Williamson County Schools has proposed a $1.8 million update to Scales Elementary School in its current-year capitol improvements plan.

Committees balk at amount; projects include Scales update
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
The “big game” may be scheduled for the Superdome in New Orleans tonight but another interesting showdown may play out in the Williamson County Commission auditorium in Franklin.

The Williamson County Commission will vote tonight on Williamson County Schools’ annual 2011-12 Board of Education Capital Outlay Needs request for up to $26,515,448.

Annually in January the school board presents an itemized list to the commission based on its five-year plan. It is reviewed by the commission’s education and the budget committees who independently make recommendations about whether or not they think it should be approved by the full commission.

This year’s project list includes major updates at Scales Elementary School; a remodeled multi-purpose center and a new theater at Brentwood High; track resurfacing and a combined restroom/concession stand at Ravenwood High; and a middle school performance facility at Woodland Middle.

Similar projects are listed for campuses across the district. The list also includes additional school buses, information technology upgrades and equipment, and a $1.5 million request for land for a new Spring Hill elementary school.

The Education Committee, chaired by 1st district commissioner Ricky Jones, voted to recommend $6 million of the $26.5 million request. The Budget Committee, chaired by Commissioner Tom Bain (7th District-Brentwood), voted 4-1 to recommend not funding the request at all.

On Friday, WCS superintendent Dr. Mike Looney said the request is “not unusual” and will present the district’s case for approval to the full commission. Over the past five years, requests ranging from $5 million to $100 million have been made, depending upon that year’s needs and the district’s five-year capital improvements plan. He said many of the items on the 2011-12 project list have been deferred from previous years’ lists due to the economy.

“Scales has been on the list for three years,” Looney said. “It’s been pushed back and pushed back.” A total of $1.8 million has been budgeted for work at the Murray Lane elementary school. Among the work needed, Looney said, is abatement of asbestos in the building and updating restrooms that have not been touched since the school was built in 1977.

“If we do the improvements, we can get 30 to 40 more years out of that building,” Looney said.

When asked why the county budget committee voted against the request or at least recommending part of it, Bain cited ongoing concerns about the economy and the fact that the list was not prioritized.

Bain noted that with last year’s property tax increase -- the first in the county in several years -- he was reticent to approve any unnecessary expenditure that might force another increase. He also cited fairness concerns about fully funding the school district’s request when other county departments have pressing needs as well.

Bain said he hoped the district would “pull the proposal, do their due diligence and resubmit the proposal” with items listed according to priority. “That’s would I’d like to see personally.”

The school board’s next meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 17, so it did not have an opportunity to rework the list following the two committees’ recommendations.

Sixth district school board representative Terry Leve called foul, however, on the notion that the list was not prioritized. “Anything that wasn’t a priority was taken out before it was presented to the commission,” said Leve, whose district encompasses a large part of east Brentwood.

He added that the list presented to the commission was “exactly how they requested it.”

“All of the things that are on that list are needed,” he continued, adding it wasn’t a “wish list.” That’s not what these are.”

Looney said the request is directly tied to the district’s five-year plan and that the district believed it was presenting the list in the form the commission wanted – as a whole -- instead of individually asking for funds as the need occurred.

In an email sent to Scales parents last week, PTO president Kirsten Crosby asked for them to contact their representatives and ask for their support for the capital improvements budget and to include the Scales renovations in whatever amount they ultimately approve if they do cut the total $26.5 million request.

“Please let them know, as a Scales community, our intention is to be good stewards.  We are solely interested in extending our 35-year-old building for another 35 years.   By making these capital improvements to our building now, we hope to bring Scales up to 2012 standards and prepare for the future,” Crosby concluded her letter.

The County Commission meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Williamson County Administrative Complex auditorium, 1320 West Main Street, Franklin. Public access to the board room is on the back, right-hand side of the building.   

Click here to see a full agenda of the meeting.