Katie Nixon,Craig ShoupNashville Tennessean
The Sumner County School Board has passed the county's largest teacher pay raise and athletic facilities investment in history after commissioners said no the past several months in a continued fight of divisive politics growing in Middle Tennessee communities.
The board passed the increase during a special called meeting Monday, putting teacher pay closer to the proposed $50,000 mark passed by lawmakers in 2023 and using it as a springboard toward more raises in the future.
“Sumner County has been able to make a historic investment in compensation for our employees, make a significant investment in athletic facilities and do that without raising taxes,” Sumner County Schools Director Scott Langford said. “$28.9 million in increased compensation for our employees is the largest raise in the history of Sumner County,” he said, adding that the amount also accounts for a 33% increase for most support staff.
“$27 million in capital for athletic facilities is the largest investment outside of building new schools in the history of Sumner County, and we were able to do it without raising taxes one penny.”
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According to Langford, Sumner County Schools has raised teacher pay by $11,700 since January 2020.
“It puts us in line to meet the state law,” he said.
In May 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Leemarkedthe signing of theTeacher Paycheck Protection Act, a landmark bill that will give teachers the largest pay raise in state history, raising the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 by 2026, a significant increase from $35,000 in 2019, the Governor's Office reported.
“But we hope to be able to go beyond $50,000… because we want to be a little bit ahead of where everybody else is, because we want to be able to draw the best teachers and pay our current teachers because we think they’re great,” Langford said.
Which schools are due for an athletics upgrade?
Of the $27.4 million in capital, about $20.1 million of that will go towards three football stadiums using temporary bleachers for the 2024-2025 season.
Beech, Hendersonville and Portland high schools are all using temporary bleachers for the second straight season due to a steel purchasing issue.
Construction will begin immediately after the 2024 season in order to have stadiums ready by 2025.
More: Why Sumner County stadium upgrades following bleacher collapse are on hold
“The majority of the work will start after football season,” Langford said.
“We have rental bleachers in place right now, so the kids can play all their home football games at home and enjoy Friday Night Lights and the senior experience, and that’ll be great for our football players, our band kids, our cheerleaders, coaches, our communities. It’s a great experience for them.”
Other high school athletic facilities included in the multi-million-dollar capital investment include a track at Gallatin High School, a track at Station Camp High School, tennis courts at Merrol Hyde Magnet School and additional work at North Sumner Elementary School.
The investment will also supply schools with Automated External Defibrillators, Langford said.
More: Three Sumner County football stadiums must replace bleachers due to safety concerns
The road to success
Commissioners have voted against these increases over the last several months.
Two individuals, Sumner County Commissioner for the 22nd district Matt Shoaf and Sumner County Mayor John Isbell, were an integral part to passing the new budget, Langford said.
“Commissioner Matt Shoaf reached out to me back in the spring and we started working to try to find a path forward that we could get a majority of the commission to support, and I appreciate his efforts… Mayor John Isbell has been a steady hand and County Commissioner Matt Shoaf has worked really hard to help get us across the finish line," he said.
Division in Sumner County
Sumner County has seen a rise in divisive politics over the past couple of years that has led to votes against the budget Langford believes are rooted in politics.
“Well, I think that you’ve got a small group of constitutional republicans led by Bob Brown, former (Sumner County) Education Committee Chair, and it’s all personal grievance for stuff from the past," Langford said. “There’s no real reason to be opposed to it other than just being opposed to the school system in general or personal vendettas."
In Millersville, City Commissioner Cristina Templet said she fears the rise of the Sumner County Constitutional Republicans (SCCR) as they seek more elected positions.
“Everything ties back to SCCR and (Jeremy) Mansfield (a Sumner County Commissioner),” Templet said during an impromptu town hall in February. “They’re coming in here to destroy us, you all, and we have to speak out.”
The group's president, Kurt Riley, said the SCCR does not financially support candidates, saying it's main goal is vetting candidates.
"Our organization is a grassroots Republican collective focused on encouraging conservative Republican individuals to pursue elected positions. Historically, the SCCR has not endorsed a candidate for any Millersville races. We just aren’t really involved in Millersville," Riley told The Tennessean in a February email.
The SCCR does endorse candidates, like Mansfield, who has been at the center of controversy along with other elected officials supported by the grassroots Republican group.
Experts said the Sumner County Commission violated the First Amendment when they adopted a preamble to an official document that assures commissioners act with "Judeo-Christian" values.
When asked during a 2022 meeting if including the phrase was a waste of taxpayer dollars, Mansfield pushed back.
“We’re not Iran, we’re not Iraq, we’re not Australia,” he said during the 2022 meeting. “We’re American, and founded on Judeo-Christian values. That’s what makes us unique … Let’s talk about a waste of tax money — our schools have p*rnographic material in their libraries that violate state law. That’s a waste of taxpayer money. Let’s get rid of that crap in our school. (Commissioners) are going to make a judgment on that because they have values inherent in our nation’s founding, codified in principals in Judaism and Christianity.”
Mansfield said the language “honored” their Judeo-Christian values and told taxpayers that commissioners wouldn’t “lie, steal people’s property, or cheat.”
Mansfield said during Monday's meeting the Sumner County School District has mismanaged money, saying the district has seen it's budget swell by $152 million over the past six budget cycles.
Mansfield said on social media he is happy the teacher and classified employees in the district received pay raises, ones that he said he supported. He said he was opposed to the $5.4 million earmarked for athletic facility coverages.
"Faced with this situation, I could not, in good conscience, vote for something I believed was morally wrong and label it as a reasonable compromise. So, I voted no. I know some will lie and accuse me of not supporting schools, kids, or teachers, but given the only choices I was left with, I believe I made the right decision and am at peace with my vote, no matter how those with malicious intent try to mischaracterize it," Mansfield said on social media.
Millersville has seen issues Templet said she believes are tied to Mansfield and the SCCR leading to a group of residents to try and remove Mayor Tommy Long from office. They cited an abuse of power, corruption and dereliction of duty after a tumultuous several months in 2024.
They filed a complaint April 21 in Sumner County Chancery Court but it was later dismissed.
Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com.
