NASHVILLE – A state policy research institution is expected to be tasked with developing recommendations governing the political and economic issue of property transfers from existing county school systems to newly created municipal districts.
Senate Education Committee members this week approved an amended bill by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R- Chattanooga, that wades into the divisive issue.
Gardenhire’s bill fleshes out his own approach on how to come up with fair-market values on schools, facilities and school property such as desks. If counties and cities can’t agree on buildings, the issue would go to binding arbitration.
But Gardenhire also directs the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to examine the issue and present its recommendations to the General Assembly this January, effectively putting off action on the roiling controversy until 2019.
There’s a wrinkle, however, on the issue. Senate Education Committee members also approved a Senate joint resolution, sponsored by Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin. And the resolution is broader, directing the advisory commission to study the general issue of revenue sharing between counties and municipal or special schools and to make recommendations.