Josh Graham, Sumner County School Board Member- District 9

I would like to share my thoughts on the $45.2 Million proposal we received at our Study Session.

First, I am absolutely in favor of raising pay for our field level staff. I don’t like inferring what our educators are “worth.” We would never be able to afford the actual value of a good educator. But as an employer, I believe in the free market and the market in the world in which we live has dictated a need for higher wages to fill open positions and retain talent.

I lobbied at our May 2023 budget meetings that we increase our Certified Teacher salaries ahead of the mandated started pay of $50K per year in 2026 and that we increase the hourly rate for our classified employees to compete with businesses in our immediate geographic area.

We as a society have been suffering from a depleted workforce ever since citizens were compensated and incentivized by our Federal Government to stay home in the midst of Covid. These payments were often much more than the wages a worker would have received working full-time. This artificially increased the minimum wage in which employees would accept before coming back to work.

All industries were affected and as a result of massive government borrowing and spending, inflation skyrocketed creating an even greater demand for higher wages.

We as a School District are not immune from this cycle.

Looking at the raw numbers provided in an hour-long presentation, I believe being proactive and increasing our base pay for teachers to $50,000 is the right move to compete against other districts.

Teaching is a specialized position and only a finite number of individuals with certifications in our State qualify to work in these positions. We have to be aggressive to attract new teachers to Sumner County, retain our current talented professionals and in essence lure good teachers from surrounding districts.

I wholeheartedly agree with the base pay being $60,000 per year for our Special Education teachers and those teaching at RT Fisher, our alternative school. Most people do not realize the amount of effort and sometimes abuse these teachers must endure to ensure a free and appropriate education to our most at risk students.

I think our starting pay of $18 per hour for classified employees is a mighty leap from the $12 we are currently offering. But once again, any one of our classified staff could leave to take a job with wages 50% higher than what we are offering and many already have.

I believe education is the most important investment we can make as a community. I also believe because it is a community investment, the community has a strong say in how we approach things. That’s why I have advocated for more community access to representative School Board members.

I believe the number one factor affecting the quality of education is the strength of the field level professionals we have in our schools and our field level support staff.

Increasing salaries is just one facet we need to address to attract and retain the best of the best. I think we need to change the culture of our Board of Education so there is no longer a perceived environment of favoritism and nepotism.

I have seen very good educators who weren’t tenured let go because “we are moving in a different direction” and then replaced with someone who has very little experience but was a friend or family member with influence.

I have seen qualified personnel be released from their contract or moved to an undesirable position because they did not fall in line when they saw wrongs and tried to make them right.

So, while I agree we need to pay more competitive wages, we also need to make sure our faculty feel safe from retaliation for expressing dissent.

At our meeting, it was stated we will need to coordinate with our funding partners to make this happen. It is insinuated our funding partners are our State Legislature and our County Commission. While both of these governing entities control the purse strings, it is not lost on me that our true funding partners are the hard-working citizens of Sumner County and Tennessee.

Far too often we disconnect our government of the people and for the people as being funded by the people.

The people of Sumner County are a little gun shy when it comes to more funding. This is because we have seen 3 major tax increases in 12 years.

For a county that seems to be flourishing, we have yet to see all of this growth pay for itself. Otherwise, we would not have a need for regular tax increases.

While working with our “funding partners” puts more buckets on the deck, it doesn’t fix the hole in the ship.

Our plan to give better wages to our deserving staff is reactive and not proactive. For the past 4 years we’ve known this is a problem. But seemingly we have to wait until election time to put a plan in place, once again moving this issue into the political theatre.
So, to fix the hole, we need a few changes:

We need the State Legislature to allow Sumner County to impose significant Impact Fees on New Construction. This is how other counties, like Williamson County, have been able to maintain a low tax rate while also providing the gold standard in education.

We need our local municipalities like the Gallatin City Council to stop annexing rural land zoned low density (1 home per acre) and converting it to high density housing developments. This causes our census to go up. More students mean more facilities and faculty. But this high-density housing does not produce an equitable tax resource when new infrastructure and payroll costs are created.

We need to continue pay down our debt service as a county without adding more to it. Going into last year, we were nearly $400 million in debt as a county. Can you imagine all the things we can fund when we don’t have to spend tax money on interest payments any longer?

Nonetheless, the ship is currently taking on water and we absolutely have to react to the current crisis.

So, where does the $45.2 million come from? That is the question at hand.

I am very hopeful with the new TISA money, we can fund the bulk of this new reoccurring cost. A cost which will exponentially grow year after year, because if we are successful in retaining talent, they will deservingly receive increases in salary.

Secondly, I think we can trim some of the costs associated with this raise.

The need for this increase in wages is due to a crisis caused by faculty shortages. In a free market, we have to take steps to fill those shortages. But, I don’t think we need to increase the salary of ALL certified employees.

We have at least 109 employees, mostly in leadership positions making over $90K per year. At this time, I don’t think the proposed raises should apply to these faculty members. It’s not because I believe these educators are not deserving, it’s because we are in a crisis, and we need to fix staffing shortages. We have no openings nor shortage of applicants for these positions.

I also don’t think we should be applying these raises to ALL certified employees across the board. It is my opinion we have no problem promoting individuals to work in the instruction related departments in our Central Office. Again, there are no shortages of demand to be promoted to these positions.

We also need to look at how many Central office roles we have compared with our student population and compare that with other systems to see if we possibly have too many educators working in Central office instead of the classroom.

I am not sold on the blanket increases in the percent of supplements for coaches. While I appreciate the extra work they do, we don’t see a shortage of coaches for the major sports like football and basketball. Salary increases will also organically and proportionately increase the amount of a supplement a coach receives.

We should differentiate the lesser popular sports and increase the incentive needs to solve coaching shortages in those areas.

We as a system need to make a good faith effort to trim our costs before we ask you, our funding source, for more money.

We also need to dip into our reserves. I know payroll increases are a reoccurring cost, and the reserves are a one-time revenue source, but we have amassed a reserve surplus because we have underfunded wages and had open positions for many years.

A School Board Member, County Commissioner or State Legislator is tasked with a tremendous amount of balance in governing. We have to balance the will of our constituents while also ensuring the product we manage is the most advantageous for our shareholders.

Asking the County for more funds should be the absolute last resort and only a measure taken after we have exhausted all other means to address this crisis.

In this volatile economy, it would be irresponsible and reckless for us to force our neighbors, family members, and fellow community members to increase their household expenditures via taxes by several hundred dollars without first making every consorted effort to make this work without causing them an additional burden.

As I have stated many times, I believe in the investment of education. I believe the most impactful factor in education is the people who implement it. Good teachers and Support staff are quintessential in the trajectory of a student’s success. They are more important than any curriculum, piece of technology, facility or equipment we could ever purchase.

I am outraged we got to this point and now we have to figure out where to get $45.2 million to solve a problem neglected for many years. Years in which we chose to invest in a barn first. Years in which we built a fieldhouse first. Years in which we paid an outgoing director $90K to be a consultant first.

Our field level staff should have been made the priority year after year and before all other budgetary allocations were generated.

I apologize for writing this much and I’m sure there will be those that take parts out of context. But this is the reality we face. This is a burden and a responsibility I take seriously, and I wanted to make sure you knew where I stand on the issue.

Sincerely,

Josh Graham
School Board Member
District 9

Are you for against this projection?

Next week….
We will already be off on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. day, but with those temps, it may an extended holiday.

I hope you feel I have served you well as your School Board member. It's time to run for this position again and campaigns unfortunately cost money. So, I would sincerely appreciate any donation you can make. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I am including a link for Venmo for convenience, but I can also come to you if you prefer other payment methods As always, I am humbled by any show of support I receive.

Please also share everywhere!

Thank you,

Josh Graham

www.venmo.com/u/grahamforschools

Tuesday night at 6:00 pm we will be having a very important Study Session. One of the agenda items will be the results of the long awaited wage study. Hopefully, we will be given information which will allow us to be more competitive with other School Districts so we can retain and attract talented teachers and compete against other businesses in our area to retain and attract our talented classified staff as well. I always like seeing and meeting people in person at the meeting, but if you are unable to attend, you can stream using the link below.

https://iframe.dacast.com/live/02a8a60ff1c42c420e4a7f91e44b1398/8318ab633180a18f19ec1fadbf0e60f3

Families,
Today is a great day to clean out those backpacks, do a supply inventory and make sure your students have what they need for the second half of the school year.

Free to a good home!! Very little writing (can be erased) and answer key is provided. Our son has taken his last ACT and this book proved to be a great tool to increase his score.

4 years ago, most people (including myself) did not pay very close attention to the School Board nor School Board races. Most School Board candidates were uncontested. This allowed some legacy members to vote without their constituents in mind. Many of us set out to change that. This year, 5 of the 6 seats up for election have multiple candidates running. I would say we have been more than successful in our endeavor.

Congrats to LCE for this amazing achievement!

LCE is proud to announce that our school has received the highest letter grade on our school report card by the Tennessee Department of Education. We are beyond proud of our students and staff for their hard work each and every day. We are thankful for all of our families that support us to grow students to be their best! Let's go Wolves!

LCHS Campus Tour Sumner County high school located in Gallatin, TN. Home of the Liberty Creek Wolves.

School Board election primaries are just around the corner. While I am not on the ballot until the August 1st general election, I would strongly encourage everyone to research and reach out to candidates in your district's primary. I'm happy to share my opinions with you as well. A candidate without a specific platform is like a cell phone without service, all that's left are games.

Happy New Year!
I look forward to continuing to serve as your School Board member in what I believe will be our best year yet!

If any friends call me for a sober ride home tonight, know a few things in advance to make sure you are still comfortable with your request.

I will be carrying at least one firearm.

You will hear about Sumner County, our schools and how dumb veganism is.

I’m a pretty bad driver…maybe even worse than you in an inebriated state.

But I will absolutely get you home safely!

Or you can also call the number below:

Today
by Edgar Uribe, Beneficiary
Yesterday's meeting with medical specialists discussed Mathias' case in detail, leading to the difficult decision to amputate his right leg above the knee due to infections and the complete loss of the knee. This now requires Mathias to be fitted with 2 prosthetic legs above the knee.
Despite the challenging news, we are grateful for the exhaustive efforts of the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital team to save as much as possible. Mathias continues to battle infections, fungus, and bacteria. His resilience and strength, both physically and spiritually, are awe-inspiring. We continue to ask for prayers for Mathias and our family asking God to bring us out of the storm soon.
Despite the hardships, we stand strong, embracing the miracles in his life and trusting that victory will come in God's time.

#MiracleforMathias, organized by Jesika Sanchez We come to you with heavy hearts to share some difficult news about our beloved son. Mathias becam… Jesika Sanchez needs your support for

As we wrap up 2023, what do you believe are the successes we've had this year and what are opportunities we still have to improve on for 2024?

What are the odds that our break gets extended? Always have conditional plans made and stay tuned.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day of family and festivities.

Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the land
Parents were preparing
For busted knuckles and cut hands

For “some assembly required”
Was stated too light
And they will be engineers
By the end of the night

Bicycles are easy
They come together quick
But trampolines and dollhouses
In the rear they will kick

And those wrapping gifts
This late, some of us do
We Swear next year will be earlier
But that is untrue

So to parents worldwide
We share in your plight
Merry Christmas to all
And to all a good night

(Ha, like you’re getting any sleep)

I can’t imagine what her family is going through with this news so close to Christmas. Please pray for their peace during this time and for her students who will be retuning from break with a void in their life.

My deepest sympathies to all those touched by her life.

Please be in prayer over the coming days and weeks for the family of Ms. Jeanette Gutzman. She passed away today as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in Knoxville while visiting family. Ms. Gutzman was a beloved 6th-grade ELA teacher at T. W. Hunter Middle School for over 25 years.

My condolences and prayers to her family and friends and to the staff that was her extended family at Hunter. Also, be in prayer for her students, both past and present, whose lives she touched both in the classroom and outside of it.

She will be deeply missed by so many!

History has always been my favorite subject.

And custodians are the quiet heroes of making sure our schools stay exemplary .

If you know anyone with a passion to share history with high school students or work as Head Custodian, please encourage them to apply.

We’re hiring! Reach out to Dr. Holt with interest or questions: [email protected].

❄️❄️❄️Teachers and parents, right now (before you forget) turn off those early a.m. alarms and enjoy the start of your Winter Break! ❄️❄️

Love seeing everyone dressed up, but this speaks to me too!

There was a great turn out last night. It’s a great activity to bring the kids to.

Get your tickets here:

https://gofan.co/event/1301132?schoolId=TN87531

https://gofan.co/event/1301145?schoolId=TN87531

https://gofan.co/event/1301155?schoolId=TN87531

Soda, Water, Popcorn, Candy and other snacks will be available. Concessions are cash only. All items only $2.00 each.

Thanks to donations, 100% of every dollar spent at concessions will go directly to the Liberty Creek Theatre Department.

Frozen JR. - Performing Arts - Dec 17, 2023 GoFan: Buy Tickets to Events

Opening night is tonight.

Frozen Jr. is coming to LCHS this weekend and you don’t want to miss it! Tickets and times can be found on GoFan: https://gofan.co/app/school/TN87531

Our family will be on 1075 THE RIVER for the Radiothon tomorrow morning from 6:00 am to 8:00 am to help raise money for Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Please tune in and if you feel compelled, make a donation to a worthy organization. There are usually sponsors who match donations, so your contribution may be multiplied.

Guess what's happening this weekend:

Frozen Jr. at LCHS.

Get your tickets here:

https://gofan.co/event/1301121?schoolId=TN87531

https://gofan.co/event/1301132?schoolId=TN87531

https://gofan.co/event/1301145?schoolId=TN87531

https://gofan.co/event/1301155?schoolId=TN87531

Soda, Water, Popcorn, Candy and other snacks will be available. Concessions are cash only. All items only $2.00 each.

Thanks to donations, 100% of every dollar spent at concessions will go directly to the Liberty Creek Theatre Department.

School will be open, Wednesday, December 13th. Thank you to everyone working tirelessly to restore normalcy to our community.