Lamberth's Emergency Budget Funds Vouchers, Cuts Investment in Schools

State Representative William Lamberth recently touted the General Assembly's "emergency budget" passed in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. While the budget ensured Gov. Bill Lee's voucher scheme is fully-funded, it cut the state's planned investment in public schools. Here's how Lamberth describes that:

The FY 2020-2021 budget also fully funds the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP) through a new $50.3 million investment and it provides $58.7 million for teacher pay raises.

Here's the reality:

It reduces the BEP inflationary adjustment and cuts in half the initial proposed increase in the teacher salary component.

 

Also, according to Chalkbeat, the budget proposal retains $37 million to fund the first year of Lee’s voucher scheme:

Lee retained $37 million for education savings accounts, a controversial program set to start this fall to let eligible families in Memphis and Nashville use taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition.

Here's the full budget amendment.

Lamberth's spin move has him far from the reality of public school funding in our state. Even the bipartisan TACIR commission notes schools are underfunded by $1.7 billion.

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