Hamilton County school board adopts growth policy

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF)- The Hamilton County School Board has adopted a policy pertaining to how new development will affect school zones.

Proposed by school board member Ben Daughtery, the policy would affect schools that are at or over 95 percent in capacity.

Effectively, it sets a process that would allow the board to zone new neighborhoods to other schools in order to not overwhelm crowded schools.

This is in response to the School Board having no say currently in zoning decisions.

Daugherty said, “The idea is is we get ahead of this growth and we have a clear understanding of if development does occur here, we’re gonna put these new residents at the best school for these future potential students and that would not be at a school that’s over capacity.”

Daugherty says he hopes this policy can offset the need for millions in renovations or new school construction needs.