Scammer
Banned
COLUMBIA, Tenn. - Students in one mid-state county will be getting an extended fall break. Starting Monday, schools in Maury County will be shut down due to budget issues.
Administrators said they have no idea when kids will be back in class. They're hoping for the best but admit things don't look too good. The district's budget issues seems to stem from a beef between the local county commission and the school board.
Schools were closed following the county commission and school boards failure to pass a budget for the district. As a result, the state is withholding millions in funding.
Director of Schools Eddie Hickman has gotten plenty of flack from parents. Hickman told NewsChannel 5 part of the issue revolves around the new Spring Hill Middle.
Some commissioners are upset the board chose to open the building during a rough economy. Hickman believes the district is not being allowed to draw emergency funds as pay back.
"Now they don't want to fund that middle school. They say we didn't need that middle school but back when we started building that middle school all projections where we were going to need that school because Spring Hill was the fastest growing community in middle Tennessee," said Hickman.
Parents like Rachel Sparkman believe the adults should start thinking less about their egos and more about the students.
"I think it's crazy. I think these kids need to be in school. There's not a whole lot we can do really except wait and see what happens. They're just going to have to figure something out," said Sparkman.
School board members also argued they only need a small portion of the system's emergency fund, just $800,000 to keep schools open. They said without that money they would be forced to make major cuts to busing and worker benefits among other things.
The teachers in the county are fortunate they are getting their pay checks on Friday. On Wednesday, the school system was granted a $4 million loan from the county.
This entire issue came about because the school district failed to meet an October 1 deadline to get their budget figures into the state.
Administrators said they have no idea when kids will be back in class. They're hoping for the best but admit things don't look too good. The district's budget issues seems to stem from a beef between the local county commission and the school board.
Schools were closed following the county commission and school boards failure to pass a budget for the district. As a result, the state is withholding millions in funding.
Director of Schools Eddie Hickman has gotten plenty of flack from parents. Hickman told NewsChannel 5 part of the issue revolves around the new Spring Hill Middle.
Some commissioners are upset the board chose to open the building during a rough economy. Hickman believes the district is not being allowed to draw emergency funds as pay back.
"Now they don't want to fund that middle school. They say we didn't need that middle school but back when we started building that middle school all projections where we were going to need that school because Spring Hill was the fastest growing community in middle Tennessee," said Hickman.
Parents like Rachel Sparkman believe the adults should start thinking less about their egos and more about the students.
"I think it's crazy. I think these kids need to be in school. There's not a whole lot we can do really except wait and see what happens. They're just going to have to figure something out," said Sparkman.
School board members also argued they only need a small portion of the system's emergency fund, just $800,000 to keep schools open. They said without that money they would be forced to make major cuts to busing and worker benefits among other things.
The teachers in the county are fortunate they are getting their pay checks on Friday. On Wednesday, the school system was granted a $4 million loan from the county.
This entire issue came about because the school district failed to meet an October 1 deadline to get their budget figures into the state.
