Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger is standing up for schools. What remains to be seen is whether the Hamilton County Commission that he leads will do the same.
Coppinger presented his proposed $819 million 2020 budget – an increase of $65 million over this year – to the commission on Tuesday. The proposal includes a nearly $60 million increase to Hamilton County Schools’ operational budget – to be partially funded by a 34-cent tax increase for all Hamilton County property owners.
It could have been higher. The school district’s $443 million proposed general purpose budget includes a request for an additional $34 million from the county. The remainder of the $60 million increase comes from federal and state funding. And although it had been reported that Coppinger might ask for a 49-cent increase, including another 15 cents for general county government, on Tuesday he told commissioners: “We have totally backed off the other 15 cents that have been talked about. This budget is really about the 34 cents for education.”
Saying it’s time for the community to make clear where it stands on education, Coppinger clarified his county priorities. He said he wanted to grant Superintendent Bryan Johnson’s request for additional operations funding; add paramedics, EMTs, law enforcement officers and school resource officers among other public safety priorities; and maintain the county’s triple-A bond rating.
Later, Coppinger told the Times Free Press that Johnson “has proven he can move it [the school system’s upward achievement].” Benchmark tests students took at the end of each quarter in the just-ended school year found growth in almost every tested subject. The best example may have been in literacy: In 2018, only 33.7% of the district’s third-graders were on track in reading, but according to the final benchmarks taken before students went on spring break, 39.9% of students were on track.