KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WVLT) — Knox County Schools is preparing to present its proposed budget to the school board at the end of April, with major capital projects and rezoning plans on the horizon.
Superintendent Jon Rysewyk said the district will hold a community meeting April 14 before bringing the budget to the board for a vote. The capital budget, funded through county bonds, includes a five-year projection of building projects.
The South Knox Solution project remains in the capital budget. Rysewyk said the project has been on previous budgets and will continue to be included as the district prepares for projected growth south of the Tennessee River.
A new K-8 school at the former Rule High School site serving the Mechanicsville, Lonsdale and Beaumont areas is also in the plan. Final work tied to the new Farragut Elementary campus is included as well.
Rysewyk said the district’s general purpose budget is separate from the capital budget. About 87% of the operational budget goes to staff, with roughly 4,900 teachers among about 10,000 total employees.
Rezoning follows new construction
Any time the district builds a school, rezoning follows, Rysewyk said.
“Anytime we build a school, there’s rezoning because we build it for a reason,” he said. “You’re always trying to do that to relieve overcrowding in some schools.”
The K-8 school at the Rule site will consolidate smaller schools and add grades six through eight for the first time in that area. The school could pull students from Bearden Middle School and Northwest Middle School, though zones have not been set.
Powell rezoning decision explained
The Powell Elementary rezoning drew pushback from some parents who wanted a new building instead of boundary changes.
Rysewyk said the district evaluates three possible solutions when addressing overcrowding: rezoning, adding onto an existing campus or building a new school. A new elementary school costs about $60 million.
The district found about 1,100 vacant seats in schools surrounding Powell Elementary. Brickey Elementary, which recently received an addition, has available seats. Karns Elementary has about 200 open seats following the Mill Creek rezoning several years ago.
Powell Elementary is not projected to reach full capacity for another three years, and enrollment has shown a slight decline, Rysewyk said.
“When we took all of those schools together that surround Powell, there’s about 1,100 vacant seats in the schools that touch Powell School Zone,” he said.
Rysewyk said the district held a community meeting with about 200 people. He said most residents understood the logic behind the decision, even if they would have preferred a new building.
“I think people, in the end, kind of said ‘we understand the logic. We understand the use of taxpayer dollars,’” he said.
Knox County Schools has seen an overall decline of about 1,200 to 1,300 students over the last five years. The district started at about 60,000 students and projects about 57,000 students for the upcoming school year.
Rysewyk said many people moving to Knoxville are not bringing students. Most newcomers are 55 and older, moving for the tax structure and other factors.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of people who are transplanting from other places, including teachers, which has helped with some of our recruitment, but not a lot are bringing students,” he said.
The district is also seeing smaller family sizes, which impacts enrollment. Middle schools and high schools have seen lower enrollments, with no evidence students are leaving for other districts.
Knox County Schools started the last two school years with fewer than 10 teacher vacancies out of about 4,900 teaching positions. The district typically would start with about 100 vacancies.
“Our teachers are our number one strategy,” Rysewyk said. “What they do every day in their classroom is why we’re having unprecedented success right now with our students.”
The district will maintain its teacher staffing formulas for the upcoming budget. The formulas are preset and some are driven by state requirements for teacher-to-student ratios.
Some schools may lose teaching positions if enrollment declines, but the ratios remain the same. Tenured teachers whose positions are eliminated due to enrollment changes are offered jobs at other schools.
The district plans to announce work on middle school improvements, special education initiatives, innovative school programs and security updates in the fall.
