Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn stopped off at Community High School Thursday afternoon with Bedford County faculty and staff discussing the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) funding.

A billion dollars is being invested in more student resources next year, according to Schwinn. The new legislation will be published early next week, and Schwinn said they are looking for as much robust commentary as possible.

Schwinn said, “The rules are really nitty-gritty implementation pieces about how things work, how is data submitted, when is it not submitted, for students with disabilities, for English learners, for gifted students . . . . We’re really asking for folks, even though it’s summer, to look at the rules.”

The TISA funding formula is “student based” whereas the prior Basic Education Program (BEP) formula was resource-based, according to Bedford County Director of Schools Tammy Garrett.

How does it work? Schools that have students who require learning aids, such as dyslexic, ESL, or gifted students, will receive more funding.

They will also receive more money for Career and Technical Education (CTE) students since these kinds of programs require high-dollar equipment. The new CTE wing at Community High will include cosmetology classes.

Garrett added that Bedford County Schools received approval to start an aviation mechanics program as Middle Tennessee State University’s aerospace program will be moving to Shelbyville Municipal Airport.

“We want to give our students lots of different opportunities to get a job,” said Garrett. “So, we’re very excited about TISA. It will accelerate learning.”

A common question about the new funding is if it would be an incentive for school systems to identify certain students, such as special needs, gifted or from poor socio-economic backgrounds. with learning aids more often.

Garrett said, “There are requirements and you’re monitored to make sure you’re testing kids in an adequate way. They monitor how many males and females you refer. There is criteria and some students will not meet it.”

Future BCS plans

With the new funding, Garrett said BCS will receive $11 million more a year in state funding. The county looks to put that money towards:

•Providing interventionists to help close the gap in reading. “Our goal is to make sure all of our students are reading by third grade. The state has a benchmark of 75 percent.”

•Hiring more English Language Learner teachers. “We are significantly underfunded in that area, so we’ve got to get small groups of instruction.”

•Continuing summer learning camps. “This is the last year of the state COVID money [ESSER funds] that we can do that.”

•Implementing high-dosage tutoring. “This will be to either close the gaps or accelerate the learning of students who have already mastered a topic.”

•Making sure there are enough guidance counselors, nurses, and Student Resource Officers (SROs.) “One of the other things I’d love for us to do this year or next year is put SROs in the elementary schools...so I’m going to work with the sheriff’s department to try and get that implemented.”

“We want to definitely take this next year and do a needs assessment and really study what makes a difference and what impacts learning,” Garrett said.

BCS is also focusing on getting students out of portable classrooms by 2024. Liberty School will be the last addition needed to get kids at Liberty and South Side out of portables. The new elementary school to be built in northern Shelbyville will alleviate East Side and Eakin.

“We really feel like we can build a great school. We’re really taking our time, working with the architects so that we can build a prototype. So, once you have a programmatic one, you can build it again and don’t have to spend as much time.”

“Right now, we’re playing catch-up. We want to get to where we’re planning ahead.”

Q&A

BCS Director of Curriculum and Instruction Erin Phillips asked Schwinn during the event what her vision is for continued support as they implement new English Language Arts, math, science, and social studies materials.

Schwinn said the state’s Reading 360 program as well as the adoption process for High Quality Instruction (HQI) program gave them a blueprint for what worked and what didn’t.

“I think the biggest lesson learned for us is that it’s important to do that ongoing implementation but having it be led by the districts and then the department coming alongside,” Schwinn said. “That way you can pick and choose what works.”

Science and social studies differ from ELA and math is that they will require more “contextual components” that will be specific to individual communities, according to Schwinn.

“Our job will be facilitating the structure for those local conversations and being even more agnostic than we already are in terms of really diving into the content,” Schwinn said.

Community Middle School Principal Tony Garrette asked about CTE programs at the middle school level.

Schwinn said the goal is to provide students with early exposure of exploratory courses before they reach ninth grade. This can also include quarter-long programs as well as having academic advisors sit down with middle school students to direct them in their strengths and weaknesses.

Community High Principal Robert Ralston asked about the teacher shortage across the state.

Schwinn said their big strategy is the “Grow Your Own” recruitment program. Essentially, it is an an apprenticeship model where you can become a teacher for free and get paid to do so, Schwinn explained.

They are also looking at higher compensation for teachers.

“We started at $34,000. That’s where we were in2019. Today, we’re up to$40,000, which is a significant increase in minimum teacher salary,” Schwinn said. She said that will most likely increase to $45,000 in the next three to five years.