No WhiteWash!

At the February 17, 2008 Kingsport, TN Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting, Alderman Pat Shull expressed his views/concerns over a Kingsport Times-News editorial Lawmakers should facilitate school consolidation efforts.

Below is what he presented at the BMA meeting.

• INTRO – The Sullivan County Commission is currently debating the issues of declining school enrollment, subsequent over-capacity of Sullivan County Schools, and how best to address these issues to save money without compromising academic standards.
• This issue should concern  Kingsport residents since the majority of our citizens live and pay taxes in  Sullivan County
• I’ve surfaced this issue before, especially in a paper that I wrote – any unnecessary spending in the Sullivan County system affects us
• This past Sunday the Times-News published an Editorial  on this issue
• First, they praised Commissioner Brittenham for urging cooperation with the respective cities within the county.  I also commend her, and I commend the commission for taking on this issue.  I don’t  know the specific actions that they should take, let’s see the results of their analysis and discussions
• Tennessee State Law allows for cooperation within a county with multiple school districts  and I urge the respective school boards to work together
• One commissioner suggested raising the county sales tax rate.  Strictly in terms of supporting Kingsport City schools I believe this action to be unnecessary.
• The editorial recommends Consolidation of the County and City School Systems under one consolidated Board of Education with taxing authority.  I am adamantly opposed to this.  I cannot support any action that might weaken educational standards in Kingsport City Schools.
• Further, I believe that creation of a new taxing authority that would compete with the Cities and County Commission for scarce public funds is a very bad idea.
• In summary, let’s give the County Commission time to work through this issue and determine how to save money.  Kingsport should be prepared to cooperate in ways that make sense, but similar to the first rule of medical practice – we should do no harm to the current City School System.