The Hamilton County school board passed a resolution Thursday night asking the Tennessee General Assembly to stop the expansion of the private school voucher program, joining almost 90 other public school districts in the state.
Felice Hadden and Jodi Schaffer voted no. Ben Daugherty abstained. The others voted yes.
Members of the community spoke before the board in favor of the item with concerns that the voucher program would undermine the reputation of public schools, divert needed funding and instead fund sub-par education in private schools that aren’t monitored by the state.
State legislators are considering expansion of the existing voucher program with a higher income threshold. The bill specifies that a school district will not get less than it did the year before due to student exodus.
A new state funding formula enacted in 2023 added $64 million to the Hamilton County schools budget. The formula designates a base funding per student, plus more for a student’s poverty, learning disabilities, non-English language and other factors.
Hamilton County Education Association President Jeannette Omarkail told the board the voucher program sends the message that “the public schools are failing.”
The bill requires that a school district must have a certain number of schools deemed failing to open it up to the program.
“If you were to ask the public school parents in your district about their satisfaction with their schools, I believe they would give their school an A or B, not an F,” Ms. Omarkhail said. “If they are dissatisfied they already have the option to choose another school within Hamilton County.”
The resolution outlined five other requests, including one for federal lawmakers to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federally-mandated program which requires extra staff, space and equipment to educate some students.
The resolution asks the General Assembly to send more money for positions that proactively support student mental health, but board member Ben Daugherty argued that the vague wording is asking for “an open checkbook,” and that Hamilton County needs money for facilities first.
“We’ve got roofs with leaks… We’ve got A/C units that need massive updates,” said Mr. Daugherty, who abstained from the vote.
“Schools weren’t built to have more and more staff,” he said.
Also Thursday night the board approved Phase 1 of a $60-million bond to tackle deferred maintenance, including installing a new $6-million HVAC unit at Orchard Knob Middle School. Phase 1 totals $31 million.
“These hit all across the district,” Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson said.
The board plans to spend up to $100,000 to hire architects to assess the condition and viability of building expansions at Orchard Knob Middle, Thrasher Elementary School, Normal Park Upper and Lower schools, Center for Creative Arts and the Gateway building downtown. These will be the very first projects within the county-wide school facilities overhaul.
"This is a great step,” said board member Ben Connor. “It’s something that has been a long time coming for District 6.”
Mr. Connor gave “at expectations” marks in Dr. Robertson’s end-of-year evaluation because of “poor situations” in his district’s part of that facilities overhaul and “fails in the use of the Gateway building.” Mr. Connor had advocated to relocate CCA to the Gateway building to make room for Normal Park schools to move and expand.