by Jon Styf
Tennessee schools saw an 18.4% increase in inflation-adjusted per student funding between 2002 and 2020, according to a new report.
Spending on employee benefits increased by 56.5% over the same period, according to Reason Foundation’s Education Spending Across 50 States report.
Tennessee spent $1,992 per student on employee benefits in 2020 compared to $1,273 in 2002.
The state has $6.2 billion in total education debt, up $1,125 per student since 2002, according to the report.
The state’s student enrollment grew 9.7% over the period while total public education staff increased by 20.8% with an 11.0% increase in teachers and 31.6% increase in non-teachers.
The inflation-adjusted teacher salary in the state dropped 6.7% over the period from $55,616 in 2002 to $51,862 in 2020.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has since signed into law an incremental minimum teacher pay increase from current $42,000 to $50,000 for the 2026-27 school year.
From 2003 to 2019, the state’s fourth-grade reading scores went up 7 points and eighth-grade reading scores went up 4 points in the NAEP Nation’s Report Card while the math scores went up 12 points in fourth grade and 12 points for eighth-graders.
Low-income students in the state saw their scores go up 4 points in fourth-grade reading and 3 points in eighth grade over the span while low-income students’ math scores went up 10 points in fourth-grade math and rose by 13 points in eighth grade.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.Â
