We Got a Letter!!

Actually, it was addressed to the Sumner County Commission.

Here goes:

Sumner County Commission:



As parents of three children who are all honor students, we are very proud and grateful for the education they have received in the Sumner County School System their entire lives. Our daughter Brittany is a sophomore at Station Camp High School; she received a 4.0 last year as a Freshman. Our oldest son Brandon is entering 6th grade at Rucker Stewart Middle and earned a 99% in Math on his TCAP scores this year. Our youngest son Baron who is a 4th grader at Howard Elementary was bright enough to say, “Mom, why don’t you just write them a check so we can get back to school.” Attached is a picture of them on the first day of school last year ready to learn.

Sumner County Schools are all tremendous. We feel confident they are preparing students for college and life outside the classroom. Our children plan to attend Lipscomb University. Our daughter wants to be a high school geography teacher because of the great influences she has had in the classroom and the excitement she has for learning and helping others love learning too.

Our experience with Dr. Phillips has been nothing but positive. He was even concerned last year when Howard Elementary did not have funding for printer ink for the children to print their Living History Wax Museum presentations – a tremendous project by the 4th and 5th graders.

We understand most Sumner County citizens do not want their property taxes raised to help fund schools. Most people are skeptical of the government’s mismanagement of funds in the past on the federal, state and local levels. And most families want them to live within their means like they are forced to do.

However, we feel for the small amount of money each household would have to contribute ($1/week possibly), that if presented the facts, would agree to a tax increase. It’s all in how it is sold to the general public. And currently, Sumner County could use a little public relations help to be honest.


Since most politicians shy away from tax increases for fear of losing their positions, this is a difficult decision to make for most of you. Maybe there are other more creative ways to get this funding?

On another note, we need to attract more white collar jobs to Sumner County. In order to recruit these companies, we need an educated work force. Currently, we are losing big time to Williamson County on both aspects – school funding & jobs.


Whatever it takes to make our students in Sumner County and the entire state of Tennessee competitive with the nation, we need to be willing to make sacrifices.


Our prayer is that you will come to a resolution quickly so our students and teachers can get back to school as soon as possible to minimize the delay this has caused, and minimize the long-term damage lack of funding will cause our entire county.


Please watch this short video from Governor Bill Haslam. He is speaking about how Tennessee is competing against the world for jobs and “education is the key”.

http://vimeo.com/41030095   Chuck and Buffie Baril Gallatin