When the 1,100-student East Brainerd Elementary School opens in August, it will already be bursting at the seams.
“It will open approaching capacity,” Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith said last week, during a “State of the Schools” speech to about 80 people at the Hamilton County Council of PTAs’ general meeting.
So, Smith said, eastern Hamilton County will likely need another elementary school and a middle school – especially after Volkswagen hires 2,000 additional workers to build a new sport-utility vehicle at its Chattanooga assembly plant.
“We’re going to be talking about additional schools in that part of the county,” Smith said.
This comes after financial constraints were the main reasons listed earlier this year for long-delayed – and overdue, based on many public comments made at that time – school infrastructure projects were put on hold, including the building of a new CSLA.
But it also comes after Hamilton County Schools was granted an $11.7 million cash settlement by the city of Chattaooga for back liquor tax money the city owed the school system. At that time, school district attorney D. Scott Bennett said the city also will pass along about $1 million annually in liquor tax money to the school district.
“What would it take for Hamilton County to be the best public school system in the South?” Smith asked the audience toward the end of his talk.
Scottie Summerlin, of Chattanooga’s Public Education Foundation, responded, “I would do whatever it takes to make sure our schools are fully funded.”
That inspired Smith to talk about things that could be available to kids here, such as art instruction in every elementary school, with adequate funding.
“I’ve got to the point where it’s time to quit talking about it, and it’s time to take action,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.
Smith also said the district needs to build a new Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) on the 40 acres it owns on East Brainerd Road to replace the current aging facility.
The magnet school should be expanded in size to serve prekindergarten through 12th grade, he said. The Hamilton County Commission, which controls which new schools on the school board’s wish list get funded, this spring turned down the school board’s request for a new CSLA building.
“CSLA needs to happen,” Smith said. “Our board supports that. I support that.”