Two years ago, then-Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith barnstormed through the county, suggesting a 40-cent property tax increase to raise $34 million for local public schools.
His hope was there would be such a groundswell of support from the public that the Hamilton County Commission would have no choice but to fund his request.
The public and the commission had other ideas. The public said it already was taxed too much, and county commissioners said they were not convinced the additional funds would bring up the district's poor test scores.
The Hamilton County Board of Education approved a budget that included the additional funds, only to be told by County Mayor Jim Coppinger to go back and submit a balanced budget without the extra funds.
Following that defeat, Smith and the schools endured a year's equivalent of the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."
At the end of that school year, despite a multitude of setbacks, interim Superintendent Dr. Kirk Kelly requested $24 million more for the schools. In time, the school board again was told to return with a balanced budget, which would include an increase of $11.8 million from tax growth and state funding.
This year, the interim superintendent is suggesting an increase of $33.5 million, which doesn't account for an estimated $9 million the district will receive from tax growth and state funding, and school board members will vote on that budget this week.
Kelly, advised last week by school board member Joe Smith to present a balanced budget with a list of needs and the explanation for them, instead said he felt there still would be time to present a balanced budget if the county rejects the extra funding. If we don't request it, he said, how will the county know we need it?
We believe the county knows - has heard it from reports on every school board meeting, has heard it from school board members (some exhaustively more than others), has heard it in consideration of school maintenance and school construction issues, and, most recently has heard it from community schools group UnifiEd.
Commissioners are sympathetic about some of the district's funding needs but are wary of committing even more money without seeing something of a turnaround in county schools, whose total take increases every year despite no tax increase. They, like the public, want to see improved test scores, a superintendent in place and a pledge to shake things up.
Taxes for schools haven't been raised in 12 years. As evident as some of the district's needs are, we believe there is some convincing of the public and the county commission to be done before such a deal can be closed.