Revenue sources for funding education in
Sevier County is derived from three primary
sources:
1. Basic Education Plan (BEP)
2. Property tax
3. Sales tax

The Basic Education Program (BEP) is the
funding formula through which state education
dollars are generated and distributed to
Tennessee schools to provide a basic level of
education for Tennessee students.

The BEP has three major categories related to
the basic needs of students, teachers, and
administrators within a school system.
› Instructional (typical State share- 70%)
› Classroom (typical State share- 75%)
› Non-Classroom (typical State share- 50%)

The BEP Formula utilizes a statistical
estimate of a county’s relative ability to
raise revenue for education (fiscal
capacity).

Fiscal capacity is determined by 2
indexes:
1. TACIR Index
2. CBER/Fox Index
The amount of money the county
reports it spends on education.
2. The property assessment
3. Local sales tax
4. Per Capita Income
5. Tax burden when calculating farm and
residential properties against total
assessment
6. Service burden for education dividing
total ADM by county population
1.
1.
2.
The County’s Property Tax
Sales Tax
Multiplied by an average tax base for the
state to determine the county’s local fiscal
capacity
When the fiscal capacity is
determined and applied
to the formula, our local
economy creates an
anomaly that exists no
where else in the State of
Tennessee.
Sevier County is recognized as the
wealthiest county in the State of
Tennessee based on these fiscal
capacity indexes, even though we
have :
 63% free/reduced lunch rate. as of Feb. 2014


(nearly 9,000 students)
10.4% unemployment rate as of Feb. 2014
 Per-capita income= $32,065 TACIR Fiscal

Capacity Info Sheet
Sevier County –
The State of Tennessee’s third
largest tax producer out of
95 counties
Receives the least amount of
state education funding.

The total operating budget for Sevier
County Schools for the 2014-15 fiscal
year is $129,271,226.

This equates to 30.4% coming from state
funding and more than 60.41% from
local funding.
LOCAL
STATE
FEDERAL
Sevier County
60.50%
31.60%
7.80%
Knox County
53.90%
36.70%
9.40%
Roane County
41.40%
48.70%
9.90%
Blount County
39.50%
52.30%
8.20%
Anderson County
36.70%
48.30%
15.00%
Jefferson County
28.40%
61.00%
10.70%
State Average
40.10%
48.70%
11.30%
80
70
75
70
54.89%
60
50
43.29%
50
40
30
25
20
STATE AVG %
10
SEVIER COUTY %
0
District
BEP Funding
ADM
Per student
Shelby
$651,226,000
149,974
$4,343
Davidson
$252,620,000
77,670
$3,252
Knox
$173,190,000
56,773
$3,051
Hamilton
$131,119,000
42,194
$3,108
Rutherford
$164,993,000
39,746
$4,150
Williamson
$107,204,000
32,887
$3,260
Montgomery
$126,044,000
29,837
$4,224
Sumner
$120,936,000
27,993
$4,330
Wilson
$61,346,000
16,014
$3,831
Sevier
$38,495,000
14,246
$2,702
BEP $
Difference
from Sevier
Co.
Total Dollar
Variance
FY14-15 BEP
Allocation
ADMs
Per Pupil
Funding
Sevier
$38,495,000
14,247
$2,706
Knox
$173,190,000
56,773
$3,051
$344
$4.9M
Hamilton
$131,119,000
42,194
$3,116
$409
$5.8M
Davidson
$252,620,000
77,670
$3,232
$525
$7.4M
Williamson
$107,204,000
32,887
$3,281
$574
$8.1M
Washington
$30,502,000
8,857
$3,444
$737
$10.5M
Johnson City
$26,410,000
7,647
$3,453
$746
$10.6M
$44,819,0
12,590
$3,559
$853
$12.1M
District
Madison
When the formula is calculated and the
funds are distributed, Sevier County
receives the lowest per child funding of any
district in the State.
 The gap between Sevier County and Knox
County is $344.58 per child ($4,909,875.16

additional funds)


Williamson County (wealthiest county in
state) receives $574.49 more per child than
Sevier County ($8,185,703.29
additional funds)

Cost differential factor based on
economy(government service burden)

Floor in the funding formula not to fall below
65% in state funding ($10M+)

Change in criteria indexes including some
consideration of free/reduced population
(at risk) , employment indexes, ELL
populations

Change indexes to TACIR only ($4M+)

The gap between state revenues for Sevier
County children and other school districts
will continue to grow.
› 2008 gap= $80.00 per student
› 2014 gap= $344.58 per student

The revenues for supporting education in
Sevier County must be increased for the
operation of our school system’s most basic
needs.