Hamilton County school budget passes amid controversy

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Weeks of controversy have surrounded the Hamilton County school board as they have been dealing with a large budget shortfall.

Thursday night was the night that school board members said they needed to pass a budget.

This whole situation began with a $16 million dollar shortfall due to lower than expected revenues.

After a series of adjustments, by an 8 to 3 vote, this budget has been officially approved by the school board.

But it was not after more controversy.

That was highlighted by board member Karista Jones saying, “I am no longer in the business of making assumptions of becoming the a**, as my Grandma used to say.”

It was part of an explosive debate over whether or not an amendment proposed by board member Ben Connor would be attached to the budget.

Connor called the sheet, an Alternative-Based Values Budget, which is effectively a wish list of items not covered in the passed $577 million dollar budget that he would want Hamilton County Commissioners to consider funding if extra money was available.

The Alternative-Based Values Budget that was proposed by Ben Connor, but ultimately tabled.

He said, “We’re sending a flat budget because of this deficit, we have to show them what we need. We have to. We were elected to show the County Commission what we truly need.”

However, other members voiced concern about how such a list would be received by commissioners.

Board member Jodi Schaffer said, “If we wanted to make one of these on this list a priority, then we should do that in our budget. We shouldn’t be asking the Commission to tell us what our priority is. We shouldn’t be putting them in that position.”

Others said the list wasn’t satisfactory.

Board member Felice Hadden said, “We didn’t really have discussion I don’t believe about what to put on this list. I would have added exceptional education on this wish list.”

The board voted 8 to 3 to table Connor’s list, which in part prompted him, Jill Black, and Karista Jones to vote against the full budget.

Before the Hamilton County School Board passed their budget, they heard numerous impassioned pleas from parents on a variety of subjects including those with exceptional education students.

One of those parents, Laura Olds, said, “We need to find a better way to fund this. We need to find a way to make sure our children will thrive, and they just won’t be set aside.”

HCS released their final version of the budget on Wednesday, reversing proposed cuts to magnet school transportation and a portion of the proposed exceptional education cuts.

Additional cuts instead came from the Central Office, which Dr. Justin Robertson warns will cause numerous issues in an open letter attached to the budget.

Despite an across the board $2,000 dollar raise implemented in the budget, some say that isn’t enough.

Teacher Jeanette Omarkhail said, “We need the funding restored for half positions in every school, we need more steps and raises.”

This budget will go before the Hamilton County Commission before the end of this month to be a part of the county’s full budget.