Loftin: Business leaders should step up for school tax

All public schools need dedicated teachers, executive-class principals and central office professionals who support those in front-line classrooms. That describes our school system and the importance of supporting the men and women dedicated to preparing our children for their own careers.

County leaders should grasp the opportunity to enhance our students’ educational needs, especially boys and girls whose economic circumstances sentence them to alarming long-term consequences. All it takes is vision and political courage.

County Mayor Jim Coppinger should include a first-in-a-decade property tax increase for schools in the fiscal 2016 budget and urge county commissioners to approve it. By enlisting as our students’ allies, Coppinger and the commissioners would bolster the schools’ academic menu and thus the community’s future.

Superintendent Rick Smith has been holding countywide meetings explaining the necessity of investing more heavily in education. But he and school board members should not be expected to carry that effort alone, because they can’t.

The county’s new budget must be approved by June 30. That gives another influential group — county business leaders — time to weigh in. They surely know that a stellar school system will graduate educated and ambitious young men and women. In other words, future employees. Their vision for our schoolchildren’s future cannot be disassociated from the community’s.

In the last decade Hamilton County has blossomed economically with the arrival of Volkswagen, Amazon and scores of other businesses. Longtime residents often find it hard to explain to newcomers what Chattanooga was like before the dramatic changes we’ve seen since the 1970s.

By acknowledging that the proposed tax increase for schools coincides with a legitimate expression of their own self-interest, the business community can improve its odds of success. They would pay more in property taxes. But remember that business axiom: You spend money to make money.

County leaders and corporate executives know their organizations can’t simply run in place. If they set goals but don’t provide the means to achieve them, they compromise their future. That betrays students and stockholders, respectively.

The history of our economy is littered with once successful companies that failed or were acquired by more progressive competitors. Smart business executives who keep that history in mind allocate funds for research about market trends, customer preferences, and the political or economic forces that could affect their companies.

They also plan for the next decade, not just the next year.

That’s a lesson county commissioners must take to heart. If they truly want to see Hamilton County’s economic success continue, they won’t focus just on the next election.

Sure, voting to provide more revenue to ensure the best schools possible carries political risks. But which is more important: our children’s future or re-election?

Those who will benefit most from the board’s plan are not this year’s graduates, and possibly not those in the next couple of years. As a good leader, Smith knows it takes time to put new programs in place and expand existing ones. Essentially, the board is planning for the future of current pre-K, kindergarten and elementary school students.

By the time the improvements are completed we likely would have a new superintendent, school board members and county commissioners. But if the current officials work together on this vital effort, think of the legacy they will leave to their countywide beneficiaries.

Business leaders know their companies’ success depends in part on the quality of future graduates. Persuading commissioners that a targeted property tax increase is a wise investment is in everyone’s best interest.

Michael Loftin is former editorial page editor of The Chattanooga Times.