Sitting in the audience was Madison County Commissioner Paul Wilson.

At the end of the meeting, he addressed the board.

“For every action there is a reaction,” he said. “The focus you have is to bring money into the district, but when you do that you are taking money away from another district. And you will only accept the best and the brightest. If every rural school district takes this policy, what will Anderson have left? How will it make life in the county better? How do they make their schools better if

you take the best and brightest and their revenue goes down? We are all Madison County residents.”

“I understand why you feel the way you do,” Warmke said. “But we are put in a very awkward position where we have to look at every possible way to save money. We received a $1.5 million shortfall that was not our mistake, but we are going to have to suffer through it. Sometimes we have to do what’s best for our district. These are difficult times.”

“I think in the long run, adopting the policy is in the best interests of the county,” said Gaskill. “It creates competition. Anderson could implement such a policy and force us to become better. You wouldn’t want to be forced to go to the gas station closest to you even though they have poor service just because it is the closest one. Nothing is more important than education, so let’s bring competition to schools. The schools get better and the kids win.”

The board ultimately decided to give the policy three full readings before voting and members are hoping to receive feedback from the community in the meantime.