NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Whether Tennessee can pick and choose what federal programs to participate in has stayed top of mind for the 10-member task force prompted to explore how those dollars work in the state.
Lawmakers will have their final meetings Wednesday before drafting a report for the legislature, which will reconvene in January. Ultimately, legislators will decide whether to accept $1.8 billion in federal funds, dollars Tennesseans send to the federal government every year when they pay taxes. Top Republican leaders said it's essential to evaluate what strings were attached to federal dollars before receiving them. Democrats said the state can't fund Tennessee schools with the money it already spends.
During one of the latest talks, lawmakers spoke on two primary issues: can they pick and choose what funding to take and is any of the current money spent wastefully?
The Tennessee Department of Education weighed in with their panel before lawmakers, explaining with a presentation how federal funding even works. For example, funding for students in poverty has five different layers of dollars. It's uncertain that they can be cherry-picked without accepting the whole amount.
Lawmakers said they wanted a “‘cafeteria-style” approach so they would have the final say.
“I believe this question was posed in some of the other hearings as well and references the cafeteria-style approach," TDOE's Sam Pearcy said. "And to be honest with you, that’s still a little up in the air.”
Lawmakers were also concerned about administration positions for handling federal programs and if waste during school lunch was an issue.
Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, said he wondered if those positions should exist. Department members said the federal funding needed some coordination and someone helping to run these programs.
Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, said he wanted the department and lawmakers to think about food waste as tax dollars are used to pay for school lunches. Currently, the Tennessee Department of Education doesn't keep data on food waste. But in Ragan's district, Anderson County did try to keep count at one school. One item that was continually wasted cost up to $24,000 for the year, the panelists told the task force.
Ragan said with his background in eliminating waste and making processes smoother for companies, he would like to see the state understand that cafeteria food waste needed another glance. He said it would require full lawmaker buy-in before anything changed.
"The issue to me as the guardian of taxpayer dollars, whether it’s federal or state," Ragan said. "I know it’s an issue and a solution is yet to be determined is to examine the data."
