Mon
Jan 14 2008
11:31 am
A couple of education bills of local interest
By: R. Neal

State Rep. Mike Turner, a Democrat from Old Hickory (Davidson Co.), introduced a couple of bills last week that, given recent controversy in Knox Co., might be of local interest.

HB2524 allows student to attend the school closest to the student's residence, if the student so desires.

HB2525 prohibits construction of high schools with a student capacity of greater than 1,200.

Topics:
djuggler's picture

OOooooh! Thankie thankie

Submitted by djuggler on Mon, 2008/01/14 - 12:42pm.

OOooooh! Thankie thankie thankie! I like those!

Doug McCaughan
(link...)

Tamara Shepherd's picture

Maybe I'm not getting it...

Submitted by Tamara Shepherd on Mon, 2008/01/14 - 1:45pm.

I dunno, Doug.

That second proposal sounds like an incredibly naive unfunded state mandate. I don't see a corresponding proposal to increase the percentage of the state sales tax funding school construction--and the revenue stream provided thereby doesn't cover a fraction of the county's school debt service now. It's already thrust downward on the locals to a huge degree...

The first proposal, unless I'm missing something, sounds like a proposal for a School for Stupid Kids, a School for Poor Kids, etc., etc. The need to integrate our schools is real; it's just that I have favored integrating our communities first, rather than drawing contrived, elliptical school zones stretching fifteen miles and promoting the resulting zones as "communities."

Pamela Treacy's picture

Please

Submitted by Pamela Treacy on Mon, 2008/01/14 - 9:36pm.

We don't have the funding to build schools for only 1200 students. With larger schools we can save costs but still create smaller learning communities within them.

The first proposal is odd. It's says if a student wants to attend the schools closest to them, they must be allowed. Then the second part gives an abundance of options to create school zones. I know many folks who would love to choose to attend the school closest to them -- especially after the new zones.

Does anyone know the background and reasoning behind these proposals?

lovable liberal's picture

Small schools are better

Submitted by lovable liberal on Tue, 2008/01/15 - 9:26am.

They give better educational results, particularly among populations that need help - poor, ESL, minority.

They are slightly more expensive to build, but they are not more expensive to run (as long as we're talking about a size 700 or higher). Labor costs are the most important operating costs, and they go up proportionally to student population, no matter whether those students are in one building or several.

Liberty and justice for all.

My new home

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