Reactions were swift – and mixed – to a bill filed in the Tennessee Senate Wednesday that would require county school systems to transfer ownership of school buildings to newly created municipal school districts that lie within county boundaries.
Senate Bill 1755, introduced by Republican state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, seeks to remove one of the potential obstacles to municipalities breaking off from county school systems – a move now being considered by the town of Signal Mountain – by requiring school buildings to go with the students when a new district is formed.
The Chattanooga Republican said he was asked by a Memphis attorney to introduce the bill because of his position as the chairman of the Senate Education Committee’s K-12 subcommittee.
Despite the senator introducing a bill that could clear the way for a break from the Hamilton County Schools system, a number of people in the Signal Mountain community are up in arms over Gardenhire’s involvement, saying he doesn’t represent the mountain.
From left, Tennessee Transportation Commissioner John Schroer and state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, listen as state Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, speaks.“My thoughts are that it is premature,” said Elizabeth Baker, a Signal Mountain resident and member of the Stay with HCDE [the Hamilton County Department of Education] group that has been raising opposition against the split since the idea first took off more than a year ago. “I don’t understand why Sen. Gardenhire was the one who introduced the bill, there appears to be nobody in his constituency district who is creating an independent school district.”