Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement: First-year implementation
February 2025
Authors: Allison Pams, Dana Spoonmore, and Lance Iverson
The General Assembly created the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) in 2022 to replace the Basic Education Program (BEP) as the state’s funding formula for K-12 education. This report is an evaluation of TISA following its first year of implementation.
In the first year of TISA, the 2023-24 school year, the General Assembly invested an additional $1.16 billion of state funding in K-12 education through the formula. OREA found that because of this investment and the design of TISA, all school districts received more state money in the first year of TISA than the last year of the BEP.
OREA also found that while TDOE has met most requirements found in TISA law and rule, several requirements, such as the requirement for TDOE to annually convene meetings of an Outcomes Review Committee and specifications for professional development, are either partially incomplete or have not been met. The report includes recommendations on how the department can address these shortcomings.
OREA concluded that evaluating the TISA formula’s effects on districts’ spending decisions and the resulting impact on student achievement will require more years of data. The report identifies metrics to gauge the impact of TISA on student outcomes in the coming years.