Good evening, council chair Dr. Jones and council members. My name is Lanlan Xu, a resident in Clarksville.
Last year, this Council unanimously passed CB20, creating a commonsense process for directing excess surplus funds toward deferred maintenance for HCPSS. That was a smart and bipartisan step, and it showed how thoughtful policy can strengthen our school system without adding new burdens on taxpayers.
CB10-2026 builds on that success. It allows unassigned excess surplus funds from the prior fiscal year to be used for school capital projects — renovations and repairs our students urgently need. With nearly 80% of HCPSS facilities identified by the State as needing repairs, and one in four considered functionally unreliable, we need to leverage all available funding sources to address this urgent problem. Deferred maintenance grows more expensive every year we postpone it. At some point, maintenance becomes reconstruction — and reconstruction costs far more.
Redirecting unassigned surplus toward school repairs is fiscally responsible. It protects taxpayer investments, preserves public assets, and reduces the risk of emergency repairs that are harder to plan for and more costly to address.
Most importantly, it reflects our values. The condition of school buildings affects safety, learning, teacher morale, enrollment decisions, and the reputation of our county.
This bill will bring much-needed capital funding to chip away at our long list of deferred maintenance needs. In addition, I'd urge the Council to also consider moving from annual fixes to structural policy, so that there is a permanent mechanism for directing excess surplus funds and other available funds toward deferred maintenance, until the backlog is addressed. A modern school system requires multi-year planning. Predictable capital funding allows the County, HCPSS, and the State to coordinate renovations, access matching funds, and sequence projects efficiently.
Therefore, I urge the Council to vote yes on CB10 and to continue advancing a coordinated, multi-year approach to renovating our schools. Thank you for your leadership and for the opportunity to testify.
