THE SCHOOL FUNDING PICTURE
DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH
A $260 million bond issue to be voted on next week by the Hamilton County Commission mentions six specific schools that will benefit from the proposal, but the total amount associated with the schools most assuredly will not come close to building them.
So to families who got excited at seeing North River Elementary, Gateway, Soddy-Daisy Middle, Brainerd/Dalewood, Clifton Hills and Thrasher schools associated with the bond issue, don’t hold your breath that you’ll see these new schools or additions in the near future.
North River Elementary, which is to merge Dupont, Rivermont and Alpine Crest schools, would get the most money — $42 million — from the bond issue, so it might be nearest the top of the list.
But building of schools is expensive and has gotten only more so since completion of the county’s most recent elementary, Harrison, in 2021. Its cost was pegged at $35 million when it was approved in 2017.
Meanwhile, the cost for the new Tyner Middle High Academy, currently under construction on the current Tyner High campus, was $95 million at groundbreaking in February 2023, $27 million higher than anticipated in November 2021.
“All these projects are collaborations between the school board, the school system and county government,” Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp told commissioners at this week’s commission meeting. “These are conversations ongoing, and it will take a few years for the proceeds to be expended.”
Gateway, which will involve a complete retooling of the former Blue Cross/Blue Shield complex, would get $40 million from the bond issue. Soddy-Daisy Middle and Clifton Hills Elementary, which are to be completely new schools, get
$25 million to $30 million and $10 million to $20 million, respectively. And Brainerd-Dalewood at $25 million to
$30 million and Thrasher at $5 million are to have additions.
In other words, a lot of uncounted-for money will be needed to build out the rest of the list. Since the school facilities are needed, it will be interesting to see how the mayor and commissioners seek to pay for them when the time comes.
WHAT WAS LEARNED?
For former Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies Daniel Wilkey and Bobby Brewer, a finding that they were not responsible by a federal jury for negligence, assault, battery, failure to intervene and excess force on a man in a 2019 traffic stop Thursday undoubtedly was a relief.
Over time, nine misconduct cases against Wilkey and other Hamilton County deputies have been either voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs, dismissed by courts, dismissed by the court of appeals, or tried in front of juries with no finding of responsibility by the deputies. In one case, in which a woman was allegedly coerced into being baptized by Wilkey during a traffic stop, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office reached a $100,000 settlement with her family.
After the verdict, Sheriff Austin Garrett said he always stood by the office’s policies and practices.
“I’m grateful as sheriff that we were all exonerated from that, as we said we would be from the beginning,” he said, “because we believe in what we are doing.”
Garrett didn’t detail the specifics of each case, but we don’t believe a coerced baptism is in the department’s policies, and while the concealment of drugs and drug paraphernalia in one’s person and in their undergarments (as in the federal case) is not uncommon, it certainly should be handled sensitively, if possible.
If nothing else, we hope even if policies were followed, the department will double down on training on incidents where such sensitivity is paramount.
THE FINAL PUSH
The two 137-point victors in last week’s Hamilton County election also were the two in their races who spent the least money over the last month of the campaign, according to campaign finance disclosure statements.
In winning the state House District 27 Republican primary, challenger Michele Reneau received contributions of $8,337.88 in July, spent $29,375.91 and will have $22,407.32 to start her general election contest with Democrat Kathy Lennon. Incumbent Patsy Hazlewood took in $42,286,13, spent $105,057.99 and will leave the legislature with $366,793.80 in campaign funds.
In winning re-election to her District 11 Hamilton County Board of Education seat, Democrat Jill Black garnered $7,255, spent $2,972.01 and had $14,979.97 left. Challenger Sherrie Ford received $1,830, spent $5,859.11 and had $11,923.08 left from her campaign.
LET THE JOCKEYING BEGIN
With only 203 days to go until the March 2025 Chattanooga city election, attorney Jeff Davis announced Friday he will run for the District 3 seat currently held by Ken Smith, who is also a Hamilton County commissioner and has said he wouldn’t run for the council again.
District 11 Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod also has suggested she wouldn’t be seeking a third term, so before a new president is elected in November the city election may be in full swing.