An impromptu meeting between the Knoxville School Board and its legislators gave those present an opportunity to find out what changes could be coming, and what impact they would have on school districts.

The school board called a special meeting Wednesday afternoon for an informal discussion with Sen. Amy Sinclair and Representative-Elect Jon Thorup; this was the only time which would fit their schedules.

The Senator says she will once again chair the Education Committee, and she tells KNIA/KRLS News there could be movement on a number of items designed to assist local districts, and give their boards more flexibility.

“Supplemental state aid, which is the foundation formula funding and what that increase would look like; we talked about an extension for the SAVE sales tax penny that deals specifically with infrastructure; we spoke of equity funding,” Sinclair says. “But we also spoke of other things related to flexibility of reports and usage of dollars and local control related to all of those things.”

Board members and district staff on hand were especially pleased to hear there would be movement on the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education tax, which has been stalled in the Senate for a while. Sinclair says some of these matters won’t be touched on right away, for strictly procedural reasons.

Because of the short notice, only two members of the school board were able to attend; but the lack of a quorum was academic, since it was a workshop session devoted to discussion and there was no formal business on the agenda.