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Bryson proposes $250M for TISA, 20,000 new scholarship slots; senators press for enrollment math
Summary
The administration proposed $250 million for TISA and funding to raise starting teacher pay; members questioned attendance projections and whether education funding keeps pace with inflation, and requested detailed per-student calculations and enrollment numbers.
Commissioner Bryson described proposed increases to K–12 funding and the Education Freedom scholarship program, telling the committee the budget adds $339 million for public education including $250 million for TISA and funding steps to raise starting teacher pay. "With this TISA funding, as the governor mentioned last night, we have achieved our goal to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000 per year," Bryson said when outlining the administration's education commitments.
Several senators pressed staff on the arithmetic behind per-pupil figures, enrollment assumptions and whether the proposed growth keeps up with inflation. Senator Yarbrough and others asked for the attendance number and component detail that underlie the $7,121 per-student figure; the administration and Fiscal Review agreed to provide a more detailed breakdown of TISA components, enrollment projections and the calculation of scholarship costs so the committee can evaluate purchasing-power effects relative to inflation.
