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Announcing the release of TNEFP's newest research brief from the Spatial Echo Laboratory.

TNEFP launches a peer-reviewed, open-access journal at the intersection of geography, educational finance, and institutional equity. Submissions are now open for the inaugural issue.

A new peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the geography of educational opportunity. We are thrilled to announce that the Tennessee Equity-Focused Policy organization (TNEFP) is launching its inaugural academic journal — the Journal of Spatial Equity and Education (JSEE).

Today, we are proud to announce the public release of the Flint Spatial Echo, an interactive geospatial tool designed to make visible the hidden structural ties between 1930s federal housing policy and 21st-century school funding.

Nearly thirty years after Proposal A, Michigan’s funding formula still sits on a racially engineered geography that leaves some districts structurally weaker than others, even when per‑pupil revenues look adequate on paper.

The Tennessee Center for Educational Finance and Policy (TNEFP) recently participated in the 51st Annual Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) Conference in Chicago. Our Director, Dr. Rajah E. Smart, took the stage to present critical new research during the session, "The Spatial Echo of Inequity: A Critical Geography Analysis of the Sender-Receiver School Funding Model Across Michigan’s Metropolitan Regions."

Tennessee Educational Funding and Policy (TNEFP) is a new nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing equity in school finance through rigorous spatial analysis. Following approval from the Tennessee Secretary of State (CO54645), TNEFP is now authorized to begin its mission to inform public policy and promote equitable funding models across the state.

The landscape of Middle Tennessee is transforming at an unprecedented rate. As Nashville, Clarksville, and Murfreesboro expand, the physical boundaries of our communities are shifting, yet the structural frameworks governing our schools often remain tethered to the past.

My study analyzes the "Flint Cluster"—the urban core and its surrounding suburbs—through the lens of Critical Geography. By overlaying modern school finance data onto the 1937 Homeowners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlining maps, a startling pattern emerges.

The Tennessee Center for Educational Finance and Policy (TNEFP) operates as a research hub committed to a rigorous, justice-oriented analysis of public school funding systems.