The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are putting more pressure on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to address a staggering $2.1 billion in state underfunding of Tennessee State University over the past thirty years.
In a letter from September 2023, the federal departments highlighted the significant funding gap. It also emphasized its detrimental impact on TSU, especially during challenging economic times. A more recent correspondence, obtained by The Tennessean, reiterates this call for action. This comes as the university undergoes a leadership transition after a year marked by turmoil and financial distress.
TSU appointed Dwayne Tucker, an experienced business and education leader and former TSU board member, as interim president in December. Tucker is committed to stabilizing the university’s finances while addressing the historical funding disparities. “What I want to do is provide some stability to the university in terms of resources,” he told the State Building Commission in December. “That’s the only way we’re going to move forward.”
The federal letter noted that the unbalanced funding “puts the institution in jeopardy during times of economic uncertainty.” Additionally, it pointed out the disparity between state support for TSU and its counterpart, the University of Tennessee, the other land-grant institution in the state.
“As you explore ways to address the funding imbalance, we strongly recommend establishing a state-level bipartisan joint legislative committee to gather data and conduct historical budget analysis of how the state has allocated funds,” part of the letter read.
Supporting Land-grant Schools
Tennessee State University was established under the second Morrill Act of 1890. The act mandated ending racial discrimination at existing land-grant schools or creating separate institutions for Black students. Being recognized as a land-grant HBCU, makes TSU eligible for specific grants to enhance agricultural and mechanical arts education.
The federal grants require Tennessee to provide a one-to-one funding match for UT and TSU. Since the underfunding issue was first revealed, federal officials have worked to address these disparities. They have hosted a webinar to clarify how the underfunding calculations were made and launched a federal dashboard to improve data accessibility for states and researchers.
In the latest letter from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, the emphasis was placed on the importance of building a strong workforce through robust higher education institutions. The letter expressed a desire to collaborate with Governor Lee in confronting the long-standing funding inequalities, stating, “Strong institutions of higher education support this goal through supporting research that fosters innovation that can lead to new discoveries and technologies that save lives, develop business, and sustain regions.”
The Tennessee state legislature will reconvene for its regular session on Jan. 14. It will be an opportunity for state leaders to address these critical funding issues.
This article is based on reporting by Rachel Wegner with the Nashville Tennessean.
