A Brentwood parents group that is lobbying for a study on the city forming its own school district now has a name and a website.
Study Brentwood “is a parent & community group created with the sole purpose of providing information regarding a feasibility study of forming a municipal school district in Brentwood,” the website’s homepage says.
“We support doing a comprehensive assessment conducted by an experienced, independent and impartial consultant. With this study, our community would be better equipped to evaluate whether a municipal school district would be appropriate and advantageous for Brentwood.”
The issue came up two weeks ago at a Brentwood city commission meeting when parents spoke in support of the study.
Grady Tabor, a parent of Brentwood High and Middle School students, spoke for the group. He said that the city gives more than it gets back and that it will only get more pronounced.
He and a leadership team have gotten talks started.
“I have met with several members of the city commission, and hope to sit down and talk with the whole commission,” he said. “Right now we are focused on educating the community on how this process works and the need for a study on this issue.”
The Study Brentwood website goes into more depth on the points Tabor brought up at the meeting. It says that 95 percent of the growth in the county is happening outside of Brentwood.
Currently, Brentwood’s property taxes provide about 27 percent of Williamson County Schools local funding. Its students make up about 24 percent of enrollment.
“But enrollment could be less than 20 percent in 10 years,” Tabor said. “Because Brentwood is almost built out.”
Other parts of the county, however, still have much room to grow. This could mean Brentwood, while demographically having a smaller and smaller percentage of students, would pay more and more than its share.
“The pressure caused by the growth in our County isn’t going away,” the website says. “Many community members feel that it is time to consider alternative solutions to ensure that Brentwood students are given the support to thrive. We can’t say whether a city school system is right. This is why we are asking for a feasibility study. With comprehensive information, we can form reasonable opinions and make an informed decision.”
