Current through September 24, 2024
(1) The Department
shall distribute allocated education funding periodically throughout the school
year according to a schedule established by the commissioners of education and
finance and administration, subject to all applicable restrictions prescribed
by law.
(a) Approximately one-tenth (1/10) of
the estimated total of the state funds annually appropriated for TISA shall be
distributed on or about August 15, and on or about the fifteenth (15th) day of
each succeeding month through April 15, and the amount of the remainder due
each LEA for the school year shall be determined during June of such school
year.
(b) The amount of the
remainder due shall be determined based on the records that each LEA has
furnished the Department. The actual delivery of the warrant covering the final
distribution to an LEA shall not be made until after all records required by
the Department have been furnished.
(c) Before a full and complete settlement is
made with any LEA for any year, all records and reports required by the
Department shall be filed with the Department by the LEA.
(2) LEAs shall distribute state and local
funds to their authorized public charter schools pursuant to State Board of
Education Rules, Chapter
0520-14-01 regarding the
allocation of state and local funds to public charter schools.
(3) If state funds available for distribution
are insufficient to meet an LEA's TISA allocation for a school year, then the
Department shall apply a pro rata reduction to the amount that each LEA is
allocated. If it is necessary to issue pro rata payments, the Commissioner,
with the approval of the State Board, may waive any requirements prescribed by
law, rule, or otherwise until the state provides the required funding;
provided, however, that the Commissioner shall not waive the regulatory or
statutory requirements listed in T.C.A. §
49-1-201(d)(1)(A)-(O).
(4) The Department shall apply the following
minimum allocation requirements annually when distributing TISA funds:
(a) An LEA's allocated education funding
shall not decrease more than five percent (5%) from one (1) year to the next
year.
(b) If an LEA's TISA
allocation decreases by more than five percent (5%) from the LEA's TISA
allocation for the prior school year, then the Department shall allocate
additional funds to the LEA in an amount such that the decrease in the LEA's
TISA allocation for the current year is only five percent (5%). The Department
will use the relative contribution of state and local funds in the original
TISA allocation for the funded year to set the state and Local Contributions of
the updated allocations.
(c) The
Department shall not allocate additional funds to an LEA pursuant to T.C.A.
§
49-3-108(c) if
the Department is required to allocate additional funds to the LEA pursuant to
T.C.A. §
49-3-108 subsection (b).
(5) Subject to appropriations by
the Tennessee General Assembly and pursuant to T.C.A. §
49-3-108(d)(1),
the Department shall distribute a grant to an LEA meeting the following
criteria:
(a) The LEA that is located within a
county designated as distressed or at risk by the commissioner of economic and
community development and for which the LEA's Fiscal Capacity and Local
Contribution increase the LEA's maintenance of effort requirements pursuant to
T.C.A. §
49-3-314(c)(3)(A).
Distressed or at-risk grant funding is calculated as a flat dollar value equal
to the amount of the required increase in their Local Contribution;
or
(b) The LEA is located within a
county having an active tourism development zone agreement executed before July
1, 2023, and having a population of not less than ninety-eight thousand three
hundred (98,300) nor more than ninety-eight thousand four hundred (98,400),
according to the 2020 federal census or any subsequent federal census. This
annual grant is to be in the amount of $1,840,000.
(6) An LEA that satisfies the criteria of
Subparagraphs (5)(a) and (5)(b) may receive multiple grants.
(7) The Department shall report longitudinal
and comparative school and district-level funding and district, state, and
federal-level per-pupil expenditure data reporting in transparent and
interactive formats annually beginning no later than December 2024.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
49-3-103(c) and
49-3-115.
