Last year Metro Schools got all the money it requested, and Thursday in his final budget hearing, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said schools remain a priority.
“You divide up what you give to different government areas by what’s important, and there’s nothing more important than this.”
Metro Schools expects to have more students and fewer teachers next year. The district is asking the city for a budget increase to $670 million.
The loss of federal stimulus money will reduce the number of classroom teachers by 200. If the system gets its full request, Director of Schools Jesse Register says 130 of those positions would be saved. The rest would be eliminated through attrition. Still, he says, class sizes at some schools will be approaching the state maximum. The district expects to grow to just shy of 80,000 students.
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