Former Mayor Shirley Franklin: Georgia will be beat by states that invest in knowledge economy
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin says the state will fall behind if it does not invest in education.
I have been surprised at the opposition toward the education SPLOST on the Nov. 8 ballot in Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb, Decatur, Gwinnett, Buford, Cherokee and Henry.
Given the stark reduction in state funds for education and the depressed housing market, schools are in desperate straits, and there would seem to be no more critical time to renew the penny sales tax for construction and capital improvements than now.
Among those who have not signed on — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the business community. In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year, Reed said the penny — which has helped build or renovate 84 city schools or other buildings in the last 15 years— instead needs to go to a regional transportation plan expected to be put to voters next year.
Reed did not want the school system to seek to renew its SPLOST because Atlanta residents will be asked three times to raise their taxes between November and July. In March, Atlantans will vote on an extension of a 1-cent sales tax to upgrade the city’s water and sewer system, and later deal with another penny tax on the transportation bill. If both were to pass, Reed warned that the city would have the state’s highest sales tax at 9 percent and would be at a competitive disadvantage.
But won’t the entire state be at a competitive disadvantage if the schools are underfunded?
Here is what another Atlanta Mayor, Shirley Franklin, says about the lack of any visible support from the business community for the education SPLOST:
The Metro and Georgia chambers have stood silently by while devastating cuts to education occurred — from pre-k all the way through higher ed. The Metro and Georgia chambers talk about a knowledge-based economy but they just do not go to bat for the public investment to make it so.
We are no different than 50 years ago when our economic development strategy consisted of building more roads (or ports) and believing they shall come. The talk has changed, just not the walk. Over the long-term, we will be beat by those states that really do invest in the knowledge economy. The data is overwhelming — higher paying jobs following higher educational attainment — and I am not just talking about four year B.A. degrees; this includes some level of post-secondary attainment, whether two or four years.
Georgia lost 31,000 jobs from September 2010-September 2011. We are a sinking ship. If it were not for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, we would be dead in the water. Our neighboring states cannot duplicate this asset anytime soon, but this will not help the rest of Georgia, just metro Atlanta.
What would I like to see? Gov. Deal, surrounded by business leaders, announcing that over the next 10 years we will raise the average level of educational attainment in every area of the state. More high school graduates. More two-year degrees. More four-year degrees. More master’s degrees. We will put as the top priority investment the one asset that can distinguish us — our people.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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152 comments Add your comment
Derek
October 30th, 2011
8:00 am
we pay almost double per child for education as the schools I attended in MO, It’s not how much, it’s how it’s spent. Get rid of the waste and all of the unneeded admin positions and start teaching again! Why do we need 15 assistant principals, super’s and press liasion, TEACH
cris
October 30th, 2011
8:35 am
@Maureen…how ’bout a county that has recently passed an ESPLOST (during a special March election no less)….and the first thing the BOE did was “place” a Deputy Superintendant in charge of spending the ESPLOST funds?
Hokey
October 30th, 2011
8:39 am
Because of the HOT lanes and the school cheating scandal, no one wants to trust our money to government agencies right now. It doesn’t matter how badly needed they are. My suggestion to our elected officials right now is to bail on the transportation tax and the education tax and hope they can get the sewer tax passed. Wait for a better day to try to get the education tax passed.
North Side
October 30th, 2011
8:52 am
I think Mayor Reed is the best mayor this city has ever had. If he doesn’t the support the tax then neither do I. He truly looks out for this city. He doesn’t have the hidden agendas and family issues that the other mayors had.
Steve
October 30th, 2011
9:08 am
Come ask me for more SPLOST funds for schools when the upper management of schools havre taken a 60% pay cut.
Lee
October 30th, 2011
9:11 am
Sorry. Shirley Franklin lost all credibility in education issues when she defended Beverly Hall during the recent cheating scandal.
North Side
October 30th, 2011
9:39 am
Was Shirley the mayor that provided her own home as a safe haven for convicted felons?
@KatyWatts from G.P.
October 30th, 2011
10:24 am
Actually, the government has done very well running schools. The “schools are failing” meme is one that is bought a paid for by the business and industry idiots who come to grift.
And please don’t come back with “compared to China” unless you are planning to compare them to OUR top 9% of students.
Yes, schools are “democratic” by nature. They are part of the public trust. We elect a board who is supposed to be unswayed by business interests and billionaire foundations. Grifters and “venture” philanthropists?
As for homeschooling: I’d love to see an entire town, district, whatever, offer no public education and sample that fantasty experiment. I’m sure it would be great for home values and catering to the business interests this country has Sainted.
Beverly Fraud
October 30th, 2011
11:31 am
Saying the government has done very well in running the schools makes about as much sense as saying the government of Somalia has done a very good job marketing itself as a tourist destination for the cruise ship industry.
Ronin
October 30th, 2011
11:49 am
@Dereck: as to your comment: ” Get rid of the waste and all of the unneeded admin positions and start teaching again! Why do we need 15 assistant principals, super’s and press liasion, TEACH”
The bureaucratic mess that is public education is succeeding at what it truly is, a jobs program for adults. The State of Georgia public education systems seems to be incapable of adapting or changing to meet the needs of the customers it serves. There are too many people feeding at the education buffet that like things just the way that they are. The political fallout for politicians that sponsor reform is often met with opposition by those who feed off the education system and DO vote.
The people in education state they need more funding and more support from families. If the current system could work, it would have been fixed by now. It doesn’t take a genius to solve the problem, simply review education systems that are ranking in the top 5% and duplicate their methods. There is nt need to reinvent the wheel to improve public/government education.
Eliminate monopoly board of education control of funding by by allowing vouchers and the current bloated budgets heavy on administrative spending will cease to exist.
Beverly Fraud
October 30th, 2011
12:03 pm
How is my child going to learn if her central office administrator doesn’t have a $1200 conference chair to sit in? It’s patently ridiculous to expect a prestigious central office administrator to sit in a NORMAL chair. Such BLATANT disrespect to expect someone who gives their lives “for the children” to be treated this way.
That’s the problem in this country. People don’t value our central office administrators.
SPLOST for central office furniture upgrades. For the children, of course.
Jennifer
October 30th, 2011
1:36 pm
Here is some information on the eSPLOST for Gwinnett County. http://www.cgcaction.com
Merry
October 30th, 2011
1:57 pm
@ Jack – You are singing to the choir. I don’t believe in public education one damn bit. I educated my kid (after a disaster of political correctness for two months in kindergarten) via home school & private (thru much sacrifice on my part). In Glynn Co. now, because I am over 65 I don’t pay property taxes for the failing school system because I am old (I pay for the failing everything else). Why should all of the taxpayers pay for public education? They should not! – because, bottom line, they are not getting their money’s worth. What would help is if the parents were taxed for their kids. At the least parents should pay for books – the public should see the wretched condition of textbooks because the kids do not appreciate them, throw them around and mar them so they can’t even be read. Give them ipads? You have got to be kidding! A ready made black market starting in grade school (by future banksters I am sure).
Beverly Fraud
October 30th, 2011
3:22 pm
@Merry, that you would deny an important central office administrator the right to sit in a $1200 office chair so their back won’t hurt when they sit in a very important meeting means only one thing:
You CLEARLY do not care about the children.
Jack
October 30th, 2011
4:27 pm
@Merry – From what you have said based on my previous comment about what I said about what you said… It appears I may have been wrong in applying the parasite label to you for being one of the many who feel right in taking the money (property taxes) from people without kids to subsidize the education of other peoples kids. But it is dead on for most parents out there. They are parasites. If they have kids THEY should pay for their upkeep including their education. Also from your other comment about being over 65, in this cesspool known as Atlanta they have their hooks into you FOREVER, until the day you die, paying for the education of other peoples kids. That is why in a few years when I’m old enough to retire I will be leaving this cesspool and going elsewhere where I don’t have to carry that burden any longer and get to keep MY money. To all you public school parents, you are a bunch of parasites. PAY FOR YOUR OWN DAMN KIDS !!!
@ Beverly Fraud (3:22 pm)
October 30th, 2011
6:46 pm
Lost Priorities at APS:
Ms. Fraud you are correct that on average most of the conference chairs in district’s administrative offices are just over $1200 per unit. Please be sure to include in your future comments that conference tables in each department average $7480.
Also, it is common knowledge among those who have been involved with finances at APS, that board members and upper level administrators commonly steer construction, technology, and service contracts.
Until the aforementioned abuse of public money is ended, I cannot see anyone in his/her right mind supporting any kind of funding initiative for APS. Beverly Fraud your analogy so aptly reflects our fiasco: Why on God’s earth would one want to serve more booze to a dying alcoholic!
The Inside Scoop
3rd floor,
130 Trinity Ave.
Northside parent
October 30th, 2011
8:07 pm
It is next to impossible to address the APS Board of Education. The stipulation requiring advanced notice of intent/waiting period before being allowed to speak and that issues to be aired must be first submitted in writing, are all done to neuter public input. I asked an APS public relations receptionist why all of this way necessary and was told it was done to maintain “proper decorum”.
“Proper decorum” to me means hearing only what one wants to hear. Today’s progressive management structures value information flowing from all levels, including external appraisals. Smart merchandizing/retailing practices encourage and reward shoppers for providing feedback (e.g. complete a questionaire and qualify for a $1000.00 gift certificate). Heck, its common to see postings that ask customers to report or press a button if a restroom needs attention.
The APS board does not really want to hear about issues needing attention, especially in a public forum. The APS board has designed a process that virtually assures sanitized public input.
And now……..they have the nerve to ask for the public’s support.
We are NOT stupid!!!
Beverly Fraud
October 30th, 2011
8:34 pm
Vote for SPLOST and you’re saying “Yes we are upset…but we WILL put up with your nonsense”
Voting no for SPLOST says “We are upset…NOTICE that we ARE upset with your abuse of the public trust”
Which message do YOU want to send?
Cere
October 30th, 2011
9:01 pm
I find it interesting that politicians are up in arms when voters question handing hundreds of millions of dollars over to a school board that has failed miserably in it’s one and only true task: Educating our children. Why is it that people like the good mayor will advocate for new buildings, but not advocate for great reading and math scores? Why do politicians not feel compelled to make it Job #1 to provide a highly qualified, educated workforce to entice new business to incubate or locate in Georgia? Why are they not ripping their hair out in angst over being #49 in the US in education year after year? Glitzy buildings don’t educate students – gifted teachers do. We need to make our universities train up the best teachers in the country and then we need to pay them well so that they will stay in Georgia and teach our own children.
The leadership in DeKalb has proven that when given bags of money, they will spend their energy finding ways to divert that money to their own and their friends’ pockets. Watch any board meeting in DeKalb – over half the time is spent discussing construction contracts. Improve test scores, hire great teachers and principals and then support them in their task by paying them well, offering in-class support staff and small class sizes. When we have a functional educational system, then our construction needs will be easy to identify and voters will support those needs. The current SPLOST plan is to collect a half-billion dollars and spend it all over the county like it’s Christmas (at least it will be Christmas for well-connected, vocal groups).
Form follows function. We need to get our function – which is to educate – in order before we start planning the form (buildings). Maybe next time…
TaxWatch
October 31st, 2011
6:15 am
Mayor Franklin: ???????? APS is an ongoing disaster.
I believe in zero based budgeting: only funding that which works. Need I say more!.
Name One
October 31st, 2011
6:51 am
Here is why there’s legitimate opposition to SPLOST IV in DeKalb County:
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-splost-or-not-to-splost.html
1) We are in the middle of a $100 million lawsuit over SPLOST II construction that has cost us $15+ million and committed us to another $19+ million in legal fees – which comes from the General Operating budget – not the SPLOST budget — thus taking directly from the money earmarked for our children’s education.
2) We have criminal charges looming and criminal trials yet to take place involving SPLOST III and our former superintendent, our former COO and others. This is bad news and will require additional resources and attention as the trial moves forward.
3) The current plan is not focused. There are projects promised in SPLOST IV that were listed as political favors for a chosen few who are very organized and very vocal. We will still have schools with great needs that will not get their needs addressed in full. Like our curriculum, the project list is vast, yet vague.
GeorgiaSPLOST.org points out the drawback of SPLOST fundraising, which I believe is what has happened consistently in DeKalb. “In practice the SPLOSTs combine many projects into one referendum. Often many of the projects do not enjoy broad community support but are included in the list as a favor to certain special interests. The voters often have to vote for five or ten projects that they oppose in order to pass the two or three that they strongly support. Another problem with current practice is that SPLOST referendums are often held concurrent with elections with low expected voter turnout and the special interests promoting the SPLOST can have a greater effect on the referendum.”
Glitzy buildings don’t educate students – gifted teachers do!!!
What??
October 31st, 2011
7:18 am
This is another reason why we don’t trust the DeKalb County School System to spend millions in SPLOST taxes. Ron Ramsey is a state senator, owns a number of businesses, and just happens to be the director of the DeKalb County School System’s Office of Internal Affairs. He gets hundreds of thousands from the state for his family’s pre-K while he’s a state senator. He owes hundreds of thousands of back taxes. He’s also the head of Internal Affairs for a school system where the former superintendent and chief operating office are under RICO indictment for criminal enterprise. We’re expected to trust high ranking administrators like him with a half-billion dollars of SPLOST taxes?
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-officials-past-due-1183242.html#.TnYOzBbzeb0.email
Taxes owed by the Kingdom Group, a Decatur child care business run by Doris V. Carrington-Ramsey, the wife of Sen. Ronald Ramsey, D-Lithonia, also were blamed on the economy.
The IRS filed $173,000 in liens against the center for unpaid taxes from 2007-2010. While owing the federal government, the Kingdom Group was getting money from the state for childcare services. The center received $278,122 in pre-k money from the state last year and has received about $850,000 in state money since 2006.
Sen. Ramsey lists himself as vice president and general counsel for the company, although his wife said he has not played an active role in the business since he took office in 2007.
“I am solely responsible for this tax matter which I hope to resolve in the near future,” she said, adding that lower enrollment in recent years has hurt the business. The Kingdom Group is making installment payments to the IRS to pay off the debt.
What??
October 31st, 2011
7:38 am
When will DeKalbers stop electing clowns for BOE?
Jay Cunningham
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-school-officials-record-690212.html
Gene Walker
http://www.accessnorthgeorgia.com/detail.php?n=150517
Zepora Roberts
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2010/08/09/saltzman-vs-roberts-wouldnt-be-a-fair-fight-but-the-tv-reporter-asked-a-fair-question-about-nepotism-in-dekalb-school-board/
Paul Womack
http://championnewspaper.com/news/articles/852tiff-leads-sen-jones-to-file-ethics-complaint-against-school-board-member-852.html
Sarah Copelin-Wood
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2010/04/sarah-copelin-wood-look-at-her-as-why.html
Jack a Grady baby
October 31st, 2011
8:21 am
NO to SPLOST NO to transportation tax, NO to ANY tax increase at this time! Here’s an idea – grade teachers on number of conferences with parents, classroom management nomatter the size, pay for time worked – not summer off with pay. No contract with superintendents with future payouts if fired, CUT THE DAMN EXPENSES. I cannot support a school system which has no music, no art and quality literature programs. If you cut the music cut the athletics.
BEWARE!!!!!
October 31st, 2011
10:20 am
Buyers BEWARE…..your tax dollars going to APS is………your money down a RAT HOLE!!
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2011
11:36 am
“BEWARE!!!!” Hogwash I say. SUCH an uninformed electorate; 44 out of 56 schools engage in cheating, and then the media turns it into something “systemic and widespread”.
Inflammatory and despicable. And who suffers the most? Central office administrators. It’s terrible, just terrible.
Phineas
October 31st, 2011
1:10 pm
A vote for E-SPLOST is a vote to maintain funding for public education. A vote against it is a vote to cut funding for public education.
Former SPARK parent
October 31st, 2011
1:34 pm
+1 for Shar– you are spot on, as usual. I loved it when Shirley Franklin refused to (even now) acknowledge Bevvy Hall’s wretchedness, saying that the “mother in me” and the “daughter in me” wouldn’t allow her to pass such a judgment. Well, Shirley, tell us: does the “discredited, played-for-a-simpleton jack@ss in me” have an opinion yet?
Former SPARK parent
October 31st, 2011
1:41 pm
@Phineas: a vote “against” public education (even if I agreed with your premise, which I don’t) is not necessarily a bad thing.
Public education in Georgia is a disaster and we need to rebuild it with different rules (strict accountability and a contract with parents; freedom of movement (no one should be imprisoned by a terrible neighborhood school), etc.
If we have to starve it to death to kill it, well, at least we’ll have killed it.
Let me use another metaphor:
Public education here is not a renovation project, it’s a tear-down. Those in favor of blowing up the status quo and starting over actually have more of the public interest at heart than you do, if we’re just judging by your little do-gooder progressive potshot.
Phineas
October 31st, 2011
2:27 pm
Former SPARK Parent: I seriously doubt that someone like you who says they want to “starve” or “kill” public education has the public interest more at heart than those who support the E-SPLOST. You’re just defensive because my “little do-gooder potshot” is spot on: voting against the E-SPLOST is a vote to reduce funding for public education, period.
Do you send your children to public schools? If no, did you leave because you were “imprisoned by a terrible neighborhood school” at Springdale Park Elementary? If so, you’ve got to be kidding. That’s a great school just recently built with millions of dollars of E-SPLOST money. If you’re that cranky about Springdale Park Elementary, then you’re probably just a crank.
Former SPARK parent
October 31st, 2011
3:13 pm
Springdale Park is not a “great school.” It LOOKS great compared to most APS schools, which is the same as saying an Alabama girl is the prettiest co-ed at the Dental Neglect Fair.
Springdale Park SHOULD be on a par with Woodward Academy in most important tangible and intangible measurements. (As a SPARK parent who served on multiple committees, I visited WWA on several occasions to observe its practices). But SPARK isn’t even close.
SPARK parents are relatively affluent and many are quite engaged; their kids have many advantages; with APS per-pupil spending and parent fundraising potential, it should be able to compete with WWA.
Instead, SPARK is merely okay. It has a principal compromised by the cheating investigation (29% cheating suspected at her previous school) and whose HR missteps directly led to a major special-ed lawsuit against the district in 2009. Yolonda Brown is the hand-picked protege of Beverly Hall (Hall even chose Brown to accompany her to Phoenix to pick up that now-infamous super-of-the-year award). Brown was hired on the basis of fraudulent test scores and was pushed on the SPARK parent population (over my loud protest) by Bev Hall herself. If you don’t think an elementary school principal is the most important person in any community, you’re fooling yourself. And we don’t have the right person in that job. Just ask the many frustrated teachers in that building right now.
So–am I really a crank, or are you making the mistake of believing “pretty good” is all the parents who worked hard to buy houses here deserve for their high school-millage taxes?
SPARK is the arguably the very best APS can do given SPLOST funds and a chance to hire the best and brightest people, and yet it has not become the school the parents in this community deserve. I have no doubt I could pick 12 parents AT RANDOM on my block and together we would run SPARK better than APS has done starting tomorrow, and without the benefit of any mail-order Ph.Ds!
Schools should be run by parent boards, period. People with literal skin in the game. And parents wishing to put their children into a public school should have to sign a contract holding both parents and students accountable for student success.
When you demand nothing of parents and schoolchildren, nothing is what you get. That’s the fatal flaw in the current system, and no SPLOST is going to change that.
If you want public education to work, stop giving money to the people who are making it fail.
Aunt Jemima?
October 31st, 2011
3:38 pm
Nothing occurs in a vacuum -
Who prompted Shirley Franklin to speak to this issue? Is she the only figure with”“credibility?” Why was a “minority” person given this task? What are the true dynamics at play?
Hopefully someone can help me with possible answers?
You know: who’s pulling the strings –possibly contractors/vendors; again nothing occurs in a vacuum.
JB
October 31st, 2011
3:39 pm
If you would like for your property taxes to increase, to ensure the most extreme redistricting and lower your property value even more because of redistricting and underfunded schools, then vote against the SPLOST.
SPLOST funds can only be spent on capital projects – not operating expenses as Attentive Parent suggested in an earlier post. It is not an increase – it is maintaining an existing tax. If you spent $50K on goods, you would only be paying $500 in tax, much lower than the property tax rate because the cost is shared by all residents (whether they own property or not) and even non-residents buying goods in these counties.
@Phineas (2:27 pm)
October 31st, 2011
3:53 pm
You just don’t understand the depth of the corruption at APS. The district serves as a cash cow for board members and several slick administrators. The worst culprits are some of the board members who have been there a number of years. I can assure you they do not serve in the “best interest of children.”
The upcoming APS criminal prosecutions for the cheating and cover-up scandal merely scratch the surface of thick, steep, deep, criminality.
Call me cranky,l but I aint crazy!!!
Chuck Sheen
October 31st, 2011
4:13 pm
@former spark, in addition to your comments on the leadership, if while in the process of trying to publicly upbraid a staff member, you make mistakes in subject-verb agreement, you pretty much qualify for the term epic fail.
Phineas
October 31st, 2011
5:06 pm
Former SPARK parent: Everyone can’t afford to spend $20,000 per year per child to go to Woodward Academy. That’s why we have public schools — because most people can’t afford an elite private education. That being said, I sort of agree with you that with the neighborhood (Virginia Highland) and resources that Springdale Park has, it should be as good, or pretty close, to Woodward. But I’ll bet it probably already is pretty close. And I’ll bet it certainly is as good as many of the other private schools around Atlanta. And the same is probably true with Morningside, Mary Lin, Sara Smith, Morris Brandon, and Jackson elementary schools within the APS system. The fact that the enrollments at all of those public schools is increasing is at least some indication that many people who live in those good neighborhoods have come to the conclusion that the value at those public schools is as good or better than that at private schools.
So you’ve apparently bailed and gone to private school, and so I guess it’s not surprising that you now advocate cutting funding to public schools. Fine, but the fact is that the public schools serve the majority of those who live in the community where you live, and cutting SPLOST funding will not help public education. Springdale Park elementary school would probably not even exist with E-SPLOST — would that be better for Virginia Highland? Yes, there have been problems within APS, but Beverly Hall is gone now, and Errol Davis does seem to be trying to get things on track. Run for school board if you’re not happy with the current board. But cutting funding for public education funding will not solve any of the problems.
Former SPARK parent
October 31st, 2011
6:48 pm
So Phineas, I just spent all that time laying out for you exactly why Springdale Park has failed to live up to its promise, and making the case for replacing Yolonda Brown, and telling you how I personally visited WWA on multiple occasions, and yet you still want to “bet” that the two are “pretty close?” I was intimately involved with the school before the first brick was laid and served on multiple committees, and know exactly what the school’s problems are, and you come back at me with “I’ll bet”…?
How about you try a little harder to make a cogent argument than “I’ll bet,” okay?
Attentive Parent
October 31st, 2011
8:18 pm
JB-
Money is fungible. Everything being funded by SPLOST would not occur if it had to be financed via a millage increase. If the Dekalb or Atlanta or Fulton school district came to the voters and said we are raising all this money to buy technology and to refurb the schools for technology and there’s nothing you can do about it :here’s your tax bill they would finally manage to truly unite North and South Fulton. We might even get a unified county and metro Atl in rebellion.
Parents of all backgrounds get that computers are just a tool and in need of replacement frequently. No substitute for individual knowledge and skills. Did you know that the Association for Chief Ed Technology officers thinks tech is so important they should be running the district?
I am tired of overpaid social workers derisively demonstrating they are mental midgets and have been credentialed to destroy anything in their wake. With pensions and benefits of course. With so much of SPLOST going to tech projects designed to undermine who the kids will ever become. Of course I am troubled.
DeKalbite@Jack a Grady Baby
October 31st, 2011
10:03 pm
“pay for time worked – not summer off with pay”
FYI: Teachers are paid for days worked. All teachers used to get their pay spread over 10 months. Then the state started withholding a portion of their pay and giving it to them in the summer months. Good for the school system because they don’t have to pay it all up front. If a teacher works 5 months and then quits, he will get that portion of his pay that has been withheld during the next summer. Perhaps ou would like to go back to the old way of spreading giving teaches their pay over the 10 months they work. Be prepared to pay more in taxes though since teacher payrolls won’t be “floating” in bank collecting interest until the summer months.
AKA
November 1st, 2011
8:59 am
Shut up Shirley! I will be voting no in Atlanta to fund Splost as long as Brenda Muhummed and Emmett Johnson sit on the APS board and do nothing but rubber stamp submittals from a superintendent without questions from the likes of Beverly Hall for over a decade.
JB
November 1st, 2011
9:45 am
@Attentive Parent
Budgets are not fungible. They are segregated into operating and capital. Ask MARTA. State law requires that MARTA spend 50% of budget on operating and 50% on capital. They barely have enough money to operate, but have a surplus of funds for capital projects that they can’t build because it would increase their operating expenses. Despite this stupidity neither the Georgia Legislature, nor the Governor opted to change it and MARTA has had to cut service and increase fares to stay open.
If the SPLOST fails, there will not be enough money to fund renovations of existing schools or construction of new ones. We will most likely see redistricting to level the populations between over- and under-enrolled schools and property owners will probably have to pay more property tax.
Phineas
November 1st, 2011
10:28 am
Well said, JB.
T-SPLOST’s fate on the line next week in Fulton and DeKalb | Kyle Wingfield
November 2nd, 2011
5:04 am
[...] T-SPLOST supporters have been as forthright as Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who has come out and said the education SPLOST should be voted down to make way for the transportation tax. Most of them seem [...]
M. Stouffer
November 2nd, 2011
5:38 pm
Former SPARK Parent – I am heartfully sorry you had a bad experience at SPARK concerning your particular circumstances, but please don’t purport to represent the entire population who appreciate our staff who along with the parents add value each and every day. Please don’t drain any more energy…Thanks!
No Thank You
November 3rd, 2011
3:31 pm
@Fulton, stop trying to deceive people into believing that SPLOST will do anything to help teachers earn a better salary. SPLOST lawsuits have cost 10s of millions of dollars and still counting… money that comes OUT of the general fund (not the SPLOST fund) that is supposed to pay the salaries. SPLOST has actually hurt our teachers and classrooms. And the construction it has funded in the past has been faulty, defective, overpriced or not completed at all.
Dekalb Tax Payer
November 3rd, 2011
4:51 pm
DCSS needs to get an educational plan together for SPLOST IV in DeKalb County.
Facilities need to support our academic goals, yet no specific academic goals or educational plan has been forthcoming in DeKalb.
Build transparency into the expenditures – for example, publish an online check register so citizens can see every check. All school in Alabama do this or are in the process of doing this for ALL school expenditures. Look at this website:
http://www.peytonwolcott.com/CheckRegisters_Alabama.html
DeKalb Schools need a year for our new superintendent to replace the personnel who mismanaged the last SPLOST III funds and create a clear educational plan with benchmarks and input from teachers and parents so that our facilities and technology dollars have the best chance of providing a good return on investment for our children. Currently, SPLOST IV plans include tearing down multimillion dollar structures that were recently built. That is a colossal waste of money and more importantly missed opportunities for our children.
I also like the fact that in 2012 we have a Presidential election. Infinitely more DeKalb voters will participate in that election. That means that the vote will be much more representative of what the citizens of DeKalb want and will dilute the special interest groups who “get out the vote” on these off election years when SPLOST typically gets put on the ballot (this year being an example). The more people who participate in an election, the more better our democratic process reflects the will of the majority.
I have never voted against a SPLOST or bond referendum for education in 40 years, but I will next Tuesday. Business as usual has resulted in the lowest percentage of DCSS Title 1 schools making AYP of any metro system (including APS), thus promulgating a dual system of education in DeKalb. Only voters can change this.
Not Buying It
November 3rd, 2011
5:06 pm
The school board must think we have a problem with our short term memory. Why the hell would I feel badly (as JB believes we should) about there not being enough money to build new schools. In DeKalb, we just went through a nightmare of school closings which was supposed to save the district tons of money. They were closed because we were led to believe they were underpopulated. Now they want us to think our schools are so overcrowded that we need to build additions or completely new schools. C’mon! If they need more space, just reopen the schools you just closed!
And to the idiot that tried to warn us about the security of our personal information kept on school mainframes that are under attack by the “bad guys,” how is wireless technology supposed to help us with that. It is a well known fact that wireless technology is less secure than wired and leads to much more security of information concerns that keeping our data on a “mainframe.” Good try, but I’m not going to buy it.
I mean, literally … I’M NOT GOING TO BUY IT! I’m going to keep my money and spend it on education – by buying books for my daughter, not wireless computers and printers for your buddies to steal so you can make the insurance claims and pocket the money instead of buying the classroom a new computer to replace the stolen one like you were supposed to!
Not Buying It
November 3rd, 2011
5:11 pm
By the way, to the point of DeKalb Tax Payer, the DeKalb school board actually spent more than $350K on the special request to have SPLOST IV take place during a specail election. If they had asked for the vote before December, it could have been scheduled. By adding it as a last minute initiative that was submitted in 2011, they wasted more of our money and likely did so just to ensure their outspoken lackie groups could impact the vote more because fewer people outside the school sysstem will vote. I also heard that every DeKalb County school employee is pressured to vote YES as a way to “help the school” and therefore “help the children.” I don’t see how tearing down a school while kids are shoved into half a building and then rebuilding it during school hours makes much sense or helps kids learn!
Not Buying It
November 3rd, 2011
5:17 pm
Dekalb Tax Payer, what do you mean about the tearing down of multi-million dollar structures that were just built? Are you kidding me? Can you provide more information? I wonder if the D.A.’s office would want to block that from happening in case those schools would be some kind of evidence that could be used in the SPLOST II construction scam lawsuit. We paid to build crappy schools. We want to tear down historical schools that were well-built and only need to be better maintained and qualify for historical school grants. And now we want to tear down what we finally finished building? That’s ridiculous!
Questioning Everything, Trusting No One
November 3rd, 2011
5:20 pm
Does anyone know what would happen to the homestead exemption repeal if we voted YES for SPLOST in 2012 instead of now? And, does anyone know if it is possible the school board could repeal the exemption even if we did vote YES to the SPLOST now? That just sounds like something they would do. If they get an idea in their collective head about some way they can get their hands on some money, they typically do not give up until they get it by any means possible.