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Wednesday Morning Rant

Footing the Bill

The state of Tennessee, as far as governments go, is relatively rich. The report for the most recent fiscal year is not available, but per last year's report and the current-year budget process, the picture is fairly rosy. General obligation debt stands at around $2 billion and total debt is around $65 billion. Projected tax revenues this year are around $19.8 billion and there has been a budget surplus for the past couple of years.

The fiscal environment opens for Tennessee opportunities that most states will not consider. One that the state legislature is playing with is taking control of education within the state by telling the federal government to keep its money. Federal education spending is large, and it comes with big strings. Rejecting federal funding also rejects the strings, and lets the state chart its own course.

Of course, this is a terrible thing according to its opponents. After all, that federal money is just there to make sure pernicious locals don't prevent the poor and disabled from accessing education. Per the local Nashville rag The Tennessean:

Tennessee receives $1.8 billion in Title I, IDEA, and other federal program funding each year, which support low-income students, students with disabilities, and school lunch programs.

The only mention the article makes of the strings that come with federal assistance is the least important of the bunch: standardized testing requirements. The article mentions no other, including the Title I requirements around "migratory children" and ESL instruction or the various federal tentacles extended from the Department of Education.

The paper is already framing arguments against, and some are subtle:

"It would allow us to create an education system that fits the Tennessee model and allow teachers to teach without the federal government trying to tell us what to do," Sexton said in February, adding that the state would cover the $1.8 billion in programs funded federally, if it chose to reject the funding. "The state will pick up the cost and still fund those things, but we will be free of the federal regulations."

The working group is figuring out what services are paid for by the feds, which should continue, and how they could be financed without the federal outlay. It will almost certainly wind up being less than $1.8 billion, though, because not all of the things will be reproduced (some are useless or bad) and some will be reproduced more cheaply. But when the proposed state-only budget comes in at less than $1.8 billion - and it almost certainly will - the squawking will be very noisy. I look forward to hearing it. It isn't about results or efficacy - nothing in public education is - but is rather about maximizing the total dollar cost. They will make that clear in the coming months.

The Democrat leader in the state Senate, Memphis' Raumesh Akbari, is of course totally opposed to any such notion and makes the typical arguments against state independence from Washington, including that it's unfair:

"Through this committee, I will advocate that Tennessee keep accepting these necessary funds. After all, our tax dollars should be used to support Tennessee students, not students in other states."

It's odd how this is the only context where most politicians pretend to care about tax fairness. Tennesseans will continue to pay federal income taxes, and the state won't get some of that money back. This is true and you can be sure that the federal government won't cut the Department of Education's budget by $1.8 billion as a result, but Tennessee is also a modest net recipient of federal dollars - although that is somehow not unfair. This is almost never a meaningful argument, and it isn't in this case.

To the Tennessee Republicans and Governor Lee (R-weak spine): do it. Tell the feds to pound sand. Education is the single most important front in the ongoing culture war. Capitalize on your fiscal discipline and reject federal interference. You can foot the bill, so do so. Take it back from the feds.