County School Supt. Rick Smith said Thursday that students who are being bused under No Child Left Behind will continue to receive bus service until they graduate from their current school.
Mr. Smith told the County Commission that despite the fact that the school system is no longer obligated to do so, that NCLB students will not be removed from schools "where they have made friends, are playing ball and are doing well."
But he said the county schools will not be enrolling additional students to the NCLB program.
Mr. Smith also told the commission that paper textbooks are on the way out and will eventually be entirely replaced by online documents and information.
He said Tennessee in 2014 will do away with paper for standardized tests. He said that will allow officials to get test results much faster.
The superintendent said the idea for the STEM School to be located at Chattanooga State is for a focus on digital learning with students outfitted with computers rather than a bag of books.
He told commissioners there is no request for a tax increase to fund the $384.6 million budget.
He said healthcare costs will be up $4 million and it will cost the county schools $3.5 million to implement a state teacher pay raise.
Asked by Commissioner Joe Graham what the school system plans to do with PILOT funds, he said that will go into the general fund at the schools and go for general operations.