Some have taken issue with the concession stand rebuilds. At a recent meeting hosted by “FACE It Cobb,” (a parent group concerned about school funding issues), this was addressed. A number of bathrooms/concession stands are currently inaccessible to disabled individuals. In our incredibly litigious society, this should be changed now before a lawsuit costs the taxpayers more money.
The Cobb Taxpayers Association has complained about the implementation of a “Career Academy.” Lately our society has become insistent that every high-school graduate attend a four-year university. This has created a depressingly large number of unemployed college graduates. Meanwhile many companies go begging for skilled labor and welders make $50 an hour. Think about your objection to skilled trades being taught in our schools, the next time you pay an electrician.
Our state legislators will tell you that they are increasing funds for education. That is not entirely accurate. Schools are getting more money due to increased enrollment. State funding “per student” has actually decreased. In addition, federal funds for education are decreasing also, but not the unfunded mandates. Homeowners make up the difference with our property taxes.
The other argument is why gyms are being built rather than teachers being hired? By state law a SPLOST can’t be used for salaries, or even transportation or textbook costs. It would be great to see that money go to decrease class sizes, but it’s not allowed.
To those who say projects were added to fill the total expected tax revenue, I have to say that I used to think the same thing. Until I found out that only 20 percent of suggested projects were accepted. It would be wonderful to have a “split-penny” SPLOST as many critics want. But until one actually exists, roofs are still leaking and HVAC units still need to be replaced.
I often hear the refrain that the “Special” in SPLOST is not special any more since we renew it every four years. One-third of our schools are over 45 years old. If the buildings didn’t age, I gather we wouldn’t need money to keep repairing and replacing them. And in the last 10 years, 700 trailers have been eliminated through SPLOST.
Should the school system cut costs before asking for a SPLOST? Cobb is the second largest school system in the state, but has one of the lowest administration costs of any system. I’m sure we can find waste, but if SPLOST doesn’t pass, these capital projects would have to be paid out of the general budget, which already is at an $80 million deficit. With 90 percent of that budget being personnel, there is nowhere else to find money without letting hundreds of teachers go, along with those administrators. So if you vote for SPLOST you actually are saving teachers’ jobs.
Cobb is also one of the largest school systems that is debt free. If SPLOST doesn’t pass, bonds will have to be issued or reserves used. Property taxes will rise. The SPLOST, however, is a sales tax. Rather than constantly relying on property owners alone to foot the bill for education, the continuation of this penny consumption tax will hit non-residents who work, shop and travel through Cobb; renters; and seniors over 62 who don’t pay any education property tax at all. The burden is spread more widely and fairly. As a property owner I’m for it.
Are there some projects I personally don’t like? Sure, just like everyone. But I feel we should stop trying to get a list that 100 percent of the citizens approve (never likely) and vote on one that is reasonable and badly needed.
JoEllen Smith is an education activist in East Cobb and a volunteer for “EmpowerED Cobb.”
Follow us on Twitter!
Let me also give you a quote by a county chairman:
"You can build these capital projects with SPLOST dollars, but you have to maintain and operate them of general funds."
And that means a tax increase.
Vote NO.
Getting kids out of trailers and into permanent classrooms is a good thing and was supported during past SPLOST initiatives by voters. SPLOST made it possible to remove more than 600 trailers that needed to be maintained/operated. It's likely less costly to maintain and operate new space than to maintain/operate trailers.
However, if we are smart enough to vote NO, then our sales tax will go down by 17%!
I know some of you dolts think I just said a 17 cent decrease, but I did not. A 1 cent decrease equates to a 17% sales tax cut.
Vote yourself a tax cut, you have earned it.
Arguably, your property values could fall much further than any realized sales tax savings if schools are not supported.
I live in the city of Marietta and I believe the Marietta School Board is several tiers above the Cobb version in skill and fiscal responsibility. Of course they have fewer properties to care for, but they have significantly less population to serve which means a smaller tax base.
One on the problems with our society today is that the importance of educating our young people has become a back burner issue. People seem to find it more important to fund social security and medicare. Well I hate to break it to you...there would be no social security or medicare for you if the young people are not educated to become productive citizens and continue to fund your ponzi scheme. I remind you that social security and medicare were yours and your parents generation's creations....not the young peoples.
Thankfully, the school board has NO say at all concerning the senior tax exemption.
Talk to your local state representatives and senators. They are the only one that can lead a change on the senior exemption. Don't be surprised when to hear that they are unwilling to make a change since it's a difficult sell to say;
"Hey vote for me Mr./Mrs. Senior - I pledge to do all I can to see that your property tax increases by doing away with the Senior exemption."
It isn't emotional at all. JoEllen has established herself as being one who has never met a tax she didn't like.
And that's a fact, Jack!
Don't support schools.
Increase the budget deficit, which will adversely affect teachers and classroom sizes.
They want a perfect project list yet know it will never be perfect so it's better wait and do nothing.
Don't provide career pathway options the state is now requiring. Don't ever think about addressing facility needs for this.
Don't address ADA issues so you can expose the district to accessibility law suits.
Don't anticipate needs.
Don't replace inefficient and costly to maintain older facilities.
Don't replace aged buses.
Don't upgrade technology.
Don't install safety upgrades at schools.
Do stick your head in the sand and pretend it will all work out on its own without any funding (bonds or SPLOST). Better yet - SPLOST opponents suggest it can all be funded out of the current budget.
Wonderful math wizards - only in their mind can you fund capital needs from the general budget when the district is staring at an $80 million deficit.
Dangle to right carrot; screws the rest of the county.
We are being asked to vote for a pig in a poke. We are being asked to sign a blank sheck. The list of planned expenditures is embarrassingly vague. Vote to spend $30 million on an ill-defined so-called "career academy" ? Aren't our present schools providing the educational base that points students toward career planning ? Start with a good basic education, and then if the student does not go to university, that's why Georgia has invested in vo-tech post secondary schools and techical colleges, like Chattahoochee Tech.
Send a message. Vote "NO" on this SPLOST and make the tax-and-spend crowd start to live within their budget. How did we ever manage to operate public schools before the SPLOST binge ? If you give the tax-and-spend crowd more money, their spending addiction will just grow.
Her fact is correct, the district has about an $80 million deficit. That's how much money the district expects to come up short to pay the bills next year (teacher salaries, utilities, etc.). Deficits lead to layoffs. Since teacher salaries make up the vast majority of expenses, that means mostly teachers would be laid off. (making class sizes even bigger!)
The district also has no debt. This means no massive loans have been taken out for operations or building new buildings. This is typically done through the school district issuing bonds. Past bond debt was paid off by earlier SPLOSTS.
YOU benefit from that personally when you get your property tax bill each year: there no longer is an additional tax on you to pay off those bonds!!!! BTW, whenever bonds are used, the district has to use tax money to pay interest on those bonds. AND, nobody else bears the burden of those costs except property owners in Cobb.
For the record, (and I don't know how many times I will have to keep writing this), the way you funded school capital needs before the "SPLOST binge", as you put it, was with general obligation bonds. That resulted in an additional bond millage and a nice surcharge on your property tax bill. There was a bond millage on your tax bill for decades before the first SPLOST was passed. Thanks to SPLOST, all that debt was paid off in 2007 and the district is now debt-free. If you want to start paying a bond millage again, then go ahead and vote no. I can guarantee you that you will be charged a heck of a lot more in bond millage than you would ever spend in 1 percent sales tax in a year. As I said, you really need to get informed because the misinformation you are spreading is just wrong.
The FACT is, SPLOST has replaced the bond millage on your property tax bill. Another FACT about SPLOST is that it is paid for by a large percentage of people who don't even live in Cobb County. Therefore, it is a FACT that SPLOST is actually a tax decrease, not an increase. If you are property owner under 62, it is a FACT that you will pay less in school taxes with SPLOST than you would under the only other option, a general obligation bond. And if you are over 62, then you should be ashamed for not wanting to at least support the future of our community which is our schools!
I think there is a common misperception that SPLOST was supposed to be just a one-time deal. That's not the case. It is a (relatively) new way to pay for things that have always had to be funded. You used to pay for them through the bond millage on your property tax bill. Now, with SPLOST, there is a much better way to pay for these things. There is no additional millage on your property tax bill. The needs of our school buildings aren't going to go away. You can either pay for them with SPLOST, or with property tax. Your choice, but you can't just stop funding our schools. That's not an option.
Anonymous claims "pork projects". Okay. We're all against projects that aren't really needed, so could you please point one out so that it can be addressed?
"Budgetwatcher" claims that excess funds were used to balance the budget "during the last three years". But I believe SPLOSTS I & II are the only ones that have been completed, so excess funds could only have been used twice, not three. It's also what the law requires: returning the unused funds to the taxpayers of Cobb. What would "Budgetwatcher" have the board do, break the law?
Discussion here is great. Valid disagreements in discussions can help people come to their own conclusion about Ed-SPLOST. But posters should do their best to be specific, with truthful facts, before taking a hard stance either way!
They can only be used to reduce millage if there is no debt.
The district did what it was legally obligated to do. They could not "create" projects to be funded by excess proceeds.
Until this district stops packing their administrative, planning and advisory committees with former bigwigs who are only in it for their personal gain or to get their friends contracts, citizens should stop voting for this massive tax. Fiduciary responsibility is out the window with this crew, they use the money to manipulate us, east vs. west vs. south Cobb and school vs. school, rewarding those principals who suck up on every other topic and punishing others. If anyone with knowledge speaks up, he or she is GONE. Cobb says they're against pork, but that's all this is.
Do your research before you form an opinion.
Be an informed voter.