Governor To Push For BEP Changes

Governor Phil Bredesen says he intends to change the Basic Education Program formula in time to affect the new money he wants to add in to next year’s budget. The BEP is the

formula by which the state funds local school systems.

The governor used a new adjective to describe how hard it is to understand the math of the B-E-P.

“I mean I was on the receiving end when I was mayor of Nashville, and I’m pretty numerate, and all this stuff was flying by and I’m not sure I ever exactly understood what the state was doing with the B-E-P.”

Earlier this year a special committee studying the 40-part B-E-P formula failed to agree on changes. Bredesen says he and Senate Education Chair Jamie Woodson have been meeting on how to make the formula more understandable.

“I’m saying that the issue of transparency in the BEP, the issue of trying to get the changes made this spring to the BEP so that any new money that goes in doesn’t sort of further make difficult the changes you need to make, those are things we certainly see eye to eye on at this point.”

The governor says he may have left the impression in his State of the State speech that he didn’t intend to address B-E-P changes this year. But those changes have been key issues for urban school districts.