No Compromise on New School Funding

By HAYES HICKMAN, hickman@knews.com

The Knox County school board effectively voted Wednesday not to help the Knox County Commission make up its mind about spending an extra $6 million on a new Hardin Valley High School.

Commissioners deferred a vote on the extra funding last week, saying they need more information about zoning, class sizes and countywide school needs.

The school board said it’s too soon to predict exactly how many students from existing schools would be zoned to the new one, that classroom sizes aren’t relevant to the discussion and that commissioners have had a list of countywide needs since December.

“The ball is still in County Commission’s court,” said school board Chairwoman Karen Carson, who succeeded former chairman Dan Murphy on Wednesday. Cindy Buttry was named vice chairwoman.

Still, the school board did consider a proposal to share the added cost equally with County Commission. Ultimately, however, board members feared the school system might get stuck with the whole $6 million.

Three board members were open to the 50-50 split.

“Either way, the county taxpayers and the schools’ debt service fund are going to pay for it,” said Sam Anderson, who with Murphy and Jim Williams voted to rescind the board’s initial action requesting funding for the high school, a move that would have opened the floor to a vote on the compromise.

The other six board members voted against starting over.

The new high school originally was planned for 2,100 students at a cost of $40 million. It’s now expected to require $50 million because of the rising cost of building materials.

The school system has agreed to add $4 million from its own debt service fund to cover heating and air conditioning.

Board members are concerned the other $6 million would take capital money from other projects or cut into operating revenue.

“I think we’re willing to help any way we can,” Commission Chairman Scott Moore told the board. “I’ll support $3 million on our side by tightening our belt.”

Murphy asked what sort of assurance Moore could offer to that end.

“There’s a little leap of faith here that makes me nervous,” Murphy said. “What kind of assurance can you give me that we’re not going to be left holding the $6 million bag?”

Moore said there was none, and he repeated commission’s request that the school board submit a list of its priority school needs countywide before commissioners could consider the added funding request.

“My decision’s based on whether we need a 2,100-student school,” he said. “Let’s get to the real numbers. If you think we need a school for 2,100, then I think that’s what we need to build.”

Board member Indya Kincannon said the school board’s countywide priorities are spelled out in the annual capital plan submitted to County Commission in December.

Last month, Public Building Authority officials framed the budget shortfall as a choice between a 2,100-student school with no furniture, equipment and athletic fields or a fully equipped facility for 1,300 students.

Board members offered their consensus Wednesday that they would not favor building a smaller school while leaving room to expand for later years and later budgets.

Buttry warned that failure to build the new high school to its full capacity on the front end could set a bad precedent for future projects.

“This is about doing what’s right for all areas,” she said.

In other action Wednesday, the school board dodged a vote approving outside legal counsel for Superintendent Charles Lindsey, voting unanimously instead to leave the hiring duty to Knox County Law Director John Owings. The board also specified that any legal representation the school board might need should be provided in- house from the county Law Department.

What wasn’t discussed was why.

Outside the meeting, schools spokesman Russ Oaks said the request was “primarily” related to a lawsuit filed last month by Powell High School Assistant Principal Kimberly Kallenberg.

Kallenberg was placed on administrative leave with pay in July after rumors surfaced that she was involved in a sexual relationship with a student. The Law Department later said there was no evidence to support the claim, although she still is being investigated for unspecified inappropriate conduct and for possible grade tampering.

Hayes Hickman may be reached at 865-342-6323.

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