School Board Candidate Forum

The ability to raise money for the Hamilton County school system through taxes should be under the control of the school board and not the County Commission, according to two board members.

“Taxing authority should not stay with the commission,” District 4 incumbent Debra Matthews said. “We’re in the situation we’re in today because of it. The role of the County Commission is to approve our budget, not to dictate it.”

Current and prospective Hamilton County Board of Education candidates sparred Friday over who should have taxing authority during a forum hosted by the Southeast Tennessee Political Action Committee. Along with Ms. Matthews, District 2 candidate Dr. Joe Dumas, District 2 incumbent Chip Baker and District 4 candidate Gregg Juster attended the forum.

The tension between the two elected bodies is not a flaw in the system but a strength, Dr. Dumas said.

“We have a separation of power,” he said. “We need to preserve that tension; it lends itself to greater accountability.”

Mr. Baker said he agreed with Ms. Matthews — to a point. The current system in which the County Commission approves the school board’s budget and funds county schools likely will be around for a while, so the board must find a way to make it work, he said.

“We should have the authority to tax because we’re the ones who spend (the money),” he said. “We have an adversarial relationship sometimes; it’s set up for controversy.”

But being adversarial isn’t always bad, Mr. Juster said, because too often government tries to solve problems by throwing money at them.

“We should have an adversarial relationship, otherwise, it would be too easy to raise taxes,” he said.

When asked whether they would support a tax increase specifically earmarked for education, Dr. Dumas and Mr. Juster said no.

Mr. Baker and Ms. Matthews said they might support an increase, but they would look at other issues first, such as whether Hamilton County was getting its fair share of Tennessee’s Basic Education Program money and the burden on residents who must pay both county and city taxes.

Kenneth Simpson, who announced last month he would run for the District 4 school board seat, was not at the forum. Contacted later, he said he had decided to drop out of the race.

“Now is just not the right time,” he said.