The Covington Independent Public Schools Board of Education voted in a 3-2 decision to increase district property taxes and levy a special nickel tax.
The property tax increase and the additional nickel tax, which raises additional money for facility improvements, were passed at a public hearing last week, but only after over an hour of frustration, confusion and invective from among the officials and members of the public.
Board Member Kareem Simpson and Board President Tom Haggard cast the two nay votes.
“We have to have tough conversations,” Haggard told LINK nky later in the week after reflecting on the meeting.
The event, which the board held in Jack Moreland Auditorium at Holmes High School, was a state-mandated public hearing to hear discussion about a proposed increase in district property taxes.
District Finance Director Annette Burtschy had recommended an increase at the board’s regular meeting earlier in August. The recommendation, which called for a property tax rate of 92.70 cents per $100 of real estate valuation in addition to the nickel tax, mandated the board hold a public hearing for the community to weigh in on the matter before the board members cast their votes.
The previous year’s property tax rate was 89.50 cents per $100 of real estate valuation.
Burtschy said at the meeting earlier in August that the increase would equal about three more cents per $100 of property valuation on district residents’ tax bill.
Class sessions for the new school year began only two days before, on Aug. 28.
The meeting opened with public comments. District teachers, principals, and community leaders all took the podium to make the case for increasing taxes, hoping it would fund additional air conditioning units in the high school and middle school classrooms, some of which don’t even have windows.
Lee Turner, the event’s first speaker and principal of Holmes Middle School, brought a group of students and let them speak about their experiences dealing with the stifling heat of the classrooms.
“I hope you all really consider having this tax and helping our students,” Turner said after the last student spoke.
Numerous attendees representing various interests and groups from the community took the podium one by one, each reiterating the need for better cooling infrastructure in district facilities. Many cited concerns about students’ health, safety and learning environments to make their case.
The uniformity of the attendees’ desires and statements perturbed several of the board members.
Board Member Stephen Gastright expressed frustration that the issue of air conditioning had seemingly overtaken the broader question of tax increases. Discussions of ventilation and air conditioning improvements had sporadically occurred over the past two years.
The passage of a nickel tax–which Gastright eventually voted for–could conceivably be used to invest in new air conditioning, but it was not part of the board’s discussions about taxes in meetings immediately leading up to the hearing. Burtschy did not mention it when she gave her recommendation earlier in the month, and none of the documents related to Wednesday’s meeting dealt directly with the question of air conditioning at Holmes.
Gastright laid the blame squarely at the feet of the district’s Superintendent, Alvin Garrison. Garrison had also spoken at the end of the public comments section, where he explicitly gave his support for the tax increase.
“Mr. Garrison has been the superintendent for 10 years now and… this is the first time he’s bringing it ahead of us? Are you kidding me?” Gastright added, visibly holding back emotion.
“Recently, we invested in new playground equipment at 9th District [Elementary] only to a year later get a recommendation from Mr. Garrison to close that school,” Gastright said.
Gastright went on to discuss the $2 million recently spent on a new heating system for the James E. Biggs Early Childhood Education Center, which he said previously did not meet code requirements.
“We’re investing money into security improvements for a school, which is full of asbestos, and I’m imploring–I’m begging–for our leadership to give us the tools we need to spend our limited funds wisely,” Gastright said. “If we do this air conditioning project, we have zero money to do anything else in the district except for maintenance.”
Gastright said that he supported the tax increase and air conditioning additions in principle but clarified that he was unwilling to green-light any more facility improvement projects without a master facilities plan.
Gastright and other board members had discussed their desire for these previous meetings. Specifically, they wanted a plan that laid out not only the needed building improvements but also methods for funding and prioritization.
“So, though I want this project so badly for this campus, this building,… your main opponent is Mr. Garrison himself because he refuses to do the minimal things we’ve asked him to do for us,” Gastright said.
The other board members’ comments were less pointed, but several agreed with the spirit of Gastright’s statements.
“I just really struggle with a lack of an intentional plan that outlines some of these goals that the district aspires for,” said board member Hannah Edelen, “and the lack of intentional conversation prior that has buy-in with others at the table.”
“When we’re going out to ask the community to raise taxes, we want to have a plan, and we want to have something to show them,” said Haggard. “To Miss Edelen’s point, we need to be doing that together.”
Haggard also directed questions to Burtschy, asking about the ins and outs of the formulas that went behind calculating the nickel tax and how the state allocates other funding to schools.
If the board voted to pass the nickel tax, the state would also provide the district with an additional $2 million in funds, an offer the district would not be eligible for in subsequent years. The tax was also recallable, meaning that voters could if they wanted to, petition the county to add a ballot measure to cancel the tax in the next election.
Haggard wanted to know if the passage of the nickel tax would even provide enough money to get air conditioning in all of the classrooms at Holmes.
“I think it gets them a step closer,” Garrison said. “I can’t sit here and say that it would completely be done; I can’t say that, but I know it would get us a lot closer.”
Garrison’s next comments revealed some confusion between the board members and the superintendent about what the board was asking for. Members like Gastright expressed a desire for a well-laid-out plan for the district as a whole, whereas Garrison seemed to be under the impression that the priorities had already been established.
Garrison, both at the meeting and in subsequent emails with LINK nky, referenced discussions about facility improvements dating back to the beginning of 2022.
“I thought the board was very supportive of wanting air conditioning for the campus,” Garrison said. “Maybe I read that wrong, but that was my understanding. I’m sorry; I made a mistake.”
“I think when we had this discussion back then, without inflation over the last month, we were told that our $18 million could get us either air condition at the campus, or we could do all of those other projects,” Garrison said.
There was one lone defender on the board: Board Member Glenda Huff.
“I sat at this table for 23 years, and I think I have a good comprehension of what is going on and why we need this tax rate and the nickel,” Huff said “We had a group of students that came in talk to us about this. We had staff that came in to talk about the conditions that they work in, that they are trying to educate our children and their health is at risk. Now no matter how frustrated some some of us may be, this is important.”
Huff then asked Garrison directly if he could guarantee air conditioning if the proposed tax increases occurred.
“I wish I could say tonight that I can guarantee that the entire campus will be air conditioned,” Garrison replied. “I can’t guarantee that.”
Gastright took issue with Huff’s statement.
“I don’t appreciate the representation that I’m the one who’s not being equitable when you’ve had 23 years to address this [equitably],” Gastright said. “… I would just ask, what what has caused you not to do this project? And again, it’s not even what we’re voting on.”
Discussion continued like this for a bit longer, but finally, Haggard invited the audience to share additional thoughts.
People in the audience weren’t happy.
“When I came in I was instructed to be respectful because there might be children present, that we would refrain from personal attacks,” said local pastor Dan Francis. “And that’s all I’ve heard.”
“What I see tonight’s dysfunction and blame,” Francis added. “I don’t see a lot of people that are respectful of not just your superintendent, but our superintendent.”
“I wake up every morning; I defend this school district, out in the community, everywhere,” said Deb Winkler, who works at Holmes Middle School. “To see what happened here tonight, I just want to cry… It just disappoints me that we are grown people arguing about who didn’t do what 10 years ago or who didn’t do something five years ago. We need to worry about what’s going on today. We have some people in our community that look at our school district and thinks our kids are thugs, thinks we can’t do anything.”
Winkler said that her comments were her own and were not a reflection of her role as a professional at the school.
“I’m disappointed,” Winkler said. “I am so disappointed in the accusations and the pointing. When I talk about Covington and I talk throughout the state about our school system and then this is now broadcast, I’m just disappointed.”
Other attendees felt the same way.
Finally, Haggard called for a vote, and the board cast its 3-2 decision in favor of increasing property taxes and instituting the nickel tax.
“We have to be willing to have difficult conversations,” Haggard said after the vote. “We can’t be willing to just keep doing what we’ve always been doing and expect different results.”
“We’ve got to confront these brutal facts,” Haggard told LINK nky later in the week. “The status quo doesn’t work.”
“While I understand that not everyone may agree with my methods or priorities, I want to make it clear that I will always stand up for the best interests of our students and staff – even if that means facing criticism or push-back,” Garrison told LINK nky in an email after the meeting. “I firmly believe that by working together and advocating for one another, we can create a better, more equitable environment for everyone.”
The next meeting of the Covington Independent School District Board of Education will take place on Sept. 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the district’s central office on 7th Street.