Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said public education is one of his biggest concerns, and county residents seem to think the same way.
Overcrowded schools and a need for increased public education funding dominated Monday night’s open question-and-answer session as nearly 100 of Coppinger and District 4 Commissioner Warren Mackey’s constituents voiced concerns about where education funding was coming and where it is going.
“We’ve seen a small increase every year in the money that’s actually going into the classroom,” Coppinger said during the meeting at the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. “We’re working toward that. Are we where we need to be? Of course not.”
Right now, one of the county’s primary focuses is building schools to relieve facilities that are at capacity. Coppinger said that can be done by finding new ways to free up funds such as cutting cafeteria and transportation staff.
“We can do it, and hopefully we can do it in a way that’s not going to require any additional property taxes, but we need to look at some creative ways to do that over the years,” he said. “There’s nothing we do in Hamilton County with your tax dollars that’s more important than education.”
Coppinger said quality public education was one of the county’s top draws for businesses such as Amazon.com and Volkswagen.
COUNTY CONVERSATIONS
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger will hold another Q&A session at Signal Mountain Middle School on April 5 at 6 p.m.
“The public education piece is really important to economic development and job creation,” he said. “One of the things businesses looked at specifically is do we have a trainable work force, what does our public education system look like and will we be able to fill these jobs in the future. So far it’s been a resounding yes.”
Tony Hare, a three-year Alton Park resident at the discussion, said he would have liked to hear about issues other than education, but building public schools still ranks high on his list of concerns.
“I want to see even more across the county,” he said. “I want to see an even playing field for all kids.”
Hare said it’s good to hear county leaders discuss public school funding, but he is waiting for results before judging their success addressing education issues.
“I guess the jury’s still out on it, I don’t know,” he said. “I guess we’ll see.”
Contact Carey O’Neil at coneil@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6525.