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May 20, 2024

This school board meeting had 4 main topics. The first pertained to the federal government's update to Title IX to include gender identity and sexual preference as protected classes. The second topic was the inequity in supplemental pay that negatively affects fine arts teachers. The third issue was the budget. And the final main concern was the new TN law regarding the availability of age appropriate materials in school libraries.

I also spoke about the declining racial equality among Williamson County Schools' teachers and administrators.

Since there were 28 people who signed up to speak, each person was allowed 60 seconds.

Here is the agenda. And you can click here to watch the whole meeting. It's almost 3 hours long.

You can see my "live tweeting" of the event here.

Title IX

By my count, there were 7 folks who spoke during public comment in support of the change to Title IX, encouraging our board to remain in compliance with it, including the recent changes. Several of these speakers were wearing Wilco Iris shirts.

Three people spoke against the recent changes, citing the many states (including TN) that are suing the federal government to retract these changes. One speaker was wearing a Moms For Liberty shirt and referred to a debunked story of litter boxes in school.

Mr. Golden said, "we're at the study stage," regarding this topic.

List of speakers

Supporting LGBTQ

Against LGBTQ

Supplemental Pay Inequity

There were also 7 speakers who spoke about the inequity in supplemental pay that negatively affects fine arts teachers. One high schooler spoke, 3 middle schoolers, and one elementary school student.

List of speakers
  • Tiffany Wilson-Mobley
  • Amie Cook
  • 5 kids

Budget

Three individuals spoke about the budget. Two of them are current county commissioners. They each seemed to speak without providing much context to their comments, assuming that the audience already knew where the budget conversation stood. Barb Sturgeon started talking at 52:54. After 106 seconds, Chair Angela Durham tried to cut her off. Remember, each speaker was allotted 60 seconds. Ms. Sturgeon continued to barrel through for a total of 135 seconds. Toward the end of her comments, she suggested an external audit. She took more than double her allotted time.

List of speakers

The school board members discussed the budget before their vote. In March of 2024, the WCSB voted to approve a budget that was around $566 million. The budget was presented to the county commission's education committee, which is made up of 7 of the 24 commissioners (including Mary Smith and Barb Sturgeon, citation), and the school board was asked to bring the number down due to insurance savings. The county commission's budget committee unanimously approved a $555 million budget. But then two weeks later, that same budget committee reduced the school fund by $10 million to $545 million, and that was approved on a 3-2 vote. The budget that the school board voted on (and approved) was the $555 million budget. I assume that is why two of our county commissioners were upset.

Highlights from the board's discussion:

  • Eric Welch said he was "proud to put his name on this budget."

  • Josh Brown said that 71% of the burden of funding is on the county. It is a burden, but it's a choice. He said they should pass this budget and continue the conversation with the commission.

  • Jay Galbreath called out the TISA formula as a reason why we get less money from TN. Also, this $555 million budget should not require a tax increase.

  • Donna Clements was disappointed at the assumption that teachers' pay would need to be cut in response to a lower budget. She echoed Barb Sturgeon's suggestion that there should be an external audit.

  • Superintendent Golden confirmed that if our budget is less than $555, we will have to either cut services or salaries.

  • Eric Welch also verified that the district is externally audited every year. The only recent finding was that the district was too conservative with their budget.

The budget ended up passing by a vote of 10-0-1, with Donna Clements abstaining.

Age Appropriate Materials

There was one person who spoke during public comment in favor of the availability of diverse books, Diane Cochran.

The new TN law regarding age appropriate materials in schools has forced a new policy for material reviews. This policy was crafted by the policy committee and was up for a vote.

The prevailing opinion of board was that this policy would be onerous and impractical, and yet it must be adopted to comply with the law.

Some highlights:

  • Rick Wimberly estimated that this would add 450 hours of work per librarian per year
  • Eric Welch read excerpts from Roots. That book has never received any complaints and is historically valuable. Further, it was recently enshrined as an official state book of TN, nominated by Gino Bulso. But under this policy, it would be removed. He called the TN law a "pile of crap."
  • Drason Beasley spoke up, which is a rare event. He expressed some frustration that board members were critiquing the policy and yet they had not showed up for the policy meeting. Rick Wimberly jovially acknowledged that he was the object of that complaint.
  • For an eloquent explanation of the implications of this policy, watch Lisa Carson's comments. She helped write the policy they're voting on. This segment is about 4 or 5 minutes long.

The policy passed for First Reading, by a vote of 9-2, with Eric Welch and KC Haugh dissenting.

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