County School Board member Rhonda Thurman said Monday that many of the costs in the plan by Supt. Rick Smith for $34 million in new school spending could not be justified.
She said of $2.2 million each for adding art and foreign language. "Where are you going to find all the teachers, and where are you going to put them?" She said some schools are already overcrowded.
Ms. Thurman told the Pachyderm Club that those new costs would bring $4.4 million in recurring education department expenses.
She said the state BEP funding would not cover the "extra" teachers and the county would have to pick up their full salaries.
She also questioned adding a new school at the East Hamilton campus, saying that would bring significant new costs for staffing it. Ms. Thurman said she believes that more and more students may opt for "virtual" education, thus cutting down on the need for expensive new school buildings.
She said the way the county school system is balancing its budget "leaves us in a big hole next year."
The speaker said it includes $1 million from the fund balance and $1.7 million in city payments for money owed from past years on the liquor tax. She said those large liquor tax payments are going to run out in several years.
Ms. Thurman said the state still does not provide adequate funding for the county schools, though improvements were made this year. She said the BEP formula on teacher pay was boosted from a salary level of $40,407 to $42,065. She said it should be at $50,117. She said the state had been paying for 10 months of insurance and now is paying for 11. She said it should be 12 months.
She said the county school system should focus more of its money into the classroom. She said some county school students are graduating "at a fourth-grade reading level."
Ms. Thurman said parents are having to make up the shortfall there by paying a host of school fees.
She also said the school fees vary from one school to another. She asked, "Why should the parking fee be $25 at one school and $80 at another?"
Of the fees, she said, "In my opinion, they are a tax."
Ms. Thurman said when Supt. Smith told her he was going to campaign in all the districts to try to get $34 million more in funding she advised him, "This is not going to happen. There is no way the County Commission is going to go for it."