Blount commission rejects schools' budget amendment

Parts of Blount County Schools’ general purpose budget for the current fiscal year are uncertain after the county commission Thursday, July 18, rejected the district’s newest spending proposal.

The Blount County Board of Commissioners voted 10-5 against accepting an amendment to the schools’ budget during a meeting Thursday. Several commissioners abstained from the vote.

The schools’ amendment would have cut over $500,000 from the $127.7 million allocation county commissioners approved in June.

Commissioners who opposed the budget measure cited concerns over the planned cuts to some student-centric programming as their rationale. The schools might instead, some commissioners argued, focus cuts on programs that don’t directly affect students or teachers.

BCS spokesperson Amanda Vance told The Daily Times over email Friday that following the vote the schools leadership “are thoughtfully assessing the situation and working through the next steps required to ensure compliance with state and federal law.”

Vance has previously told the newspaper, and BCS Director David Murrell told commissioners Thursday, that the cuts to programming were planned because there were no better options to decrease spending.

County officials noted both Thursday and Friday that they did not expect the vote to affect compensation for schools staff.

Budget requests

The vote came as such compensation is set to rise; Blount County teachers with bachelor’s degrees, but no experience, will be paid slightly more than $50,000 starting this academic year, putting the district years ahead of a state requirement to raise beginning teacher salaries to at least $50,000 per year.

That increase had an impact on the schools’ proposed budget as well as the county’s. The school board in the spring passed an initial budget with a nearly $4 million deficit.

And after the county’s vote on the government’s total budget for the fiscal year that started July 1, the school board made some changes: its first request was for over $130 million; the second request, after the county’s June budget vote, came in at $127.1 million, under the $127.7 million the county allocated for schools. Traditionally, the county school board sets the district funding priorities, while the county determines BCS’s share of property tax and other funding.

The difference between the county allocation and the school’s second request was the subject of some discussion both Thursday and last week, July 9, when the Blount budget committee declined to give the schools’ amendment a positive recommendation.

At issue, committee members said then, were planned cuts to student-centric programming. A program intended for high-performing students, as well as some positions, would end. Though positions would be eliminated, the holders of those roles would be offered other work within the school system.

Vance told the newspaper last week that such cuts were planned as other areas highlighted by the county as possible targets for lowering spending are funded by state grants or are needed to support students.

In an emailed statement Friday, Murrell wrote in part:

“There will always be conflicting perspectives on the best expenditure of funds, but the Board of Education and I will always be committed to addressing those together. Students are always at the center of our decision making and our budget requests have reflected our strategic priorities: effective instruction, equipped students, and excellent culture.

Let’s focus on the things that unify us- our students and our families. The Blount County I know commits to collaboration and compromise, and I truly believe in our collective strength.”

The vote

The budget amendment was subject to a higher threshold of support than is typical of county commission votes. In order to adopt the amendment, commission Chairman Jared Anderson told fellow commissioners Thursday, a ⅔ majority — 14 of the commission’s 21 members — would need to vote in favor.

Ahead of the vote Thursday Anderson also cited state law, noting that commissioners might abstain on the grounds of a conflict of interest — employment by the school system, for example — with the amendment. Several commissioners present then are employees of BCS, including Robbie Bennett and Staci Martin.

While they are able to vote on general budgets, he said, an amendment affecting their or their spouse’s salaries would represent a conflict.

State law on the subject reads in part: “(T)he new law does not prohibit a member from voting on the budget, appropriation resolution, or tax rate resolution, or amendments thereto, unless the vote is on a specific amendment to the budget or a specific appropriation or resolution in which the member has a conflict of interest.”

A decision to abstain lowers the number of votes needed to pass the amendment, Anderson noted. Commissioners Robbie Bennett and Staci Martin, BCS employees, abstained, as did Commissioner David Wells, whose wife works for the district. Commissioner Dawn Reagan, a BCS teacher, was absent, along with Commissioners Earl McMahan and Jessica Hannah.

Commissioners Dyran Bledsoe, Brad Bowers, Ron French, Jeff Jopling and Tom Stinnett voted in favor of the amendment.

In a phone call with The Daily Times Friday, Anderson commented that following a recent change in state statute, he is now required to ask after a vote, but before the results were announced, if a commissioner had voted on a measure while having a conflict of interest.

Of the general situation, he said, “I’m hopeful that this can be resolved through a collaborative process.”

But communication between the schools and the general county was an issue for Commissioner Brad Bowers Thursday. He said then, “I guess that leads me to really what bothers me, and it just seems like nobody can get along and sit down at the table, trying to figure things out before we get to this point.”