Commission, school board clash in called budget meeting

Hamilton County Chairman Jeff Eversole standing with school board chairman Joe Smith during an interview following a call budget meeting.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Last month, the Hamilton County School Board passed a $577 million dollar budget amid controversy.

This was due to a $18 million budget shortfall which led to cuts.

A tense school budget season culminated in a tense meeting here at the end of today’s Commission meeting here at the Hamilton County Courthouse.

The chairman of the School Board, Joe Smith, said that he felt it was completely unnecessary for the chairman of the Commission, Jeff Eversole, to call for this meeting on the school budget. 

Smith told the Commission, “I’m not pleased to be here, just to be real honest with you.”

He said that he was there to defend the work of the school board, whom he says made tough decisions in route to a balanced budget with what he says is little participation from county commissioners.

Smith said, “Some of our commissioners were involved, some of them said today they watched it on YouTube and maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, I have to trust that they did, but I didn’t see them at those budget hearings when we were trying to get the community there and trying to be transparent and we look out and don’t see any commissioners there.”

Commissioner Greg Beck said that the relationship between the county commission and the school board has frayed over time, no longer meeting quarterly like they had in the past.

Commissioner David Sharpe said that the county should not have pulled back funding when the state of Tennessee stepped up funding through their TISA program.

While interviewing Mr. Smith, Chairman Eversole, hopped into our interview and said that the meeting was not meant to be a diss towards the school board.

Eversole said, “Our whole goal today was not to offend, or not to put into place anything saying they did anything wrong, but you know what, when constituents call us and say “Fund more, do more this”, they understand we can ask them questions about the budget.””

We asked Chairman Eversole if commissioners should be more involved in the school budgeting process.

Eversole responded, “I don’t know if they need to be at the school board meetings themselves but they need to have a good relationship with their school board member.”

Hamilton County Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson also took offense to some questions surrounding the pay of Central Office employees.

Dr. Robertson: “All they’ve (Central Office employees) heard for two months is “Cut Central Office! Cut Central Office!” The morale around Central Office, they feel less than now.”

There was also bickering over what data was communicated between the school board and commission:

Dr. Robertson: We’ve got the data and have shown you that?

Eversole: Didn’t show it to me.

Dr. Robertson: Yes sir I have!

Eversole: Didn’t show it to me. You’ve not shown me a breakdown of where the dollars are. If you have…

Dr. Robertson: It’s been public since the day we presented it in Version 1 Mr. Eversole.

Eversole: Okay, you’ll have to show me because I have it right here.

Dr. Robertson: Yep.

Smith continued to say he questions the point of this meeting as he and Eversole had this exchange during the interview:

Eversole: I don’t have a political agenda.

Smith: So you’re not running for county mayor?

Eversole: I am running for District 10 County Commission.

Smith: Good, good, I’m glad to hear that.

Eversole: I am running for County Commission District 10.

Smith: Good to hear that. 

The Commission will vote on their final budget next week.