Hawkins school board looks to amend budget, pass state's fund balance test

ROGERSVILLE — The Hawkins County Schools' 2026-27 budget does not currently pass Tennessee's fund balance test. The state requires school districts to keep certain budget items at or above previous levels; this is known as maintenance of effort. It also requires their available fund balance to be at least 3% of their total operating expenditures. This is where HCS fell short. To remedy that, the county board of education increased budgeted revenues by $1 million in a special called meeting Thursday night. This does not move new money into the schools' budget; it changes, on paper, how much money they expect to see from the local option sales tax. The alternative would be cutting that money from expenditures, in a budget HCS Finance Director Melissa Farmer says is already tight — especially after personnel cuts and moves. The school board passed their '26-27 budget with a $4.9 million deficit, which would draw from the fund balance of $6.08 million. Director of Schools Matt Hixson said the budget imagines the worst case scenario: they overestimate expenditures and underestimate revenues so the actual deficit is smaller than they budgeted. Due to state deadlines on submitting budgets, the school district makes educated guesses based on the previous year's ending numbers before those are finalized. The new budgeted revenue for the local option sales tax — $6.2 million, up from $5.2 million — is closer to the actual amount received in '25-26: $8.8 million. Farmer said they need to get the budget state approved by Oct. 1, or Tennessee could withhold TISA funding. The school board passed the budget amendment unanimously, with member Hannah Speaks absent. The county commission will vote on it this month, possibly at a special called meeting, Mayor David Linkous said. He attended the Thursday meeting, as did county Budget Director Eric Buchanan and several commissioners. There was some concern about raising the maintenance of effort for this revenue item, as future budgets would have to meet or exceed the new value. State funding "The problem is not who's running our finances. The problem is not spending," Hixson said about the budget. "The problem is lack of revenue." Hixson said the Hawkins County government are good partners, but the state falls short — particularly with rural districts, who have to spread their resources to outlying schools. In 2023, Tennessee replaced its resource-based funding formula, BEP, with the student-centered TISA model; since Hixson came to Hawkins in 2018, he said, the district has lost around 1,500 students at a current rate of about $7,500 per pupil. Hixson also criticized the state's school vouchers program for giving public money to private schools, which aren't held to the same standards as public ones. "It seems like we've got a burden set upon public education from the state of Tennessee," school board Chair Chris Christian said. Editor's note: A shorter version of this article was published in the Sept. 11, 2026 paper. Additional information and quotes were added the next day.