The standoff between municipal and school officials over debt payments for the $66 million renovation of Oak Ridge High School has been revived in this fall’s campaign.

The public debate had been largely dormant since May, when the Oak Ridge City Council voted to withhold about $766,000 from the school system until education officials transfer revenues raised under an Anderson County sales tax increase approved in 2006.

In recent forums, former Oak Ridge City Council Leonard Abbatiello accused the current five-member Oak Ridge Board of Education of defaulting on the high school loan payments.

“They did that, in June, voluntarily, without a vote,” Abbatiello said. “This breach of trust is one that we cannot tolerate.”

But Angi Agle, one of the two incumbents running for re-election to the school board in the Nov. 6 election, challenged Abbatiello’s allegation that the school board has defaulted. The school board doesn’t borrow money, Agle said.

Oak Ridge officials said last week that the city has not defaulted on the loan.

“I’m not going to risk our credit rating,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. “We’re making sure that the payments are made.”

However, municipal officials said the school system is past due on what it owes to the city. They said the city has used reserves to make up a shortfall of between $200,000 and $250,000.

The disagreement between the city government and school system is over new revenues generated by a 2006 sales tax increase in Anderson County. School officials have argued they can keep that part of the new sales tax revenues that are collected outside Oak Ridge. Until recently, all the new money, including revenues collected outside the city, were used for high school debt payments.

But city officials said the 2006 county sales tax increase essentially took away money from the city. They cite a 2005 financial plan to argue that all the new county revenues, including money generated outside the city, should be used for debt payments on the ORHS renovation.

School officials say a written agreement is needed, and they proposed one in May, but the City Council informally rejected it.

Despite the disagreement between city and school officials, Agle and Oak Ridge Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer would not characterize the relationship between the two bodies as adversarial.

“I do not believe the Board of Education and the City Council have an adversarial relationship,” said Fillauer, a retired teacher and coach. “We do not always agree. I think that’s healthy.”

“We’re going to disagree from time to time,” Agle said. Those disagreements will generally be about money, she said.

Agle and Fillauer said the solution is for the two bodies to work together to find a middle ground.

“The answer, in large part, is talking,” said Agle, the only candidate or school board member who has a child in school. In the meantime, there are areas where the city and school system can work together, including on phone systems and a new computer data center, Agle said.

The school board candidates have participated in a series of recent forums, including one sponsored by an Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce task force and another hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

Among other things, they were asked which programs or services they might cut.

Abbatiello said he would cut $100,000 in funding for legal help.

“It provides nothing for education,” he said.

But Fillauer, who defended the spending on legal help, said cuts have already been made to programs from driver’s education to summer band camp, and he doesn’t want the list to grow. There are some programs that have been eliminated that he would like to fund again, if possible, using higher tax revenues and more state money.

“There is nothing at this point in time that I would put on the table to cut,” Fillauer said.

Agle said she is optimistic that the city’s sales tax situation is improving, and a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center could generate the equivalent of 10 cents on the property tax rate. That will be critical to schools, Agle said.

“It’s not a debt problem,” Agle said. “It’s a revenue problem.”

 

Virtual schools

Asked about virtual schools, Agle said she is a proponent of technology, but the only virtual school in Tennessee has had miserable results so far.

Fillauer said he doesn’t support using money designated to public schools for for-profit institutions. He also said he is opposed to a school voucher system.

Abbatiello said technology is a tool and should be used profitably when possible.

 

Demographic changes

Abbatiello said Oak Ridge has a two-tier school system, and the system’s excellence is jeopardized by family quality. He said there are 160 high-performing students, and the rest have to “get what they can.”

Forty-five percent of students are on the free-lunch program, Abbatiello said. He said he’s proud of new commercial developments such as the Kroger project, but the degree of growth that the city needs is “unreal.”

He cited economic problems, saying only 10 new homes were built in Oak Ridge last year, among other things.

Agle said it’s true that there is a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged children in classrooms today, but the excellence of the well-respected school system is not at risk. She cited, for example, a recent National Blue Ribbon designation for Glenwood Elementary School from the U.S. Department of Education.

Agle said educators have to teach differently and bridge the gap between those who are ahead of their classes and those who are behind. Still, schools can help improve the lives of disadvantaged children. Some of those students take advanced placement classes and go on to college, Agle said.

“Just because they’re poor does not mean they can’t learn,” she said.

Fillauer seemed to bristle at Abbatiello’s comments about family quality.

“That is absolutely, 100 percent wrong,” Fillauer said. “We need to educate everyone who comes through Oak Ridge schools.”

 

Preschool

The candidates were asked whether the city might get a new preschool, a project that’s been on the school’s wish list for years.

“It is something that is desperately needs to be done,” Agle said. Sales tax revenues are absolutely critical to funding projects like those, she said.

Fillauer agreed that the city’s tax base needed to improve, but he said school officials won’t lose interest in building the new facility.

“This is one item that I can assure you that will stay on the plate of the Board of Education,” Fillauer said.

Abbatiello acknowledged that the decades-old preschool is not appropriate, but he suggested the school system will have to live with it.

“Debt is killing us,” Abbatiello said. “You can’t continue to ignore what you’re spending.”

Early voting for the Nov. 6 election started Wednesday morning and ends Nov. 1.

Note: This story was last updated at 10:36 p.m. Oct. 17.