Over a dozen schools will receive fresh funding for renovations, including new turf fields for a few, after a Hamilton County Commission vote Wednesday.
The vote will grant $13.5 million in bond funds for projects presented to and approved by the school board earlier this month. About half of that money will go toward turf fields, while the rest will funnel into different maintenance-focused issues, like new paving, flooring and roofing.
The most expensive project goes to the Chattanooga School of Arts and Sciences, which will build a new stadium and turf field for about $4.5 million. During the Sept. 24 agenda meeting, County Mayor Weston Wamp said that the school was an outlier, due to it being a historic facility with “unusual needs.” Otherwise, the list of projects was spread evenly across the county, he said.
Two other schools will start to build million-dollar fields: Hixson High School and Central High School. The runner-up for most expensive project would be reroofing the Dalewood Middle School Gym, priced at $2.5 million.
Bringing turf to all the high schools in the county has long been a goal for Wamp, who has said in the past that new athletic facilities will make public schools more competitive with private schools.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County Commission talks schools funding)
The $13.5 million is a part of a bond issue voted on by the commission in 2024 that allotted $60 million to school maintenance. The list of projects is considered “Phase 4.” Earlier this year, a list of about 50 projects was approved for a price tag of $32 million.
During the Wednesday meeting, the subject of funding schools as a whole came up when Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, said it might be worth looking at asking the state during its next legislative session for appropriations from unused lottery funds. He referenced Georgia’s use of lottery funds to distribute money to K-12 schools, while Tennessee uses it for secondary schools — universities and community colleges.
“If we could get a portion of that and designate that money toward the infrastructure of our schools and the technology of our schools, that would go a long way in what we’re doing to try and improve our buildings,” Graham said.
It may be a yearslong process to go down that route, but Graham wanted to float the idea and possibly pass a resolution in the future directing the county to at least ask, he said.
Contact government reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.