Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

Additional school fees will not be charged to any county elementary level students in the coming 2025-2026 school year.

The Coffee County School Board voted 5-1 to approve the agenda item that would do away with a $10 per student fee related to classroom recorders that are used at Deerfield Elementary in music class.

With Board members Holly Matthews, Gary Cordell and Robert Gilley absent, the lone vote to not approve the item came from Board Member Jennifer Peacock Hodge.

Hodge explained after the meeting that her vote was not against doing away with the fee for the recorders but against the Board not covering fees related to Middle and High school classes as well.

“I don’t think that our students should be asked for anything else,” explained Hodge. “Parents are constantly having to pay more in and not everybody can do that. Some parents it’s very easy to give that but other students can’t, and I can’t imagine their embarrassment when they are asked where their money is and they can’t provide that.”

“I think that we should have covered that out of our undesignated fund balance,” she added.

The State of Tennessee allocates funds to school districts for fee waivers for students that are unable to pay classroom related fees.