Even after Hamilton County school district leaders presented a new balanced budget to school board members Thursday, all agreed the budget isn’t final.
That said, we hope the July 23 joint meeting between the school board and the Hamilton County Commission might result in stretching the budget just enough to give teachers a 5% raise.
Commissioners late last month voted down the county general budget proposal, which had an additional $34 million for schools and would have required a 34-cent rise in property taxes. The budget included a 5% raise for teachers, whose salaries should be competitive with those in adjacent Bradley County and those just across the line in Georgia.
Because of annual growth money the district receives from the state, though, the balanced budget – without a property tax increase – includes a 2.5% raise.
School board members and the commission at the July 23 meeting are expected to be in receipt of the much-anticipated school facilities report, which is likely to make recommendations of schools that might be merged, closed or moved.
Our feeling was that the school district was in need of many of the requests made in the first budget but that the facilities report – and the knowledge that many district changes are likely to occur – should postpone a large tax increase until district officials can see what will shake out from the report.
County officials have until Aug. 31 to finalize a general budget, but it seems unlikely that the short time between now and then will be enough time to digest the facilities report, build a blueprint for districtwide changes based on the report, rezone schools (a necessity if schools are closed or merged), and craft a budget based on all those changes.
Still, we believe there is time – in order to show support for teachers and the need to keep the best ones in Hamilton County and not have them migrate to other counties where they are paid more – for the county commission, school board and Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger to carve out money to extend the raises to 5%. Since the budget resolution with the tax increase only failed 5-4, we’re hopeful at least one commissioner may think the teacher raises this year are a good idea.
We’re sorry that the likes of more reading interventionists, school counselors, social workers and others will not be funded this year, but we hope the right-sized district next year will have a solid handle on its exact needs going forward. That, in turn, should provide better funding clarity as well.