New school construction money not guaranteed

Hamilton County Commissioner Sabrena Smedley just wants her colleagues and the county school board to work with each other, not against each other.

On Wednesday, the commission’s education committee, led by Smedley, decided it wants all parties to think outside the box and keep an open mind when it comes to nailing down an agenda for a joint meeting of the two bodies Tuesday.

The Hamilton County Department of Education recently shared a priority repair list with commissioners that serves as the underlying reason for the meeting. Top requests include $35 million for Harrison Elementary School, $64 million for the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts and $45 million for a new middle school for East Hamilton.

Right out of the gate, Smedley assured committee members Randy Fairbanks and Greg Martin there won’t be new money for new construction.

“I know that one of the main topics will be the construction projects moving forward. And it’s my understanding there’s not going to be any new funds in the budget for new construction projects,” Smedley said. “I’m hopeful we’ll kind of start off [the meeting with the school board] and set the tone that way and look at what we can do.”

She said she would really like to be able to do something for CSLA.

“They are doing great things,” Smedley said. “I’m very impressed with the work they are doing out there.”

Martin pitched an idea of combining $750,000 in bond money — made available to the County Commission for the 2017 fiscal year — with the school board’s proceeds from the sale of the old East Brainerd Elementary School to take care of an estimated $4.7 million in roof repairs across the school system.

“We can fix these roofs together,” Martin said.

Smedley said she expected some commissioners would demand the school board dip into its reserves and “put skin in the game” for such a deal.

The committee discussed other possible meeting topics, including the status of the school superintendent search, schools whose enrollment is well under capacity and rezoning.

Smedley said she planned to coordinate with school board Chairman Steve Highlander in setting the agenda.

Fairbanks questioned how to keep some divisive personalities from squandering any progress the two panels might make.

“I don’t want either board to get in an accusatory mode where you lose it, you shut down, and usually it’s on our part more than theirs,” he said. “If we go in there with that attitude, that school board is going to shut down. I would, too.”

Smedley said it was pointless to blame specific school board individuals for a deferred maintenance list that exceeds $200 million. Something like that did not happen over one, two or even four years, she said.