Update: School Board ask for more state funding. School Board meeting of 12-10-13

School Board meetings can be really long. This one is 3 1/4 hours long. Last night the MNPS Board joined Tennessee's three other large school systems in asking Governor Haslam to direct more state education funds to the big cities by making changes to the Basic Education funding formula. Amy Frogge led the discussion, which begins at the 1h 39m time stamp. I have not watched it all myself and may not get a chance to a do a play-by-play report, so if you are interested in this, go ahead and watch it.

Here is a link to a concise summary of last nights meeting from The Nashville Scene: School Board Takes On The BEP.

Here an excerpt from the above:

Debate fell along what appears to be subtle lines of allegiance, with Chairwoman Cheryl Mayes, Amy Frogge and Will Pinkston stressing importance of the resolution and members Elissa Kim and Sharon Gentry warning against spending too much energy on this fight. School districts large and small dislike the state’s current funding formula, but Gov. Bill Haslam is uninterested in the complex task of changing it right now.

Here is a link to The Tennessean's report on the school Board Meeting: Metro Nashville challenges adequacy of state's education funding.

And here are some excerpts:

The Metro Nashville school district has taken aim at the state’s level of education funding, arguing that Davidson County has been shorted millions of dollars and setting the stage for what could be a broad-based assault on state funding levels by districts all over the state.

The Metro school board voted unanimously Tuesday to ask Gov. Bill Haslam and the Tennessee General Assembly to “adequately fund public education” in a way that would allow local districts to meet rigorous new academic standards.

....... The resolution cites a November report from the BEP’s Review Committee that found Metro would need an additional $12.7 million on top of the $253.4 million it got this year from the state to become fully funded under the program. Statewide, that gap is $146 million, the report says. School officials claim an additional $74.6 million was required for Nashville this year to meet the committee’s funding recommendations, which include adequate teacher salaries.

.......  Board colleague Elissa Kim questioned the wisdom and focus of digging deeper into an ongoing rift with the state — one that grew out of the board’s disapproval of a charter school proposal a year ago.

“Having tussled with the state like we have in the past, this strikes me not necessarily as the highest-value thing we could do,” Kim said, though she ultimately supported the resolution.

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