six years ago on behalf of more than half of the state's school districts, is set to go to trial in late October.