TACIR subcommittee urges state to track virtual‑school residency after finding distortions in fiscal‑capacity model

The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) ad hoc subcommittee on education recommended that the Tennessee Department of Education begin collecting residency information for public virtual‑school students, after staff analysis showed virtual enrollment and other factors can distort county fiscal‑capacity calculations.

TACIR Director (Dr.) Lippert told commissioners the staff memorandum and presentation — developed by analysts Michael Mount and Ismail Tanwe — found that including virtual‑school students in local fiscal‑capacity calculations can boost the calculated fiscal capacity of the hosting county and reduce the calculated capacity of other counties. Staff also reported that decreased residential or farm assessments (for example, from greenbelt classifications) and tourism can both change a county’s fiscal capacity and therefore affect its state funding share under the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) framework.

Why this matters

TACIR’s fiscal‑capacity model helps allocate certain state education resources…