Prototype System Model
In October 2005, the TACIR staff released a report on the prototype model prepared for the Governor’s Task Force on Teacher Pay and the Basic Education Program Review Committee (BEPRC). The report, A Prototype Model for School-System-Level Fiscal Capacity in Tennessee: Why & How presents an overview of events leading to the appointment of that task force and subsequent attempts to improve the state’s method of equalizing funding for public schools with emphasis on the equalization model developed by TACIR staff. The prototype model was intended to replace the county-level fiscal capacity model (the TACIR model) used from the inception of the Basic Education Program funding formula in 1992 through 2007.
The links below are to documents prepared for the BEPRC, which is appointed by the State Board of Education, and presented to the committee in various meetings over the last two years. The executive director of TACIR is a statutory member of the committee. Public Chapter 670, Acts of 2004, required the BEPRC to "prepare an annual report on the BEP and [provide] such report, on or before November 1 of each year, to the governor, the state board of education, and the select oversight committee on education." The Act also requested the BEPRC "[i]n reviewing the basic education program for fiscal year 2005-2006, . . . to give special consideration to . . . the development and implementation of a system-level fiscal capacity model."
The BEPRC voted in October 2005 to recommend implementation of a system-level fiscal capacity model along with several significant enhancements in the BEP funding formula (BEP Review Committee 2005 Annual Report, November 2005); however, the Governor’s BEP 2.0 initiative of 2007 instead adopted an arithmetic, county-level model (the FOX model) developed by UT-CBER to replace the TACIR model. The results of both the TACIR to the CBER model are used in calculating fiscal capacity. When the CBER model was introduced for FY 2008, the stated intent of the administration was for the weight of each measure to shift toward CBER annually until its calculation was the only one used; however, in 2016, the statute was changed to keep the percentages at 50/50 (Tennessee Code Annotated, 49-3-307(a)(10)(C)). In other words, the two indexes are averaged to get the final fiscal capacity calculation.
Documents Prepared for FY 2005-06
Presentation to BEPRC (July 21, 2005)
System-level Fiscal Capacity for Funding Education in Tennessee - Workshop for New BEPRC Members (September 2005)
Addendum (Excel File) (PDF File)
Select School System to View 2006 Prototype Profiles
Documents Prepared for FY 2004-05
Prototype System-Level Fiscal Capacity Model
Presentation to BEPRC (September 8, 2004)
System-level Fiscal Capacity for Funding Education in Tennessee - Workshop for State Agency Staff
News Articles
Tennessee Municipal League - Tennessee Town & City, April 10, 2006 "Equity in Education Funding: A Tale of Two Cities," by Harry A. Green
Tennessee Municipal League - Tennessee Town & City, March 13, 2006 "Equity Wars Over Funding Education," by Angie Agle, Oak Ridge Board of Education