County Mayor Tim Burchett’s contention that Knox County Schools can’t afford the two new schools provided for in its budget is full of baloney. And even if it had any merit, Burchett has no authority to tell the school board how to use its money.
At issue are school board-approved plans to build a $33 million Hardin Valley Middle School and a $22 million elementary school in what’s called the north central section of the county. The board also recommended construction of a Gibbs Middle School, but only if the county pay for it out of general funds and not funds allotted to the school system. So in trying to sweep away plans for all three schools with one brush, Burchett is making Gibbs a straw man for the others.
Hardin Valley Middle is aimed at relieving overcrowding at the three existing West Knox middle schools that’s only going to get worse before the new school can be completed in this fastest-growing section of the county. I’m less clear about the need for a new elementary school but I am clear that the school board has the funding to pay for it.
In his annual budget speech in May, our pinchpenny mayor allowed, “there’s been a lot of talk about building new schools in Knox County. Before that conversation can progress we must be realistic about our ability to fund operations for even a single new school. It is one thing to build a building today but quite another to pay for constantly increasing operating costs in perpetuity. Building a school that we can’t pay to operate is fiscally irresponsible.”
An analysis of the school system’s debt, which is kept separate from the rest of the county’s, shows that retirement of outstanding bonds over the next five years will free up enough money to cover not only the debt service on bonds to fund the two new schools, but also their incremental operating expenses. Projected debt service, including the two new schools, drops by over $3 million in the school year beginning in 2019 and by another $2 million in the following year. That’s a year later than the two schools are due to open, but that could be deferred for a year if need be.
Burchett’s finance director, Chris Caldwell, whom I hold in high esteem, argues that Superintendent Jim Mcintyre’s five-year strategic plan calls for annual teacher pay raises of 4 percent at a cost of $10 million a year, and that these plus other endemic fixed-cost increases are likely to exceed the growth rate of the school system’s three sources of revenue: formulaic state BEP funds and a set portion of local property and sales taxes.
But since when did Burchett give a hoot about the strategic plan of a superintendent whom he detests? And in any event, the county mayor is not entitled to say how the school board spends the funds that are allotted to it. State “maintenance of effort” requirements preclude reduction of these budgetary allotments. However, County Commission would have to approve the issuance of debt to fund construction of the schools.
By the time the two new schools are due to open, Burchett will thankfully have been term-limited out of office. And one can hope for the election of a more progressive county mayor who will redress Burchett’s regressiveness.
Already, there are signs of pushback against a regime that seems to measure success in terms of how little it can do and how much it can reduce the county’s debt. County Commission Chairman Brad Anders, a West Knox Republican with staunch conservative credentials, has taken the lead in calling for a tax increase.
“It’s inevitable,” Anders says. “And it’s not just for schools. We’ve got roads that aren’t getting paved, park lands that are sitting idle, all kinds of wants and needs.”
Whether Anders has any followers at this point on that 11-member body, beyond center-city Democrats Sam McKenzie and Amy Broyles, remains to be seen. But I’m hopeful that his message will resonate with large segments of the public as the county budget debate plays out in the media.
If there is a silver lining to Burchett’s myopic shroud, it’s that reductions in county debt are also lowering its debt service funds, which can be reallocated. In his budget for the fiscal year ahead, Burchett reduced the portion of the county’s $2.32 property tax rate that goes to debt service by a penny, but the reallocation went for street paving rather than an addition to the 88 cents that goes to schools. Over the next five years, further projected reductions of over $40 million in the county’s debt would beget nearly $3 million in annual savings, or another three cents of property tax that could go to schools if Burchett is sincere about wanting to help teachers get paid better.
Meanwhile, McIntyre gets a demerit for lack of candor in his portrayal of how recommended teacher pay raises and performance bonuses during the fiscal year ahead would be paid for. He presented their $10.7 million cost in a way that implied the school budget included sufficient funds to cover them when, in fact, there was a $5.6 million shortfall.
Since there is no reduction in school debt service in the year ahead, these ballyhooed compensation increases will have to be cut in half unless some other source of funding is identified. One should be because, in a larger sense, what this community really can’t afford is to fail to nurture its young people with first-rate public schools.
Joe Sullivan is the former owner and publisher of Metro Pulse (1992-2003) as well as a longtime columnist covering local politics, education, development, business, and tennis. His new column, Perspectives, covers much of the same terrain.
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