County Mayor Jim Coppinger on Tuesday warned of the pratfalls of municipalities seceding from the Hamilton County Schools.
He told members of the local legislative delegation at a breakfast meeting, "We are trying to hold the school system together."
Both Signal Mountain and Red Bank are forming committees to look into the possibility of taking over the schools within their boundaries.
County Mayor Coppinger said he believes the secession movement could wind up "having some unintended consequences."
He said the issue should be examined both from "the costs and the educational point of view."
He said at the time that urban growth boundaries were formed municipalities were barred from operating their own school systems. However, the law was changed in recent years after a secession effort in Shelby County.
At the same time, the county mayor said officials should listen to the concerns of communities talking about school takeovers.
He said, "We need to see what it is they don't think they're getting from the Department of Education."