KNOXVILLE (WATE) – Knox County commissioners put a hold Monday on a proposed survey for Knox County school teachers.
During the Commission Chairman Luncheon, commissioners decided to delay the vote for 30 days.
Commission Chair Mike Hammond wanted to make sure the surveyed teachers would remain anonymous.
Hammond says the survey results will help commission make better decisions when it comes to funding education. He said he's looking for "suggestions, recommendations, and we want to know what roadblocks they're encountering in the classrooms."
Knox County Board of Education members said they would like to have a say in how the survey questions are crafted.
Commissioner Mike Brown said creating the questions should be a "joint-effort" between County Commission and the school board.
The board will discuss the matter at the July 11 meeting.
"I think the real question that we need to ask is what we don't want to find out from the survey"? You just don't do a survey to do a survey, so what do we want to find out?," said Knox County School Board member Lynne Fugate.
Commission will wait on a ruling from Knox County Law Director Joe Jarret to determine if the teachers can be surveyed anonymously.
Commission also approved a resolution creating a task force designed to increase Knox County's share of Basic Education Program (BEP) funding.
Hammond's resolution would create a seven member board. The proposed BEP task force includes:
- 2 county commissioners
- 2 school board members
- 1 mayor's office employee
- 2 citizens (one selected by commission, one selected by the school board)
The school board can choose to not participate in the task force.
