Austin Newell| Special to The Daily Herald
The Maury County Admin Committee denied funding last Monday for a proposed new elementary school in North Columbia.
However, the item will be reheard at the full Maury County Commission meeting on Monday, according to commission chairman Eric Previti.
The budget committee also previously denied the new school funding request in May for the 2024-25 fiscal year during a special-called meeting to hear Maury County Public Schools capital requests.
After the request failed in both committees, commissioners Gary Stovall, District 3, and Kevin Markham, District 9, requested that the item be considered for the 2023-24 budget instead at the next full commission meeting, which will be Monday at 6:30 p.m. at 6 Courthouse Square in the Tom Primm meeting room.
Per commission rules, if a vote fails, two commissioners can request to put the item on the full commission agenda to be reconsidered, Previti said.
The proposed school, that would be located North of Highway 43 and West of Highway 31, was estimated to cost $63 million. The school would be 131,000 sq. ft. and able to house 910 students once completed.
The school would also feature a FEMA-rated tornado shelter, with enough room to house the whole school with space for more.
When put to a vote, funding approval failed 3-2. Both commissioners in favor, Kenny Morrow, District 7, and Eric Previti, District 2, stated they voted yes in order to continue discussion.
The proposal has been popular with both the Maury County Public Schools Board of Education members and Columbia City Council. Earlier this year, the school board voted to move forward with the project, and city council voted unanimously to waive nearly $13,000 in engineering fees.
However, county admin committee members, as well as nearby residents, seemed to be more divided about the project, which led to funding disapproval.
Many residents came to the meeting to voice their concerns about the project, chief among issues of concern include the cost of the school, the traffic issues the school might bring and the possibility for an increase in taxes.
“At this time, the tradeoffs we would have, just don’t add up in my opinion, to building a school on this property,” said Roger Mashburn, a resident.
School board member Marlina Ervin, serving District 6, briefly spoke at the meeting defending the school.
“All of those concerns are concerns that we share. Safety is our utmost concern for our students. Safety in transport, safety in classroom spaces,” said Ervin.
Ervin then turned the discussion over to Eric Perryman, MCPS Assistant Superintendent of Operations.
“I will tell you that the 11 folks that are elected by the same electorate you were elected by have spent hours upon hours over the last 3 years looking at the needs of the school system, looking at the sites and the facilities that are there," Perryman said.
"They have put in tons of work that the people of this county have elected them to do. It’s not just staff, it’s not just our wants, we get nothing out of building more schools. No one makes a dollar, no one gets anything out of it, it’s just more work. This is the right thing to do by our students; this is the right thing to do by our electorate, because this does not require a tax increase."
Bart Cline, architect for the school system, discussed the issue of traffic.
“Alone, on the car rider side, we can stack 336 cars at one time. As many of you know who have Pre-K or children, they come and go at different times, so we can actually keep it from backing up onto the main roads. In addition to the 336 stack spaces, we also have stacking for 11 buses. Plus on site, there’s an additional 240 spaces.”
Cline said around 40% of students are expected to be car riders, and 60% are expected to be bus riders.
The arguments presented did not seem to convince the majority of the committee.
“After this past week, I’ve got nothing but emails and phone calls not supporting this," said Previti. "I’ve heard from one person that was in the room tonight that said ‘I don’t care if you build it because it’s the lesser of the evils. If we don’t build a school, we’ll get a shopping mall.’ And that’s the best I’ve gotten to support."
Commissioner Aaron Miller of District 7 was worried that, due a decrease of students, the school may be not needed at all. Miller cited and questioned a drop in student enrollment in MCPS.
“... It sounds like we’re looking at losing funding that we were hitherto dependent on in some ways, while also seeing an increase in staff and a decrease in students," Miller said.
“That's concerning to me that we are then going to borrow more money, that we will then pay interest on over the next 20 years, for a school that we may not necessarily need at the time that it is completed.”
Morrow was initially supportive of the school but changed his mind once he heard overwhelmingly from his constituents a desire for the school not to be built.
“I would like to see this school built somewhere, but I think the only way you’ll get it is to find another place to put it, I honestly do, because the biggest issue people have is with traffic and congestion. That is the biggest corridor in Maury County, and I think it’s probably not a good idea to put anything else on that corridor that doesn’t have to be there,” Morrow said.
Commissioner Danny Grooms of District 10 said regardless of where the school is placed, there is bound to be traffic problems.
“I challenge any of you to find a location North of Columbia that’s not gonna have traffic problems. If you move it out Carters Creek Pike you still have traffic problems on 31, on Nashville Highway. If you come down to Bear Creek, you still got traffic problems,” Grooms said. “I have sat and watched for a long time every tax dollar being spent go North of Columbia and Columbia. I feel like I have to speak up for my constituents because we pay taxes in this county just like everybody else.”
Austin Newell is a freelance writer in Middle Tennessee.
