Cooper: Action needed in education meeting

Hamilton County school board members, shown, will host a joint meeting with members of the Hamilton County Commission at the Hamilton County Department of Education on Tuesday.
Hamilton County school board members, shown, will host a joint meeting with members of the Hamilton County Commission at the Hamilton County Department of Education on Tuesday.

We want to believe, and we believe the public would appreciate, the positive prospects of a joint meeting between the Hamilton County Commission and Hamilton County Board of Education that focuses on a shared responsibility for the education of some 42,000 students in county public schools.

Oh, members of both boards would assure anyone who asks that they certainly take that to heart. But when it comes giving up hoarded funds, occasionally accepting blame or finding compromise solutions, both sides fall short.

Tuesday, when the two bodies meet at the Hamilton County Department of Education, can be a new start. But it will occur following the revelation - at least by one county commission - that one item that may as well not be on the table is school construction.

Commissioner Sabrena Smedley told members of the commission's education committee last Wednesday the county budget for fiscal 2018 will not include any money for new construction of schools.

"[I]t's my understanding," she said, "there's not going to be any new funds in the budget for new construction projects."

That is downright unpleasant news to hear for proponents of the two schools at the top of the school board's recently made priority list, Harrison Elementary School and Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts - much less for other schools on the list - but that doesn't mean it shouldn't preclude positive action from coming out of the joint meeting.

Commissioner Greg Martin, a member of the commission's education committee and a former school board member, made one suggestion last week that could get the ball rolling. He put forth the idea the commission combine the remaining $700,000-plus in bond money made available to the commission for this fiscal year with proceeds from the sale of the former East Brainerd Elementary School to make roof repairs across the school district.

Roof repairs are estimated to be $4.7 million of the more than $200 million in deferred maintenance projects across the county.

The bond money, you may recall, has become a political football in recent months since some commissioners began to ask it be equally divided, raising the specter of the discretionary funds that commissioners were allowed for a number of years (and then removed by Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger). The bond money had been offered by Coppinger last year in an undocumented discussion in the hopes it would be used by commissioners for projects that would benefit the wider community.

Some $180,000 was tapped for resurfacing the track at Red Bank High School, buying an athletics field striper for Ooltewah High School and erecting football field bathrooms at East Hamilton Middle High School. Then cooperation fell apart when it was suggested $500,000 of the remaining funds be used for a new track for Central High School.

But a combined project doesn't have to be roofs. It could be stadium construction, new windows, painting, playground equipment or any number of other. However, cooperation is the key.

In response to Martin last week, Smedley said some county commissioners would ask the school board to also dip into its reserve funds on any such a project. It's a fair request, and we hope it won't be a sticking point.

What's vital is that, in a year where there apparently won't be any funds for new construction, county commissioners and school board members work together to give schools administrators, teachers, parents, students and the public a signal they can find ways to get off their wallets, pool money, take a chunk out of the maintenance backlog and show a united concern that the education of county students is important.

Commissioner Randy Fairbanks, in last week's education committee meeting, spoke to what members of both bodies may be afraid will happen and, fair or not, what the public is pretty sure will happen.

"I don't want either board to get in an accusatory mode where you lose it, you shut down, and usually it's on our part more than theirs," he said. "If we go in there with that attitude, that school board is going to shut down. I would too."

Smedley and Board of Education Chairman Steve Highlander, who will work together on setting the agenda for the meeting, are both reasonable people. We are confident they can steer members of the two bodies in a positive direction. The public will be watching for just such a signal.

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