Will the Board of Education Partner with the County in Funding Construction of New School?

February 7, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Will the Board of Education partner with the county in funding construction of a new 800 student Pre-K to 2nd grade elementary school to replace the existing Smithville Elementary School complex?

That issue is on the agenda for discussion and possible action during Thursday night’s monthly board of education meeting which will be held at 7 p.m. at DeKalb County High School. A workshop will be held prior to the meeting at 6 p.m.

Three months ago, members of the county commission and board of education met together in an informal workshop setting to work toward some funding arrangement on the project. In October 2022 architects estimated the cost to build a new Smithville Elementary School was $46,199,875 at that time.

According to County Mayor Matt Adcock and the county’s fiscal agent Steve Bates, a $40 million school construction project could be funded without a property tax increase or even a wheel tax, using available local option sales tax funds and interest income on bond proceeds, but only if the school board is willing to make a one-time contribution of two million dollars from its $10 million fund balance reserves. The county would also need a commitment from the cities and school board to extend the existing sales tax agreements between the parties which expire July 16, 2037. Under those agreements, the cities turn over to the county for schools a greater percentage of their local option sales tax collections than they would otherwise be required to do. That money goes into what is called the Local Purpose Tax Fund for Schools to help fund school operation and debt.

“The best-case scenario would be to extend the sales tax agreements between the county, cities, and school board (beyond 2037) in order to do 30-year bonds but do an emission of bonds to build the school and amortize it over a 15-year period with a $ 2 million contribution from the Board of Education from their fund balance together with a contribution from local purpose (local option sales tax fund),” explained Bates.

“Under this plan, we (county) would take $5.6 million (from local purpose/sales tax fund) together with the school’s $2 million contribution and together with bond proceeds issue an amount of bonds to build the school. By amortizing it quickly over 15 years then it opens up future borrowing capacity for another school to be built once that issue is paid off,” said Bates.

The Board of Education has been reluctant to make a $2 million commitment from the school district’s fund balance because of other needs including some that are state mandated which either are being or may have to be financially supported locally from the fund balance (reserves).

“We have concerns about them (county) asking us to contribute $2 million from our fund balance (reserves),” said Director of Schools Patrick Cripps in November. ” Right now, we (school district) have close to $9.9 million in our reserves (fund balance) and that is healthy but when you run a budget of up to $29 million then $9 million is not a whole lot of money and to think that we could possibly be pulling $2 million out of that and suddenly be down to $7.9 million left in reserves is a cause of worry for me. We (school district and school board) have been good stewards of the money and because of that we have been able to give pay raises to our employees without having to ask the county commission for more local funding to do that and I would not want to harm that ability. I would like for us (school district) to be able to take care of our business with our money and not have to ask for more from the county,” said Director Cripps.

“There are also mandates we have to meet which are not funded by the state,” Cripps continued. “Right now, we are able to cover those (costs) with some of the grants we have been able to write because of COVID but those end this year so we will have to come up with additional money to fund those mandates and that comes at a cost to our local budget. So again, it concerns me having to go into our (school) reserves for anything and if we have to go deeper into our reserves to help pay for a new school that scares me even more. And really, although we certainly need new schools, if we don’t have quality teachers and quality support staff in our building working because we are not able to take care of them with their pay it really doesn’t matter what kind of building you have,” said Director Cripps.

In other business Thursday night, the board will consider and act on starting a volleyball program at DCHS for 2024-25; consider and act on a DCHS request to change dual enrollment requirements; consider and act on the DCHS prom being held off campus at the Capitol Theater in Lebanon; and the director will give a personnel report. Matters on the consent agenda will also be considered for adoption.

February 6, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Elementary is recognizing its Teacher of the Month for January, Mrs. Jane Ramsey. SES recognizes one teacher each month for his/her outstanding performance in teaching and their contribution to the students at our school. The teacher of the month is selected by the administration at Smithville Elementary.

School administration and staff cited some of Mrs. Jane’s attributes as follows:

“She is a very patient person! She has a special knack with the children. Mrs. Jane is a kind and wonderful person inside and out! A great person to work with!”

“She is always understanding and supportive of other teachers, and she works hard to really differentiate for each group.”

“Mrs. Jane always has fun lessons and is such a hard worker! She is also so kind and supportive to everyone.”

“Mrs. Ramsey is kind, caring, and compassionate to all of her students and all staff at SES. She is always willing to share information and or locate resources needed by classroom teachers. She encourages reading and inspires students to delve into books. Mrs. Ramsey always goes the extra mile to make all feel loved, valued, accepted, respected, and wanted. She is a blessing to have as a faculty member, a friend, and as our teacher/librarian.”

“Ms. Jane is always so friendly and so thoughtful. She is always doing little things for people (little treats) just to make a person feel good.”

“Mrs. Jane is patient and kind and is always willing to help you find whatever book you want/need.”

“Jane is sooo dedicated to the students in the library. She goes above and beyond to do Read Night, she is always willing to help others out if they are in need, and she will volunteer for just about anything when needed.”

Congratulations Mrs. Jane, and thank you for all that you do to support the students and staff at Smithville Elementary. You are greatly appreciated by everyone at SES!

February 6, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The three incumbent Smithville Aldermen up for re-election in 2024 have picked up qualifying petitions from the DeKalb County Election Commission to seek re-election.

Shawn Jacobs, Danny Washer, and Jessica Higgins obtained their petitions Monday, February 5 and are expected to acquire the needed signatures before returning them to the election commission office as part of the procedure for becoming a qualified candidate for Smithville Alderman.

The Smithville Municipal Election will be held on Thursday, August 1, 2024 in conjunction with the DeKalb County General Election, the Dowelltown and Alexandria Municipal Elections and the Tennessee Democratic and Republican Primaries for state offices.

The four-year terms of the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen are staggered with three aldermen to be elected this year (2024) and the remaining two aldermen and mayor positions, currently held by Mayor Josh Miller and Aldermen Beth Chandler and Don Crook, to be up for election again in 2026.

The qualifying deadline for the August 1 elections is Thursday April 1 at 12 noon and the withdrawal deadline is Thursday, April 11 at 12 noon. The voter registration deadline for the August 1 elections is Tuesday, July 2. Early Voting for the August 1 elections is Friday, July 12 to Saturday, July 27. The absentee ballot request deadline for the August 1 elections is Thursday, July 25.

In the State Primaries on August 1, nominees in both the Republican and Democratic Parties will be selected for the offices of US Senate, US House of Representatives (6th District), Tennessee House of Representatives (40th District), and Tennessee Senate (16th District).

Those positions are currently held by US Senator Marsha Blackburn (R), Congressman John Rose (R)- US House of Representatives (6th District), State Representative Michael Hale (R)- Tennessee House of Representatives (40th District), and State Senator Janice Bowling (R)- Tennessee Senate (16th District)

The Alexandria Municipal Election on August 1 will be held to fill the positions of mayor (unexpired term), three aldermen, and three other aldermen (unexpired terms).

In the Dowelltown Municipal Election on August 1, a mayor and two aldermen will be elected.

Meanwhile the DeKalb County General Election will be August 1 in which party nominees selected in the March 5 primaries will be running for the offices of Assessor of Property, Board of Education (Districts 5 & 6), Constable (Districts 1-7), and Criminal Court Judge- Part III in the 13th Judicial District.

The office of County Commission District 6 will also be on the August 1, 2024 ballot to fill an unexpired term. This election will be held in conjunction with the 2024 DeKalb County General Election.

County parties may certify a candidate by caucus by the qualifying deadline 12 NOON April 4, 2024.

Independents may now pick up petitions for that office (6th district county commission).

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