The $450 Million Question
The Tennessean, in covering the teacher salary equalization ruling from the state Supreme Court, is throwing around estimates of how much money the state will have to spend each year to satisfy the court's mandate of equalizing salaries for all public school teachers across the state.

Yesterday, the paper said experts put the figure as high as $450 million.

Here are some questions, then, for the newspaper:

Who are the experts? And what is the $450 mililon figure based on? After all, the state could merely reduce state funding for teacher pay in wealthier districts to zero, divert the funds to poorer districts and then cap all teacher salaries statewide, which would satisfy the court and cost the state not a dime.

Because the state constitution does not empower the judiciary to make expenditure decisions, the court can not order a specific dollar amount. Indeed, its ruling made clear that it is up to the Legislature to make that decision.

So, how was that $450 million figure calculated? And who are these "experts" who made that estimate? They wouldn't be people who also favor the raising of taxes via the imposition of an income tax, would they? They wouldn't be the same people who supported Gov. Sundquist's billion-dollar annual spending increases knowing full well the binge spending would create a 'crisis' atmosphere and increase the chances for passage of an income tax, would they? They wouldn't be the same people who, during the income tax debate, often used the specter of the teacher equalization lawsuit as a fiscal Sword of Damocles hanging over the budget process and noted, often gleefully, that a court decision requiring equalization of teacher salaries could be the final impetus for passage of an income tax.

It's worth noting that the lead lawyer on the teacher pay equalization lawsuit, Lewis Donelson, is also a big proponent of the income tax.

Perhaps that's just a coincidence.

Or perhaps the $450 million figure is just a scare tactic. And perhaps the income tax isn't really dead after all.