A sixth grader who lives in a motel. Three eighth graders who were victims of bullying. Seventh grade siblings whose family ran out of food a few days ago. A sixth grader having a panic attack. A seventh grader whose mom died a week ago.
Those and more are all students Amy Turner, a social worker at East Hamilton Middle School, met with and planned for Tuesday, as part of the district’s social, emotional and academic development staff.
“To say that we can cut social workers or school counselors or SEAD teams in schools is to invalidate our children, their experiences and their realities,” she said. “Are you really willing to watch our kids lose any of their wrap-around supports?”
By decreasing the number of social workers, she said Hamilton County Schools would be sending a message that it does not value safe schools or educators’ ability to teach.
Hamilton County educators defend jobs facing possible cuts
For two hours Tuesday, speakers, largely school employees, told school board members about the importance of positions, like social workers, that could be reduced next school year due to the up-to-$18.5 million budget deficit the district is facing.
In recent weeks, the school system has proposed a variety of potential areas for reduction, which officials have acknowledged will affect services and outcomes for families and students. Those potential cuts, including reductions in school counselors and substitute nurses, drew heavy pushback at the meeting at Red Bank Middle School on Tuesday.
The school board’s Finance Committee will meet Wednesday, when district officials will present the second version of the system’s proposed budget. The board is expected to vote on the budget at its May 8 meeting. It must then get approval from the Hamilton County Commission, which serves as the funding body for the school district.
BUDGET DEFICIT
Over the past month, school system and county leaders have disagreed on the cause of the district’s budget deficit.
Commission Chair Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah, said during a public meeting April 16 that he wouldn’t support a property tax hike for the school system. He placed the blame for the shortfall on the district’s spending decisions, particularly for using one-time funding sources, including pandemic-era assistance, to pay for permanent positions.
The next day, the superintendent and school board chair sent a memo to county commissioners. The document said 59% of positions funded by those relief funds were abolished. The rest are now funded by other sources.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County Schools is experiencing a budget deficit. How did it get there?)
The proposed budget for next school year also includes a reduction of more positions than the number of remaining roles that were once funded by pandemic-era relief, according to the memo.
District officials attribute the budget shortfall to a combination of lower-than-expected local tax revenues and rising costs, particularly a $12.5 million increase in health care. The school system projects that local sales and property tax revenues this year will come in at $6.6 million less than what it budgeted for, according to district data.
FUNDING
Annie Hall, a former school board member, told the board its job was to adopt a budget that supports students. The County Commission’s job is to fund the budget, she said, not set limits before the board submits it on the amount of money.
Why should the district be asked to disrupt its social work, counseling and nurse program, she said, when the county mayor is spending 45% more on his executive staff than his predecessor. (Wamp’s office has defended expenses on the executive staff, saying it’s modernized county government and saved money.)
It is up to the board to say yes to students, Hall said.
The district has proposed reducing the number of instructional coaches, student support coaches, school counselors and school social workers by changing the ratios the positions are staffed at. The changes would result in 24.5 fewer school-based positions.
“We cannot call ourselves student-centered or claim our just cause while cutting the people who center students the most,” said Breanna Harvey, a student support coach, in a reference to the district’s mission that all children thrive and experience a future without limits. “Removing SEAD roles doesn’t save money, it costs lives. It costs opportunities. It costs connection. It takes us backward.”
During the first three quarters of the school year, Annie Boggs, a school social worker, said she’d conducted over 20 suicide risk assessments.
“Without enough school social workers, stories like this might not end differently but would end with extremely different outcomes and blood on the hands of the district that struck away positions like mine,” she said. “Losing even one school social worker means significantly less access for students who need help now. Not later, not when the next crisis arrives, but today.”
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.