NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee public school districts and public charter schools may soon be required to provide financial transparency for certain costs.
House Bill 2121 sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams R – Cookeville is headed to the House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee after being moved there from the Education Committee on Tues. March 10.
The bill would require all public charter schools and local school boards to report spendings for several categories including instructional costs, student support services, school and district adminrastions, operations, maintenance, and professional development.
Williams said the legislation is aimed at improving public understanding in how education funding in Tennessee is used.
“The bill will strengthen transparency and accountability on how Tennessee K-12 dollars are budgeted and spent,” Williams said.
During the education committee meeting Rep. Gloria Johnson D – Knoxville, questioned if the bill could be amended to include a requirement that private schools publish their spending information.
“We have hundreds of millions of dollars being spent with zero transparency on how those dollars are being spent,” Johnson said.
Williams said he would not support adding that amendment since it is not related to the Education Freedom Scholarship bill passed in the spring.
“Absolutely not,” Williams said.
The bill will now be considered by the House Finance, Ways, and Means committee. If passed it would move forward to the House for all members to debate. A similar bill is under consideration in the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee.
This story is part of week long news coverage of the TN General Assembly by the UT-Chattanooga PULSE Project.
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