A Factor in My Decision: A Vote in Support, A Vote in Defense

Todd McKinley
Jul 7
7 min read

Updated: Jul 7

First off, thank you to Commissioners Zane Vanover and Joyce Crosswhite for your leadership and willingness to work with the Board of Education (BOE), your presence at the meeting was heartfelt.

Before I hear the claims that I’m not a fiscal conservative, let’s leave that nonsense at the door. Name calling and misleading others only creates more cynicism, it certainly has never solved any real problems. Any real fiscal conservative will tell you that education is one of the areas that should be handled locally (not federally for sure) and when money needs to be spent to ensure the next generation is set up for success, we view this as an investment in a better and brighter future.

Does that mean that the current proposed budget is perfect or to everyone’s liking, certainly not, and I’m happy to delve in and cut if given a dollar amount or percentage from the Sullivan County Commission, who I view as a partner in this process, not my enemy. However, please don’t give me a specific line out of the budget that I must vote to cut or they’ll not pass it, that means it’s not my vote as an elected representative. If told I must line through a specific item (which to my knowledge may violate Tennessee law) it becomes a pocket vote for the commission and I’m here to represent the 5^th BOE District and the will of the voters, not the will of any individual commissioner, therefore I voted to send it back.

Also, two meetings ago, we rehired the Director of Schools for another 4-year contract and my colleague Dr. Mary Rouse said something that stuck with me, to paraphrase, she said we must back Mr. Carter and trust his judgement. In my nearly 2 years on the BOE, I’ve seen test scores come up, morale has improved, and I’ve spoken to hundreds of parents who’ve praised what Mr. Carter has done and is trying to do, plus I listen to the school administrators and ultimately you the Voters. Also, I’ve spoken with Mr. Carter on the topic of his vision, and he wants to remain out of the politics, as he’s relayed to me several times, he merely wants to run a successful school district. Trust me, I’ve seen and heard the positives, while the negatives, I’ll keep between Mr. Carter and I out of professional courtesy, after all, he’s my subordinate, and a leader never should discipline or bad mouth a subordinate publicly unless the entire BOE is voting on an issue.

When I said at the July 6^th, BOE meeting that my vote is also political, I meant it, the vote last night was mine as the 5^th District Representative, not the vote of any commissioner, therefore I sided with Mr. Chuck Carter in his request. If we had cut specific lines as several commissioners said, it would mean that as BOE members we would be giving the power that Tennessee State law gives to us over to the Sullivan County Commission and I’m not going to do that, we’re separate legislative bodies for a reason, which keeps one from becoming too powerful, which we need.

Trust me, I want the Sullivan County Commission to play their part, and for us on the BOE to play ours, but the relationship of past decades must be improved, and I'm willing to play my part to improve it.

When I graduated from Sullivan North High School in 1996 and left for the Army the following October, Sullivan County didn’t have the major problems on the scale we now face, from rampant drug use, homelessness due to many factors, high out of wedlock pregnancy rates which creates many problems for the families and eventually society to deal with, add to this we seem to be living in an “on-demand,” me-me-me generation where the concept of winning and losing and learning from our mistakes has fallen by the wayside, that’s why I support local public education, it can help rectify many of our ills if we fund education and focus on that alone, not ideological indoctrination.

I know many of our teachers and administrators and let me tell you, they’re focused on teaching the facts and ensuring your child has the best education they can provide and nothing more, but to recruit the best talent, we do have to fund education at a reasonable level or else the best talent goes elsewhere and right now, we have a lot of great people, but need to attract more.

Let’s be honest, jails and prisons will not solve anything, but education can go a long way in rectifying many issues before they become problems for law enforcement to deal with. If you heard we don’t need to fund the Sheriff’s Department then you didn’t comprehend, which reading comprehension can be taught in schools. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of correlation to a lack of education to crime, but not my overarching point, but a factor in my vote.

Included in my factors, is the fact we’ve not emphasized education properly for decades as a society. Now, we’re addressing the shortcomings, from CTE to the arts, but to do this, we need money to hire the best people to fulfil the different roles and ensure the various programs are funded as best we can. Another factor in my decision was the fact I listened to many Subject Matter Experts (SME) from inside the department who I trust.

I’ve said it for years, an educated public is an employable public.

What does that mean?

Simple, the more education a person has, especially a diverse education from across the spectrum of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, as we do in Sullivan County (and Kingsport & Bristol) gives an individual advantages in the job market. A well-rounded education also includes athletics and other extracurricular activities that caters to varied interest and one that partners with outside organizations, which we do in Sullivan County, during one's socialization process.

This means that when a person is educated and employed, the positive effect is felt across society given, the economy of our communities, states and our 250-year-old nation are bettered, plus, they become taxpayers which spreads the burden to fund the basics a reasonable government should provide in a civil society across the population. When a person is employed in meaningful work, be it a trade or a profession, they have far too many incentives to contribute to society, which reduces the burden placed on local and state law enforcement, and welfare agencies which should be there for the worst case scenarios, not a cradle to the grave situation which we seemingly have these days, plus the scourge of drugs and alcohol on our communities is lessened, which means we have to spend less to house, feed, clothe and care for rule and law breakers in jails and prisons. Education by many metrics creates better families and more peaceful communities and home life for many, which also means less homelessness.

A civilization’s decline can be directly correlated to the lack of proper education, tack on fear mongering to not trust any local Boards of Education, that we’re all sinisterly looking to indoctrinate, add to this the fact that many people retreat to the echo chambers of social media for validation in one’s opinion versus looking at facts, and it’s easy to see how trust in society has eroded.

To borrow from my favorite President William McKinley, “Young men and women, what your education will be and do for you depends upon yourselves.” While I ascribe to this, let me be blunt, I also believe if we equip the future generations with crap, we can’t expect anything but crap in return, which was a factor in my decision.

I also ascribe to what McKinley’s second Vice President, Teddy Roosevelt said, “The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.” If not properly educated, then it becomes hard for even the brightest to pull his (or her) own weight, which is another factor in my decision.

In equipping future generations with a good and decent education we create people who can and will make the hard right decisions in life, plus we’re equipping them to replace all of us ultimately and we’re teaching them the skills and knowledge they’ll need to take care of all of us in our old age, so let’s think about this before we run down an educator doing the right things in their classroom, especially given all the bureaucratic nonsense they already deal with. I believe our educators are helping create better communities alongside of the families they serve. So for me, I’ll listen to what they need, I’ll listen to the families in our communities living in harmony with one another, which we should embrace, which was a factor in my decision.

While I don’t share the personal views regarding several Sullivan County Commissioners as another BOE member, who let loose a diatribe at the meeting, my reasons weren't necessarily his, although he made some good points. I certainly can't apologize for someone else's personal attacks, I hope that those individually named will not allow his words and actions to deter you from working with those of us on the BOE who are willing.

I voted to send the 2026-27 Sullivan County Department of Education budget back to the Sullivan County Commission without any changes for the reasons above. Before we have any back and forth or any finger pointing or blame shifting, I wanted to answer a few questions.

Bottom line, a statesman calls education an investment in the future; a politician scares you of an eminent tax increase. While I certainly never will call for a tax increase, in my role as a BOE member, I have no taxing authority, but if asked to cut the budget a specific dollar amount (or percentage) then I'm ready to have that discussion and I know exactly where I’ll vote to cut.

When I said this vote is also political, I meant it, the vote last night was mine, not the vote of the commission, therefore I sided with Mr. Chuck Carter and his request. I’m ready to sit down civilly and find a way forward with any/all commissioners to ensure we have a budget that works for them, after all, they ultimately have that authority.

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