Metro council members questioned Metro Nashville School Director Shawn Joseph on the district's budget shortfall of more than $7 million this year.
Last week, School Board members Joseph for a lack of transparency in the budget process, saying they didn't know about the amount of the shortfall until recently.
Council members looked into how and why the shortfall happened during Thursday night's meeting.
"Are you looking at additional places, staying away from the classroom, and not make cuts and not affect the learning environment?" asked Councilman Steve Glover.
"My commitment has been first and foremost, how do you push as many dollars as you can directly to schools bc student-based budgeting does not work if you don't have enough dollars to make decisions," Joseph replied.
The public has another chance to weigh in on the school budget -- that's on Tuesday at the Metro School Board meeting.