The Tennessee Comptrollers Office released last week updated interactive online maps and dashboards related to the state and K-12 education. The dashboards and maps allow citizens to access information on both private and public schools for the 2021-2022 school year.
Included are data on teacher salaries, student enrollment, educational attainment, school building quality, and state and local funding available for Tennessee’s public schools and school districts.
While the data available for private schools is not as comprehensive, users can still find information about school accreditation, the total number of students, and teachers, and more.
The dashboards contain data from previous years, allowing users to see trends over time. The comptroller’s office includes video tutorials demonstrating how to operate the interactive maps and dashboards.
The released data shows the total number of students enrolled in Tennessee’s public schools is less than it was in 2014, yet the state spends more on delivering K-12 education than it did nearly a decade ago.
In 2016, the state’s public schools had 999,701 students enrolled. That number in 2022 was 967,358, a slight rebound from 2021 when that number had dropped to 957,423, but still lower than in previous years.
Private school enrollment has remained consistent at roughly 15,000 students since 2014 but jumped from 14,242 to 31,722 between 2020 and 2022.
In 2014, state education funds totaled $4.3 million. That number in 2022 was $5.4 million. The basic education program is the revenue source for 97 percent of that funding.
Local funding has grown at an even higher rate. In 2014, local property taxes dedicated to schools totaled $1.9 billion. In 2022 it was $2.4 billion.
Tennessee public schools employed 76,508 people in 2022, a slight decrease from previous years. Of that number, 59,660 are classroom teachers and 3,760 are principals and assistant principals.
Private schools employ an additional 30,502 teachers.
The average salary for a classroom teacher in a Tennessee public school is $55,579, with principals averaging $92,273. Those salaries show a growth of about $10,000 since 2014 when teachers and principals averaged $48,000 and $82,000 respectively.
Data on private school teacher salaries are not included in the report.
Student outcomes have not shown the same level of growth. The average ACT score peaked in 2018 at 19.9, in 2022 it was 18.7.
The comptroller’s office updates the maps and dashboards each year with the latest data from the Tennessee Department of Education, the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, and the U.S. Census Bureau.
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TC Weber is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. He also writes the blog Dad Gone Wild. Follow TC on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]. He’s the proud parent of two public school children and the spouse of a public school teacher.
Photo “Teacher and Students” by Gustavo Fring.
