Comment on 'Next year's going to be ugly for everybody' because of Tenn. school funding law

BLOUNTVILLE — Putting together school budgets next year in Sullivan County is not going to be an easy or pleasant task, Sullivan County school board members heard this past week. “Next year’s going to be ugly for everybody,” Ingrid Deloach, school system business manager, told the Board of Education. During a presentation on school budgeting at the Board of Education retreat Tuesday at the Ron Ramsey Agricultural Center, Deloach gave the board a look at the Basic Education Program, which Tennessee uses to fund more than 130 school systems. How does MOE mean less? Part of that presentation was on maintenance of effort (MOE) law, which says a locality can’t cut school system funding from year to year except when a system loses students.