Brentwood Residents Call For City-Run Schools Study

BRENTWOOD, TN — Citing differences in property taxes paid and services received, dozens of Brentwood residents expressed support for a city-run school district, pulling the city from the ambit of Williamson County Schools.

At Monday's Brentwood City Commission meeting, Grady Tabor asked the commission to seek an impartial study of the feasibility of city school district, saying that as Williamson County Schools grow, a county-wide property tax increase is inevitable and that such an increase would inevitably hit Brentwood residents harder because of the city's higher property values. Tabor said there's a gap between what Brentwood pays in and what it receives from WCS. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Williamson County Schools are regularly ranked the top public school district in Tennessee and at the top or near the top of rankings of school districts its size nationally. The two high schools in the city, Brentwood and Ravenwood, were ranked as the fifth and sixth best high schools in Tennessee, respectively, in the latest US News rankings, behind only academic magnets. Williamson County has the lowest county property tax in Middle Tennessee and the lowest of any county in the state of 100,000 people or more.

Tabor's comments were met with applause by those in the audience who came to back the idea, though Commissioner Anne Dunn noted that school-district-secession is typically mooted when the district is failing. Mayor Jill Burgin said the idea of a study is a good one, if for no other reason than the city would have an answer when the idea of a city district comes up, as it tends to do when Williamson County raises property taxes to pay for a growing schools budget.

Under state law, a city may create a school district if its charter allows — Brentwood's charter does specifically permit it — and if the district is approved by referendum. The Commissioner of Education would then have to determine the new district's readiness and the city's ability to fund such a district.

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