The Hamilton County school board next week will consider whether to give each member a $3,000 allowance for development opportunities and related travel expenses.
“I do think it’s important for us to put in the work to better ourselves,” School Board Member Ben Connor, D-Chattanooga, said. “Just like we ask our teachers to do personal development days, I think it’s important that we as board members make sure that we are educating ourselves to be able to create the right policy and help our students as best we can.”
Potential activities for which the allowance could be used include participating in school board conferences, workshops and conventions held by the Tennessee School Boards Association, as well as local and district-sponsored training sessions for the 11 board members.
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Last year, school board members spent $31,000 on those expenses, said Sherrie Ford, the board’s executive assistant. The funds were spent on members attending the Tennessee School Boards Association convention and trainings, as well as on three members who attended Consortium of State School Boards Associations conferences out-of-state.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press has requested documentation of the expenses under state open records laws.
As Hamilton County commissioners receive $15,000 per year in discretionary dollars for travel and office expenses, Connor originally suggested school board members should receive roughly half that, or $6,000, for similar expenses. He said his number was based on the costs to attend three trainings a year and a national school board conference.
“I just don’t think that we need to be a travel agency to be going all over the place,” School Board Member Rhonda Thurman, R-Hixson, said. “It’s just so not necessary, in my opinion. I think that $3,000 is very generous, and I certainly don’t think we need to be paying a teacher salary to the school board for our travel.”
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The Tennessee School Boards Association requires members to participate in seven hours of training each year. New board members must complete an additional 14 hours of orientation training courses, per board policy.
School Board Member Gary Kuehn, R-Ooltewah, said while he didn’t know if all board members needed the allowance, those who want to attend such development opportunities should be able to.
“It’s nice to actually hear in layman’s terms what all is happening rather than having to read hundreds of pages of legal stuff,” he said.
The proposed policy states that those participating at trainings not attended by the full board will be requested to share the information, recommendations and materials they acquired.
Kuehn added the at least five new members joining the board later this year after the general election will likely need the funding to cover their required training courses.
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.