Dr. Adrienne Battle makes case for $1.2 billion Metro Nashville Public Schools' budget

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Director Dr. Adrienne Battle laid out the district’s $1.2 billion spending plan to raise salaries, provide universal free lunch for students, and address problems with the substitute teacher system to members of the Metro Council Budget& Finance Committee.The district’s 2023/2024 spending plan includes $100 million in new operating spending proposed earlier this month in Mayor Joh Copper’s budget proposal.  Council members are expected to vote on a final budget in June and Monday’s meeting is the next step in that process.Dr. Battle told members of the committee that updating the pay scales for administrative leaders and certified staff is a key priority along with providing teachers with full experience bonuses and providing all staff with a 4% cost of living raise.“By investing in this administrative pay plan, we will be able to address some of those issues to make sure that we’re keeping up with the pace and making sure that we are not only recruiting the best and the brightest teachers, we’re doing so with our support staff as well as our administrators because we know leadership is critically important,” said Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle.Dr. Battle says future budget plans will include ongoing advocacy for competitive wages to continue supporting staff.The district has also been working towards addressing problems with its substitute teacher system.Dr. Battle says the solution is investing $11 million into a Classroom Associates model what would put General School Assistants, or in-school substitutes, in a more permanent faculty position.“Instead of starting with kind of a broken system, we started with ‘what is our ideal space?’ and we built an initiative around what it will look like,” said Dr. Battle. “These individuals will report to their schools on a daily basis, be a part of the school community, they will get to know our students, they will be a part of a professional development collaborative planning, they will have consistency and supports for our students in the absence of our teachers.”These general school assistants will have the full benefits of an MNPS employee.The budget also includes funding to the continue federally funded initiatives including advocacy centers, nurses in every school, extended learning and summer programs including Promising Scholars, and mental health services and new funding strategies for academic and social-emotional learning integration.MNPS additionally proposes spending $7.5 million to ensure every child has access to a free lunch.“I can give you story after story of the difference no-cost meals, the impact that it has on our students,” said Dr. Battle. “Just making sure the basic needs of all our students are met so that when we get to the academic, the learning section of their day that they’re able to focus and really dig into that learning.”