“It will be a big headache if we drop federal money,” said the Director of DeKalb County Schools, Patrick Cripps, during a recent interview for this newspaper concerning funding for a new school and a new justice center.
This concept is so newly discussed and formulated that operating decisions currently are on-hold relating to the finalization of these programs. Cripps further said if the federal funding is dropped, DeKalb County, Tennessee schools would be affected negatively. When asked when the new school would be funded, Cripps answered, “We don’t really know.” If unappropriated, the local school system would lose 60% of the monies diversified by the federal government, the largest contributor of educational funding. The state and the county are the second and third monetary contributors to our current five schools’ operational funds.
In a recent takeaway article concerning school funding in Tennessee, the assessment was written, “Many federal requirements could still apply to Tennessee schools, even if the state rejected federal K-12 dollars – creating questions that would likely have to be resolved in court.” Continuing, “It is unclear if Tennessee would still get federal education aid to weather recessions and how quickly the state could reverse course if policymakers changed their minds.” As of today, no final decision has been made concerning the usage of federal funding continuing or exiting. During the three previous meetings, no positive actions have been finalized. Another called task force meeting is scheduled for January 9, 2024.
The somewhat unpopular addressment was instituted several months ago by Republican House Speaker, Cameron Sexton, who first floated the idea of rejecting the funds earlier this calendar year. (How I wish Dad were here to debate Sexton about this issue!) Cripps further elaborated, “I hope they leave the funding as it is now. It scares me when they start cutting.” In DeKalb County, there are no conclusions or no consensuses about how any new construction properties will be funded, including the school and the justice center including today with more probably appearing tomorrow. The only four funding ideas that are used in the local governmental deliberations are “Tax Increase; Wheel Tax; Property Tax; and Bonds.” See the various charts below. There is no monetary reserve funding available to build any county buildings at this time – including a new elementary school or a new criminal justice center.
Continuing, in a recent uncertified news poll on the WJLE radio in Smithville, the following questions and answers were given, shedding a light on the public’s view of paying for the new Elementary School, which I first attended in 1960 – 63-years ago. The question is “If the county at some point moves forward to build a Justice Center, what funding option do you prefer to pay for it? and the answers follow from the 1,202 voters, which reveals that almost 65% of residents don’t want to pay anything. The polling results are as follows:
Neither – 63% - 752 votes
Wheel tax – 18% - 292 votes
Property tax – 9% - 110 votes)
Combination wheel/property taxes – 10% - 20 votes
On Friday, December 15, 2023, a current poll broadcast over WJLE radio in Smithville revealed the following: The question: “What would you prioritize as the county’s current greatest infrastructure need? Of the 237 recent votes, the totals (non-cumulative) were – New School, 37%, 87 votes; Better Roads, 37%, 93 votes; County Judicial Center, 12%, 28 votes; Other needs, 7%, 16 votes; and New Jail, 5%, 13 votes. Before publication and with the current tabulation, the winning subject that DeKalb County needs are “Better Roads.”
The most current WJLE poll was released on Saturday, December 16, 2023 (one day later) and the major question is “What would you prioritize as the county’s current greatest infrastructure need? Please note that within two days, the pole results became clearer. The early results are as follows: New School, 47%, 204 votes; Better Roads, 36%, 182 votes; County Judicial Center, 11%, 55 votes; Other needs not listed here, 7%, 37 votes; and a New Jail, 5%, 25 votes. For tabulation, the poll is open continuously on www.wjle.com.
On Tuesday night, the two entities conducted a joint meeting concerning the appropriations and funding for the new Elementary School (Pre-K to 2nd grade) and a new Criminal Justice Center. Bumfuzzled? Following a cordial discussion of the subject topics, the joint meeting members again voted. “No agreement came out of the above,” said County Mayor Matt Adcock. The current Smithville Elementary School was built in 1956. Again, the county’s four other schools also are aging: They include: DCHS is now 60-years-old; the middle and west schools are now almost 50-years-old; and Northside Elementary has been in use for almost 25 years.
In 2023 in Tennessee, McMinn County has the lowest tax rate of 7.3% while DeKalb County’s tax rate is 8% or 0.7 tenths higher. Yet, when the time comes, local visitors are dismayed about paying higher taxes. It’s been the same problem for many years in DeKalb County. The verbal consensus seems to remain throughout, “I want a new elementary school or a new Criminal Justice Center, but I don’t want to raise and pay taxes either!” The Number 1 reason why, as it was just made public, visitors want to move to DeKalb County is because of the low tax rate!
The Tennessee legislative panel is to decide this month on the rejection of federal funding for Middle Tennessee schools. Along with Davidson County, DeKalb County, Tennessee is one of the middle Tennessee counties listed as obtaining the most federal educational funding (see chart below). Instead of rejecting federal funds and replacing them with state dollars, district leaders urged lawmakers to consider contributing state funds on top of federal funding – especially for infrastructures. And, lest we forget, Cameron Sexton and his asinine topic of mass confusion. The Republican recommends stopping all federal funding for Tennessee schools and adding the burden to the state.
“Seven incorporated districts in this area get more than 60% of the budget from the federal government including DeKalb County, TN.,” reported NewsChannel 5 in Nashville. “Bedford County Schools leaders say they don’t care who provides them with the money. They just care that they get the funding they need.” The seven counties include: DeKalb, Houston, Hickman, Macon, Bedford, Smith, and Stewart.
Local Director of Schools, Patrick Cripps, recently said, “The funding from the government into DeKalb County schools is: $5 million from the county and $22 - $23 million from the state. “We receive a lot from the federal government also. There is a lot of money coming into our system.” He further elaborated that all the school lunch programs were paid for by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. The current federal monies are used to pay teachers, including special education, the lunch room program, Career Tech Educational Class (CV classes), etc. No cost for food!
As reported, the state of Tennessee received $1.8 billion from the federal government. Nearly $744 million of the prior total went to schools in Middle Tennessee including DeKalb County. For exemplary measures, the following federal funding list in the NewsChannel 5 viewing area includes:
School District: DeKalb County Schools
Federal Funding: $4,981,504.00 which the state government wants to eliminate for DeKalb County.
Student Population: 92,000 enrolled students.
The task force will produce a report of their total findings on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. In the three previous Tennessee task force meetings, uncertainty prevailed while exploring the rejection of federal education funds. Tennessee would be the first state to reject this money and a few others have been considered. Today, there are more questions than answers.
Another consideration for lawmakers is that Tennesseans pay federal income taxes that help fund educational programs. If rejected, much of Tennessee’s federal education funding would go to other states, lamented a member of the Tennessee Board of Education. Thus, if voted to abstain on the federal monies, local programs would be terminated.
Let me interject about the school’s probable “go anywhere” stabilizing effects in DeKalb County. During the years 1966-1968, I was a full-time student at the College Street School which was used as a middle school for grades 6-8 and also was home to a portion of the burned Smithville High School. To describe it as obsolete and dangerous is the truth! The school cafeteria was unusable and archaic. The bathrooms were barely workable yet clean. The basketball gymnasium was borderline. It was filthy and a sad educational experience. More importantly, I remember we would order our noon-meals daily from the local Dairy Queen and the owner, Wendell Owen, would deliver our lunches every weekday. Payment was on an individual basis. In a brief summation, the school’s cafeteria was very old, non-usable, and closed. I, nor anyone else, ever entered this room in the school. We played basketball in the adjacent high school gymnasium. I never remember seeing or visiting the former food-preparation area of the school. Maybe it was condemned and cordoned off. The students were never privy to it. My daily lunch meal consisted of several cold mini- hamburgers with cold French fries nestled in a flattened DQ bag. We also had to order our beverages as the school’s water system was obsolete and the tap water was undrinkable. Refrigerated items were non-existent. These haphazard arrangements affected more than 300 local students enrolled daily at South College Street, Smithville, TN. Especially during this time, there was no other location available for a surrogate middle school. The infamous school later burned completely. Today, it is the backdrop for a local youth baseball field.
Rejecting $1.1 billion annually in federal education funds would present major tradeoffs for Tennessee and the counties therein, it recently was reported. The funds are allocated for K-12 educational programs. The funding usually goes toward services for low-income children and students with disabilities. Lawmakers have said they want to get rid of some of the “strings” attached to these programs and make up the money with state funds. Tennessee would be the first state to ever reject federal funds. The noun “strings” was never defined.
During a previous DeKalb County School Board meeting, Dennis Slager, then chairman of the budget committee, remarked, “Although the budget committee has not yet voted on any construction funding, the county currently can’t afford the grades Pre-K- 8 plan without a ‘sizeable property tax increase.’” The prior discussion was held on February 8, 2020 – nearly four years ago. It’s unchanged and it is the same continuous story today. No negative or positive interactions regarding a decision.
Simply stated from Cripps: “No one really knows what’s going to happen and when” concerning the building of a new elementary school and a new criminal justice center, which was just recently passed to begin construction with no funding agreed upon. To reiterate, the funding source for this development is unknown. Remember the quote, “don’t take a chance until you know where you’re going!”
Cripps further said concerning the two-building construction, “We all understand a new school needs to be built but the tricky part is how are we going to fund it? We actually need three of four new schools, but we can’t get to the second school until we get the first one built.” In reality, “If we don’t have quality teachers and quality support staff in our buildings working because we are not able to take care of them with their pay, it really doesn’t matter what kind of building you have,” said a concerned parent of an elementary school pupil.
By negating a fair and just voice, it could be possible that we could return to our darkened memories and to our daily survival modes while negatively remembering College Street Elementary School, grades 6-8, located on South College Street in Smithville, TN!
