The Hamilton County Department of Education kicks off budget season with the state of the system meeting Feb. 9. Community budget meetings will be held Feb. 20-March 2. The board will preview the budget at its March 16 meeting and vote to approve it at the April 20 board meeting.
Earlier this week HCDE announced its new student-based staffing model, which divides staff into two categories: academic press and personalization. The new model requires $34 million more for staffing, using funds from the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement program and also funds reallocated from a variety of budget items.
On the personalization side, each of Hamilton County’s 75 schools will hire at least one Social, Emotional and Academic Development coach. Individual schools are given freedom to hire a licensed teacher for the position or someone without a teacher license, plus support positions for that coach.
Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson said grades are directly related to a student's social and emotional connection with school.
“If we take care of kids, they will academically perform better,” he said.
He said the SEAD coach and other counselors and social workers are the first to address discipline issues, freeing teachers to keep teaching and freeing principals and assistant principals to focus on teachers and instruction.
“I’d rather have another teacher,” said board member Rhonda Thurman, who said she wants to focus on staff in the classroom. “It seems like the more of these people we put in, the worse the behavior gets.”
Board member Larry Grohn said social and emotional programs in the school distract from academics. “I don’t agree with it. I won’t support it,” he said.
Chief Financial Officer Mary Ellen Heuton presented a new procurement procedure to codify and streamline the way teachers and schools make purchases.
The new procedures are in line with changes being made in counties across the state, Ms. Heuton said. The new procedures raise the spending limits in these categories: informal noncompetitive purchases, informal written competitive solicitations and formal sealed competitive solicitations.
She said the changes will save time and make the selling process better for vendors, which will help schools and educators to get better pricing.
Board member Ben Connor will meet with state senators Bo Watson and Todd Gardenhire to discuss a joint resolution regarding third grade retention law, and it will be presented at the February meeting.