Hamilton County District 1 board member Rhonda Thurman during a work session before the school board meeting in the Hamilton County Schools board room on Thursday, July 18, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.Hamilton County Schools officials are expected to unveil the system’s long-awaited facilities report Tuesday, and school board members say it will foreshadow long-term plans for the district’s aging buildings.
The audit was commissioned by Superintendent Bryan Johnson and the school board last fall, and MGT Consulting Group has been conducting it on the district’s more than 80 buildings this fall. Unveiling the report gained urgency when Hamilton County commissioners called for it as the district asked for increased funding, not for capital, but for operations in its original fiscal year 2020 budget report this year.
At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, board members and commissioners will be meeting with representatives from MGT to discuss the report, but many said Monday that they didn’t need it to tell them what needed to be done to improve Hamilton County’s school buildings.
“I’m expecting to hear that we have about $600 [million] in deferred maintenance and facilities repair,” said board member Rhonda Thurman, of District 1. “I’m just afraid it’s going to be a half million dollar paperweight.”
Hamilton County District 8 School Board member Tucker McClendon speaks during a work session before the school board meeting in the Hamilton County Schools board room on Thursday, July 18, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.The district has conducted facilities reviews before. The most recent review by an external contractor or group was in 1999, which reported more than $92 million in capital needs across 81 buildings. The district also adopted a facilities plan in 2007 that recommended closing 14 buildings and major renovations at another two dozen.