In the proposed 2021-2022 county budget, there is a proposal to reduce the share of the Adequate Schools Facility Tax, ASFT or AFT going to the Lenoir City school system by 2.5% each year for four years. This would ultimately lower the Lenoir City share from 15% to 5%. There has been some misinformation and disinformation put out on social media. Below are the facts on the ASFT.

The tax in question is known as the Adequate Schools Facilities Tax, ASFT. It's a one dollar per square foot tax levied on all new residential construction in the county. The revenue from this tax can only be used for paying down education debt or education capitol projects, buildings, additions, maintenance. It can not be used for teacher pay, IT issues or any recurring operating costs. 

The tax was passed back in 2006 by county commission. The choice to share any or how much of the revenue with the city school system is entirely up to county commission. Depending on how much residential construction is occurring at any given time the revenue can be very high or very low. 

As the county budget committee went through the budgeting process this year, one of our priorities was to help Loudon County schools as much as possible with any revenue sources we could. The ASFT is always one of those we review every year. 

As we researched everything this year, we learned that the city school system had reached a ten million dollar fund balance. They ultimately moved three million dollars into their capitol projects fund. That's great for them. Also this year, the city system will receive an additional $400,000.00 from the state through the BEP system. The BEP, Basic Education Program, is the program where all state school systems receive their state funding. Since Loudon County has two school systems, the funding is split  between the two school systems based on student populations. According to the BEP, the student population shift between the Lenoir City system and the county schools was about 2% with the Lenoir City system picking up that 2%. That 2% equals about $400,000.00. The down side is, the county school system looses that $400,000.00. Good news for the city bad news for the county.

And finally, had the 2.5% reduction in the ASFT been in place this year, the county schools would have picked up additional dollars for their capitol project fund.

The county commission's job is to properly fund county government and the county school system. If the city school system feels they're not being properly funded, they should go to their city council for additional funding.

I hope this helps a little. The Lenoir City school system has done very well financially with their three schools. We're just trying to do the best we can by our school system.