Schools

Another reason people move to Brentwood is that Williamson County has an excellent school system.  A city’s educational system has a direct, positive correlation to property values.  Even residents who do not have school-aged children realize the impact a quality education system has on the community.  One of the challenges Williamson County faces is overcrowding in classrooms due to rapid population growth.  Since the school system is controlled at the county level rather than in Brentwood, a constant source of frustration has been Brentwood City Commission’s limited ability to address the issues caused by the over-crowding in schools.  Zoning is also central to this issue.

The greatest contributor to the overcrowding in Brentwood Schools has been and continues to be overdevelopment of high density apartment and housing complexes on the fringe of our City.  These developments create many more school age children per developable acre than our traditional one home per acre density.  Children in these fringe areas are zoned for schools like Brentwood High or Ravenwood High which creates larger classroom sizes.  While there is little we can do about development on the outskirts of our City, we certainly can control zoning within our City limits.  Up-zoning since 2007 has also contributed to classroom overcrowding.  The Tapestry Apartment Complex, with approximately 100 school age children on about seven acres in the Commercial District has also contributed to classroom overcrowding.  This is at least twice the number of children attending our schools than was originally projected.  The Tapestry is an example of how changes in our zoning, if only temporarily, can have a lasting impact on schools.