Dear School Board members and County Commissioners:
I am a parent of school-aged children in District 2. I appreciate all school district leaders, school board members, and county officials who have thoughtfully considered the proposed budget for the 2025-2026 school year.
That said, I would like to see more joint efforts taken by our county commissioners, along with HCS leaders and the school board, so we may confidently step into the years ahead. I propose two places to start.
For years parents and educators have been petitioning for a reduction in the amount of testing our children undergo. Between over a month’s worth of benchmarks, screeners like IXL and iReady, and the end-of-year MAP testing, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent not only in their administration but in associated data analysis and staffing costs.
A secondary cost is the aggravation it causes students and teachers, who are curtailed in their ability to meet learning needs in order to accommodate these tests. Reduction or elimination of these programs will not fix the budget crisis, but will go a long way in funneling funds to exceptional education, transportation and other pressing needs. Needs, may I remind you, that are currently on the chopping block. Thankfully, new school board members like Ben Daughtery, Steve Slater and Ben Connor are becoming more vocal about the over-testing problem, and we can only hope our superintendent will listen.
These same parents and educators seeking respite from the over-testing of our children are the same constituents raising grave concerns about overdevelopment in the county. It is rather ironic for county commissioners to call a school board to shame when they support policies that favor acres and acres of tract home or high end townhouse developments – with seeming disregard for the extra strain on already tight school resources.
It’s time to consider that the policies and procedures that may have been beneficial to Hamilton County’s success in the past may no longer serve. This may mean increases in property and other taxes. I fully support paying a minimal sales tax increase, as proposed by Commissioners David Sharpe and Joe Graham, to offset the resource strain.
I am grateful to be part of this community, where I feel leaders truly wish to do their best to meet the competing needs of those who live here. I am confident that if our elected officials and appointed administrators consider how their interrelated decision-making impacts our communities, we can land on school budget resolutions that benefit our most valuable and vulnerable: our children. And as a result, we all reap the gains.
Corina Lopes