Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger rejects $34 million annual school budget boost

Hamilton County School Superintendent Rick Smith, left, talks with Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger after speaking to the Hamilton County commission at the Hamilton County Courthouse.
Hamilton County School Superintendent Rick Smith, left, talks with Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger after speaking to the Hamilton County commission at the Hamilton County Courthouse.

"Not surprised."

Those two words kept coming up as school officials responded to Tuesday's letter from Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger that he wouldn't support a $34 million annual budget increase for the county's public schools. Coppinger, whose office sets budgets for county departments that county commissioners vote up or down, told school officials to go back to the drawing board and prepare a budget with no increase.

"We're not going to raise property taxes," Coppinger told the Times Free Press. "I've always said time and time again, it would only be ... a last resort to raise property taxes."

In his letter, Coppinger said he has always been a strong supporter of quality public education, but that it's in the best overall interest of the county to keep property taxes at the current level. The proposed 40-cent boost to school taxes would have added about $150 annually to the tax bill of a $150,000 home.

photo Rhonda Thurman talks to supporters in Soddy-Daisy about her write-in campaign for the District 1 Hamilton County Commission seat.
photo Donna Horn, vice chairwoman of the Hamilton County school board, represents District 7, which includes East Brainerd, Westview and the Southeast corner of Hamilton County. Voters elected her in 2012.
photo David Testerman

"I'm not surprised," school Superintendent Rick Smith said Tuesday night, after a special meeting at which the school board approved a list of school fees and approved the $4.4 million purchase of new math textbooks. Since proposing the budget hike in March, Smith has toured the county and held 11 public meetings to tout his proposed budget increase. He said the money would help make Chattanooga "the smartest city in the South" through such changes as adding art and foreign language instruction in elementary grades and giving a 5 percent increase in school employees' pay and benefits.

"I put a lot of work, a lot of energy and time into getting out into the community to talk about our needs," Smith said. "That was important. That needed to happen."

Smith said the $34 million in proposed enhancements likely will go away from the school district's proposed budget, which the school board will revisit at a special called meeting at 5 p.m. Monday.

While Smith said his vision for increasing the school district's programs was well received, "I think the whole issue was, 'How in the world do we fund it?'"

Soddy-Daisy school board member Rhonda Thurman, who opposed asking the County Commission for more money, said after Tuesday's meeting, "I'm not surprised. That goes into the 'well, duh' category for me."

East Brainerd school board member Donna Horn, a strong supporter of the budget increase, said she wasn't surprised either.

"We were all optimistic that maybe there was a chance," she said. "It is what it is."

School fees, new math books

The school board voted 7-to-2 Tuesday to approve a 23-page list of fees proposed for Hamilton County's 76 public schools. The fees are optional, but they generate an estimated $3 million to $4 million annually -- without which schools couldn't function, district officials say.

"If we're ever challenged legally [over charging fees], we will lose. Our attorney will tell you that," said Thurman, who along with Signal Mountain school board member Jonathan Welch voted against the list of fees.

The board also voted to spend $4.4 million on new math textbooks, with about $1.4 million to be paid from $11.7 million in liquor tax money the school district won about a year ago in a settlement from the city of Chattanooga.

Stacey Roddy and Jamie Parris, who are in charge of the school district's math curriculum, fielded questions from the board about the need for the new math textbooks.

The biggest expenditure is $1.8 million for kindergarten through fifth-grade math textbooks and $754,500 for sixth-grade through eighth-grade texts. A committee appointed by the school district chose "Ready TNCore" textbooks from Curriculum Associates, a Massachusetts-based corporation. The math books were on a list of state-approved textbooks.

This year, students will take the new TNReady standardized test, Roddy said. The district's current math materials "don't even meet 50 percent of what teachers are expected to teach," she said. Roddy said that in the past four years testing standards have changed three times. But the state promises that the new textbooks will align with the current standards for at least two years.

"What you face is a moving target," East Ridge school board member David Testerman said. "When you get to the point where you're able to zone in on the target, it changes."

School board members questioned the $4.4 million expense because of the uncertainty of changing test standards. But Roddy said Curriculum Associates promised to make changes, annually if necessary.

"That's the beauty of a consumable textbook: They are printed each year," Roddy said.

Lookout Valley board member Joe Galloway said he spoke with principals in his district and, "They all told me the same thing: That they need these books."

Hixson board member Greg Martin didn't want to tap the liquor tax settlement to buy the textbooks.

"We're going to have a discussion about that liquor tax [money]... and we have not had that discussion," he said.

Martin, Welch and Thurman voted against the textbook purchase.

The board also voted to discuss paying owner-operator school bus drivers something to make up for their losses when school is canceled because of inclement weather.

"I do not think it's charity, at all," Ooltewah board member Steve Highlander said. He suggested "just something reasonable" such as one day's pay for every fourth day school is canceled.

Superintendent Smith will meet with bus drivers and propose inclement weather pay as an addendum to their contract.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.

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