The Signal Mountain Town Council voted Monday night, to establish a school system viability committee. Mayor Chris Howley sees the purpose of this committee more as being to answer questions rather than make recommendations. The committee will evaluate the viability of the establishing, funding, operating and maintaining a municipal school system. The results will be reported to the Town Council, and citizens will have the opportunity to ask every question they want. The mayor said for him to support the plan, it would have to meet three criteria: That it would have a positive effect on the residents and students of Signal Mountain, would have a neutral or positive economic impact, and if all citizens would decide the matter in a referendum.
This agenda item brought a standing room only crowd of residents to the meeting where anyone was allowed to express their opinions and ask questions. A question that was asked repeatedly was when the schools on Signal Mountain outperform most of the others in Hamilton County, and the students are being well educated, why does the group that started the movement want to break away from the county school system?
Specific concerns included would children from Signal Mountain be allowed to attend magnet schools that specialize in their interests such as music or art if they are not part of the Hamilton County school system. What specialized programs would be available for gifted or exceptional education students? How would the change impact people living in Walden and neighboring, unincorporated areas on the mountain that currently attend the schools in Signal Mountain?
On the other hand, several people spoke saying that although the schools are excellent and that children are well educated, there is always room for improvement. These residents said they would support taking a look at the creation of a school system to see if it would be feasible, but would also abandon the plan if the cost is too great.
The citizens group represented by Rob Hensley formally made the request to the council to form a committee to study the possibility of creating the new system. He was given the opportunity to speak to the issues that are of concern to the residents. The reason he gave for breaking away from Hamilton County was that school system has “systemic problems,” including chronic underfunding that the town is responsible for fixing. The Mountain Education Fund (MEF) which is made up from voluntary contributions it collects from residents, brings over $500,000 per year to supplement the four mountain schools. Additionally, the county does not maintain the athletic fields which are taken care of by parent donations and the SMMHS Sports Boosters Program. The town itself provides funds an SRO officer.
Mr. Hensley said that his committee determined that because residents of the town will continue to pay Hamilton County taxes, Signal Mountain should get back three to four percent additional revenue which would make up the amount contributed by the MEF to fill a deficit. However, the MEF contribution was still included in the budget put together by the citizens group for forming the new system so the proposed plan would yield no financial gain for the town.
According to his plan, the move should have a neutral financial impact on Signal Mountain, with taxes remaining the same, said Mr. Hensley. He also said that office efficiencies would result in a savings. But because a state law prohibits municipalities from joining to form a school system, Signal Mountain would bear the whole cost although allowing students from Walden is figured into the proposed plan.
Councilwoman Amy Speek made a motion to form a committee to study the issue. She said all that was being done was forming a committee to look into a city school system. I think we can look into it, she said.
Councilman Gee said that he would have to see absolute evidence to show systemic mismanagement before endorsing a school district, but he said it has not yet been shown to him. A member of the citizen’s committee, Bill Kennedy, said the chronic problem is shown by the fact that five Hamilton County Schools are close to being taken over by the state of Tennessee, and he said more proof that the problems are county-wise is that Red Bank and East Ridge are also dealing with issues, and considering forming their own schools, at this time. He said that the committee recommending the change is looking at education as it is compared to our potential, not against the under-performing schools.
The mayor said that the process to choose members of the advisory committee will be for anyone interested to make application and the council will discuss them in an open meeting. Seven members will be chosen, the majority must be citizens of Signal Mountain, and there will be one seat for Walden and one from the unincorporated areas which also use Signal Mountain schools.
Former Councilman Bob Linehart made this statement during the meeting:
"When we built the Signal Mountain High School during the last decade, it was truly a grass roots effort that had been active in the town for many years, long before the 1998 merger of the Chattanooga and County districts. My wife and I were extremely involved in that effort and we never heard talk of 'separating from HCDE.' It was purely a desire for the children of our community to have the option to attend high school in our own community, perhaps add more students to the district as a whole, and make the entire system stronger.
"I have several concerns about seceding from HCDE, but here are my three major concerns:
"First, I think the nature of the idea is elitist. Signal Mountain is often separated from the county by the media misrepresenting our level of affluence. Those of us who live up here know there is a broad level of economic and social diversity. So physically separating our schools from the county, further divides us from the County.
"Second, I believe separating from Hamilton County compromises the entire County school district. We are not only residents of the Town of Signal Mountain, we live in Hamilton County. Like the vast majority of Signal Mountain residents, I make my living in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. I want Hamilton County and Chattanooga to be successful. That means the entire school district needs to be successful so that we can continue attracting companies like Volkswagon and others and all the jobs they bring to our community. We don’t want to see Signal Mountain schools excel at the expense of County. We want a very strong Hamilton County and Chattanooga and that means we need a strong HCDE.
"Third, the cost and complication of managing a school district is demanding. We’ll be responsible for all new construction and building renovation, programs mandated by the state and federal governments, transportation, pension liability . . . the list goes on and on. One of the reasons the county and city merged in the first place was to eliminate redundant expenses and take advantage of efficiencies. I don’t want to pay additional taxes to support a Signal Mountain school system. We outsource our 911 system, we’re trying to outsource our water, our friends in Walden outsource virtually every town service they have. We can’t even get our leaves picked up in a timely manner. Do we really want to take on a project of this size and importance?
"Signal Mountain schools are already great. While my children didn’t attend the High School, my understanding is it has fully met its objectives of providing an excellent educational facility where the parents have significant input into programs, policies, arts, athletics, and even personnel. The outstanding state-wide academic rankings and the colleges in which the students matriculate certainly bare out its success.
"So with so much to lose by separating, what do you have to gain by it?
"Thanks for listening, thanks for your service, but please tread carefully on this issue."