After controversial efforts to balance the Hamilton County Schools' FY 2010 budget led to the closing of two urban schools, Dr. Scales appears to have shifted his strategy on school consolidation.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the school system is facing "a $26 million shortfall in fiscal 2011 and about an $18 million deficit in the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years."
Earlier this year, after announcing plans to close Howard Middle and 21st Century Academy, Chief Financial Officer Tommy Kranz mentioned the administration's plans to close seven more unnamed schools next year. Though never publicly named, they were reportedly large, outdated and underutilized schools in suburban areas of the district. The student populations of those seven schools would have been merged with other underutilized schools in the system.
However, John Wilson recently reported that Scales no longer favors school consolidation.
Hamilton County School Supt. Dr. Jim Scales said Wednesday that it will be difficult to further consolidate smaller county schools.
"We have done almost as much as we can" with consolidation, Dr. Scales said in the annual State of the Schools Address to the Hamilton County Council of PTAs.
He said some of the schools may be small, but he said, "Generally they are filled with students and you wouldn't have any place to move them to."
Dr. Scales said he favors a program of building new, larger, more efficient schools to replace the small, outdated ones.
While Dr. Scales's comments may provide a sigh of relief for families and students across the county, they raise a number of important questions:
- What is the administration's plan to finance new, bigger schools?
- Considering the urgency of the school system's current financial problems, what is the administration's time line?
- How will building new bigger schools in place of smaller neighborhood schools affect current zoning?
Aaron Collier
C H Guilford on Nov. 6, 2009
The reason why they are not closing and consolodating schools is because of test scores. The greater population in a school the more subgroups that could put that school at risk of failing. Small schools with small student populations do not have subgrounds ie special education that could put a school at risk for failing.