HHSFB10

The county schools are starting Tuesday May 26th. That’s the day that they were given permission to start. Same date as Knox county, sevier county, and Lenoir city. Can’t blame football programs for following instructions.

Big Clay Travis fan?

I feel like this is a great metaphor for football in Blount County. Its a thread about a possibly new county football program, and Maryville and Alcoa step in and make it all about them.

They can probably just park them where the football field is now.

None of those improvements will happen. There’s no way the county is spending money on a turf field. I’d bet money that Eagleton will never field a varsity high school team. The new school will end up being the county vocational center.

That might be the worst game in the history of football, but they might have a shot.

Maryville/Alcoa Vs. Baylor/McCallie Heritage Vs. TN school for the blind. Might have a shot of winning that one.

It is bad right now. But those records were major improvements from where they had been. As far as coaches, I was unaware he ran off that many coaches. I know the one went to Maryville, but I’d say that has more to do with Maryville and less to do with Hammondtree. How many others did he run off?

Its terrible where the program is right now. But Hammondtree has done some good things at Heritage: 1st win over WB in 21 years, first 500 record in over 20 years, and back to back playoff appearances. But things have obviously fallen off the last few years. I wonder if any quality coaches would even be willing to take on the job.

Word through the grapevine is that they plan to have athletics at Eagleton. I believe this will help both Heritage and Eagleton. Heritage should drop to 5a or possible 4a depending on the size of Eagleton. Eagleton would likely be a 1a school but no bigger than 2a. If they do have a football program games would need to be played at Eagleton. If the purpose is to re-create these small community schools then they need to play in the community. They would need some renovations, but they need a home field.

And moving money for capital gains isn't rocket science either. If you don't like it, get out and vote for someone who will change the law.

Yeah the cities receive split dollars from the county, so to say all of their county taxes are funding county education is false. I'm not saying that the city is siphoning off revenue from the county through annexation. What I am saying is that people within the city usually state that the county should spend more if they want to fix their issues. The only means the county has to raise additional funds is through tax increases. The city on the other hand has the ability to annex to raise funds without raising taxes.

You both are still missing the point. The cities can use annexation as a means to raise funds for education. The county doesn’t have the same capabilities. So when the response is “the county needs to pony up and pay for education” they don’t have the same methods to raise funds that the cities have. Again, even with services provided, the city is coming out ahead. They’re not going to annex an area to break even or lose money.

Correct, but even with services provided, the city is still generating more funds; otherwise, they wouldn't annex the area. Yes, the area still pays county property taxes as well, but the point is the cities have a mechanism for raising funds that the county doesn't. This allows them to raise money without having to raise taxes on their residents.

And you missed the entire point. Like I said, the cities have an unfair advantage when it comes to raising funds that the county doesn't. When they annex an area, even with the city services provided, they gain revenue through taxes, otherwise they wouldn't take the time to annex it. So the main point is, the city can raise money for education without having to raise taxes on their residents.

No, the city receives tax revenue from all the areas annex, at least that was the rationale given by a city commissioner. The annexation is on the road, and any future business they place on the road side would be subject to city sales taxes, after a 15 year window. So again, the city annexes to increase tax revenue. If you don't think its fair, suck it up princess. It's a legal process that was approved by the county mayor and county commission. If the cities want equal split tax dollars, then both city schools systems should have to get budget approval from the Blount County Commission since they are receiving county dollars.

You don't believe fund 77 is fair, I don't believe its fair the city of Maryville is allowed to annex all the way up to within 1/4 mile of Heritage, or along the entire route of the proposed parkway extension to expand its tax base.

It is very difficult for the county to raise money, and the cities have a greater advantage when it comes to revenue. The county has trouble raising taxes because it’s unpopular, and people within the city limits, who have a voice in county government, complain about double taxation. When the cities want to raise additional funds they simply go annex more areas of the county, and expand their tax base without having to raise taxes on their current residents.

That's still out of the schools' hands. Heritage assistant principal sits on the county commission and they were still unable to fund field houses. So there's only so much the schools themselves can do.

There was a push by both schools' athletic directors, school board, and even the director of schools to spend money to build field houses for both programs. This was money, as I understood, to be money the school system already had in an account to spend. Even though the schools support this expense, it was unable to even make it through the budget committee. So, what are the schools and central office to do when a committee of 5 people can shut down any request?

Heritage should have beat Lenoir City, but they lost to the other teams by more than 3 scores. You can't really say Heritage should have won when they were beaten by that large of a margin. Two of those games were close at half time, and I credit that more to the other team overlooking Heritage for a half before finally waking up to play. Also, teams are limited in the number of contact hours either per week or year. You may think that's sad, but its all done in the name of safety. Most parents are concerned with the impact of concussions, and the limit on contact hours is an attempt to limit those.

I feel like I’m somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to football, and I have attended most of heritage’s games the past few years, except ones over an hour away. This statement is ridiculous. Heritage absolutely has some major coaching issues, but they are also severely lacking in talent. They aren’t even close to a .500 program. Based on what I’ve seen, they don’t have a single player who could start for any of the teams they’ve played this season.

I never said poached or in anyway insinuated anything underhanded was occurring. I simply said it was one of many reasons. If you’d like to return to my original post, I listed, what I believe, to be the issues at heritage. I placed these in order from most pressing down.

The success of the city schools is an obstacle for both the county schools. It has nothing to do with recruiting or anything unsavory. Parents make the decision to either pay tuition or move into the district to attend for both academics and athletics. that being said, this is merely one of many issues for heritage not the primary cause.

I don’t know anything about tug of war. I just know reports across the country say the same thing. Plus when I attend heritage football, basketball, and baseball games I rarely hear the same names being announced.