Photo by Todd Hull
Ed. Note: The full text of Sweeney's article is available at the bottom of the page.
Kimberley Euston said she was surprised to pick up a copy of a local magazine and see an article authored by a Cobb school board member promoting the SPLOST IV referendum coming before voters in March.
The article penned by school board member Scott Sweeney likely did not break any laws, according to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, but it raised eyebrows among those keeping a close watch on the political activities behind the controversial SPLOST renewal.
“When I saw the article (Tuesday) I was shocked because it wasn’t written as Scott Sweeney, a Cobb parent and taxpayer, but Scott Sweeney, the Post 6 (east Cobb) school board representative,” said Euston, chair of the Cobb County School District’s Facilities and Technology Committee. “It is my understanding that an elected official cannot publicly encourage people to vote one way or the other on a referendum.”
Euston was appointed by Sweeney to serve on the F&T Committee, which oversees SPLOST-related projects.
“I support the concept of SPLOST and we need SPLOST to pass, but when the board does things such as publicly promote SPLOST and they still have questionable projects in the SPLOST IV notebook that’s not related to educational purposes, this gives the public ammunition to vote SPLOST down,” Euston said.
Sweeney said he did write the piece, titled “Why you should vote to continue Ed-SPLOST,” for the February edition of “Around Walton” magazine but did not write the headline.
“For several months, I’ve been asked to write and have written articles for Around Walton,” Sweeney said in an email Wednesday. “In the articles, I share my opinions, not those of the board.”
This month’s article outlines what previous SPLOST initiatives have done for east Cobb schools, including Wheeler High and Sope Creek Elementary schools, why a fourth SPLOST is needed and what east Cobb residents will see on the horizon if the referendum is approved next month.
Walton High School is expected to get nearly $40 million in upgrades, and an east Cobb area middle school will be built at a ticket price of $29 million. These are just two of hundreds of projects proposed to be done throughout Cobb Schools with the 1-cent sales tax collection.
In all, Cobb Schools is expected to get around $717 million from SPLOST IV and Marietta City Schools $54 million. It will be collected between Jan. 1, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2018. SPLOST III collections conclude Dec. 31.
The second-to-last-line in Sweeney’s article states, “I encourage you to continue Cobb County’s support for Ed-SPLOST,” and he directs readers to where they can learn more about the initiative.
“It’s my personal opinion, that was never intended as a representation of the board,” he explained.
Lauren Kane with the Georgia Attorney General’s Office said, “Assuming there was no expenditure of public funds, nothing improper occurred.”
Euston was very outspoken about her dissatisfaction with the SPLOST IV project list during the public hearings prior to the school board’s approval of it in November.
Euston also said the magazine article isn’t the first time she’s seen or heard Sweeney doing what she believes is advocating for SPLOST IV.
She said he participated in a town hall meeting at Dodgen Middle School Monday night.
“He was advocating for the importance of SPLOST to pass,” she said, adding that she recorded the meeting. “I also know he’s had conversations with individuals promoting the need for SPLOSTs, including with principals in the post that he represents. I was very surprised that he is openly talking about the need for SPLOST to pass and encouraging people to vote in support of SPLOST as an elected official, particularly on school grounds.”
In an email Wednesday, Sweeney addressed the issue of the town hall meeting.
“Acting in my board member capacity during the recent Cobb GOP breakfast and the Area 3 & 4 School Council meeting at Dodgen Middle School, I shared information about the proposed Ed-SPLOST from an educational, not an advocacy, perspective.”
Scott Sweeney article about SPLOST IV by
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4% State 1% Cobb County SPLOST 1% Ed-SPLOST
Most Grocery items are exempt from the state portion so your receipt will often show non-exempt items at 6% and exempt items at 2%. It's not 6% 2% to equal 8% as 'Just Sayin' below is leading people to believe.
The essential ballot question can be reduced to this - shall the current special tax be reimposed?
Sales tax remains at 6% if it is supported and will fall to 5% of it is not supported. Your current sales tax rate either remains the same or falls. It would not increase.
Considering the players are mostly the same, it's interesting to see they're taking NOTHING for granted this time, even resorting to blatant campaigning by school board members who are possibly beholden to them, even resorting to bribing the Walton High "stakeholders" and then smearing a dedicated servant to the system, Kimberly Euston, who is only trying to do the job Sweeney appointed her for in the first place. Things never change....and it's not the MDJ who makes the news btw. They're just the messenger.
SPLOST funds cannot be used to pay teacher salaries. We're in an escalating cost environment (i.e. health benefits, retirement, salary step-increases, etc...) coupled with a decline in revenues.
So you just made Laurel's argument for her...if SPLOST has nothing to do with teacher pay, then why pass it?
If there is an issue with getting less funding from other Federal and State sources to go into the compensation budget (which again, SPLOST cannot legally fund), then let's work on either a specific tax for teacher pay or better yet a cut in spending on projects that have dubious benefits for teachers and students alike.
If your thought was getting the SPLOST money would somehow free up money for other things like teacher pay, that's not how bean-counters (especially political ones) work. The SPLOST money goes in bucket A for projects X,Y and Z...nothing else. Even if they wanted the funds re-appropriated they'd be breaking the law.
Shame on the MDJ for trying to again create controversy where it does not exist.
Another poor article from a mediocre MDJ reporter. Maybe you should take the time to present the facts and not this sensationalized trash.
You sound just like one of the elitists in the Cobb Chamber leadership. We're onto you buddy.
Do your homework and see how much it really cost the county when the school system was forced to sell bonds?
This is a no-brainer.
Scott Sweeney was not advocating for the SPLOST. Here is the problem.....when everything about the SPLOST is positive, it appears like advocating.
What are the negatives? a top rate school system, no debt, improved facilities, new curriculum materials........
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED
Cobb County: Furloughing Teachers While Building Theaters and Gymnasiums! Score!
He wrote an article that appeared in a magazine.
Hearing Ms. Euston's rants for some time, witnesses' opinions have more clout.
Ms. Euston believes it's okay to express her personal opinion contrary to a committee. She did so repeatedly as chair of the F&T committee which approved the SPLOST project list.
@Mary Contrary - How unaware do you think we are that even though the sales tax will remain at 6%, that we won't be paying more??? It will be an extra amount on top of the sales tax. Please think before you respond. According to a current sales receipt I have in front of me we are paying an additional 2% on top of the 6%.
If anyone is paying attention, Sweeney has just violated his own promise to adhere to the ethics rules adopted by this board.
But, I guess if we aren't going to hold the other board members to any sort of ethics standards, why should we worry when Sweeney is out there trying to raise our taxes?
If Ed-SPLOST passes the Cobb County sales tax remains 6%.
Want to use the money for education? Great! But that would require a different list of projects than the current proposal.
Chairman Sweeney- we are smart enough to realize that sharing one sided information is advocacy- regardless of the wrapper that you put on it.
The school board has been totally open about wanting every penny they can get their hands out.
SPLOST money was supposed to be "special". But now it's part of the annual budget that they count on. They want the SPLSOT to pass. They are such poor money managers they can't balance the budget without it.
Of course they are going to promote it as often as possible.
McCleskey Middle School has 653 students and is
now twice the size it was when it had 1,200 students? How do we justify that kind of expenditure in these hard times? Seems wasteful.
The addition that is being completed now is enlarging parts of the school that can barely fit the 653 students they have. Kids were literally sitting on top of each other in the band, orchestra, and choral rooms.
McCleskey Alumni Parent
I will be voting a confident "NO". CCSD needs to reign-in their spending, just like the rest of us - and the businesses we all work for.