When county school officials received a $1.85 million grant from the state in March to initiate a pilot STEM school on the Chattanooga State Community College campus, the prospects for opening the school by Aug. 1 seemed bright. The state grant provided immediate funds for obtaining and prepping the former Olan Mills building by the campus for conversion into a high school. Additional grants of $500,000 from the business and manufacturing community would be solicited -- as stipulated by the state as a condition for its grant -- to fund completion of the renovation. The plan for the advanced science, technology, engineering and math school appeared fixed.
But now there's a hitch. Until two private grants for the community's cost were announced Tuesday, the school system had received no donations from area business and manufacturers to finish the school. And the two grants that were announced -- commitments by Unum and First Tennessee Bank for $100,000 and $25,000, respectively -- leave the bulk of the $375,000 balance yet to be secured.
As a result, the school board is expected to agree tonight to advance the balance of the renovation cost from its already committed capital fund. Actually, it has no choice if the school is to open on time. The conversion so far has produced a 17,000-square-foot shell. Lighting fixtures, electrical wiring and plumbing have been donated and installed. But there are barely 60 working days left to finish the building for classroom space by Aug. 1.
The funding gap is a disappointing surprise, and it raises questions. Have school officials and their fund-raising partners in the business community, for example, failed to aggressively sell the goal of the STEM program's higher level educational focus, which is meant to produce better qualified graduates and a stronger work force? Or do potential business donors value that effort as much as the public has been led to believe by complaints about inadequately educated graduates?
Then again, it may be that area business leaders have become frustrated by the County Commission's persistent meddling in the school board's business and its legendary lack of financial support. Examples include the commission's intrusion in school zoning, capital and operating funds, new school sites, and its swiping of PILOT funds, the payments in lieu of property taxes for education that were always intended to maintain the school system's operational funding.
Potential donors may also have been discouraged by the pernicious antagonism of the school board's regressive faction against progressive ideas. The school board's divisive fights over the superintendent's office have certainly sapped support. The regressive faction's forced resignations of Jim Scales and his predecessor, Jesse Register, and its arrogant dismantling of the board's codified bylaws in order to install Rick Smith as superintendent, appalled many school patrons.
It's notable footnote that Register, snapped up by Nashville to lead its school system after being forced out here, helped Nashville win part of the $27 million in state funding announced last week for the Innovation Zone program, along with Memphis. Hamilton County schools' weak proposal lost its bid for a share of those funds.
The divisive history of the school board and County Commission has consequences. It has clearly hurt the county and suppressed vital support for the school system. The current stall on donor funding for the STEM program is just the latest result. It should be a wake-up call for both the County Commission and the school board to elevate their support and vision for the county school system.