When the new high school opens next year on Signal Mountain, where will its students come from?
That was one of the primary questions on the minds of Hamilton County Commissioners and Board of Education members during a joint meeting held Tuesday evening at school administration offices on Bonny Oaks.
One of the hottest topics on local talk radio these days is whether enrollment at the new school will be limited to students who live on Signal Mountain, Commissioner Warren Mackey said.
"I can't tell you how many times I have been asked if any kids who live down in the valley will be allowed to go to school there, or is is only for kids on the mountain," the commissioner said.
And County Commissioner Fred Skillern raised another concern: How many families who don't live in Hamilton County will try to sneak their children into the Signal Mountain School?
Commissioner Skillern, a former member of the Hamilton County Board of Education, said he has long been concerned about county taxpayers picking up the tab for students who attend school here although they reside in neighboring counties.
"Some of our school buses are garaged in other counties, and in the morning when they cross into Hamilton County there are already some students on them," he noted.
Further evidence of the problem, he said, is the fact that when Nolan Elementary School opened on Signal Mountain, many students from Sequatchie County were enrolled there.
The exodus led Sequatchie County to close its school on Signal Mountain - Lone Oak Elementary - because it was no longer needed, Commissioner Skillern said.
If students from neighboring counties do enroll in Hamilton County schools, he and other commissioners said, then local school officials need to ensure that their families pay the required tuition.
Currently, tuition is $2,660 for students from other counties in Tennessee and $4,000 for those from Georgia.
School officials said that three years ago, when out-of-county tuition rates were set, a policy was devised that would be fair to families in communities such as River Canyon in Marion County.
River Canyon families traditionally sent their children to schools in Red Bank because they are closer than Marion County schools, officials noted, and it was felt that it would be unfair to suddenly impose a fee of $4,000 per child on them.