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Education officials: multi‑year investments tied to reading and math gains; SRO uptake varies locally
Summary
Commissioner Lizette Reynolds told the committee that investments since 2020 include $2.3 billion in recurring state dollars and one-time federal and state grants targeted to literacy, tutoring and educator pay; the department said SRO coverage varies by district and local hiring limits uptake.
Commissioner Lizette Reynolds opened the education portion of the hearing with a summary of investments and results since 2020, saying Tennessee has seen measurable reading and math gains across grades. "Since 2020, Tennessee students have made meaningful gains in literacy and math," Reynolds said, and the department highlighted NAEP improvements and expansion of recurring state funding by about $2.3 billion since 2020.
Reynolds and staff described how federal COVID relief supported tutoring, accelerated learning, literacy training and career-readiness grants. The department said roughly 98.67% of FY26 funds go directly to districts and charter schools and that summer learning and other ARPA-designated programs have been expended for intended uses.
On school safety, Lori Paisley (Assistant Commissioner, Coordinated School Health) said school resource officer (SRO) funding is popular but uptake varies due to local hiring capacity and MOUs. The Department of Safety reported a slight year-to-year dip in SRO coverage attributed to retirements and local recruitment challenges; education staff said the department is coordinating technical assistance and training for SROs.
Committee members asked for district-level breakdowns on outcomes, NAEP subgroup performance and carry-forward balances in TISA outcome funding; the department agreed to provide follow-up data to the committee.
