The book A Tale of Two Cities starts with the line. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” When we consider our tale of two area school systems, the same is true. Both are considering “opting out” of HB 581, but the perspectives and reasoning are vastly different for these two quality public school systems.
Fayette has an existing homestead exemption, voted in by the taxpayers, which is in addition to the senior exemption and cannot be opted out of. The Fayette decision is whether to “keep two sets of books” to address the two different homestead exemption options. Even to an accountant like me, sounds like too much paperwork. Fayette County Public Schools opting out of HB 581 makes sense.
However, Coweta should carefully consider Fayette’s example before making a bad decision.
When I first became involved with Fayette’s excellent and quality schools, the public had already rejected an ESPLOST initiative, making Fayette one of three school systems without an ESPLOST. Voter feedback said that the public had great concern about transparency and spending.
The public was unaware that the State of Georgia was already missing its funding obligations under the QBE formula in the State of Georgia’s Constitution. Instead, the administration and Board of Education had delayed building maintenance, had twenty-year-old school buses, and had effectively pushed most reserves forward to keep Fayette’s school’s excellent plan for small neighborhood schools and small class size.
In the 2008 ESPLOST Initiative, Fayette was seeking to buy new buses, fix rooves on schools and invest in technology that many other systems already had. There was a robust discussion on these pages and blogs where the public’s questions were answered and ESPLOST 1 passed by less than 300 votes.
I bring this up as the Coweta Board of Education has already signaled its intention to opt out of HB 581 before any public discussion. In his December 10 presentation, Superintendent Dr. Evan Horton said one goal of opting out would be to “maintain local control over tax policy”. A reasonable person might point out that sixty three percent of people voting for a homestead exemption from taxation IS local control. It would be interesting to hear Dr. Horton believes should control Coweta County school taxes if it is not the voters. I seriously doubt if even Mr. George Orwell could offer a serious answer.
As reserves faltered in the late 2000’s / early 2010’s, FCBOE raised the tax milage rate eventually hitting the maximum 20 Mils which is the limit before the BOE must ask the voters for an increase. Coweta BOE is rightly proud that their millage is and has been the lowest in the region at 15.41 mils. Which is great, however, the CCBOE 2024 – 2025 budget reflects that revenue from local tax collections is up almost ten percent or nearly sixteen million dollars year over year. APznzabF2Hd8cMM4zJOzvssHYW0BJ2XRh61CoW8fSEvRG94U3Th1xFjr7nPZuvahjL5GH8uxHDXlYN4QIw32MRLKVCTrxxCxCdZ0y6n7IH-Eq-MRSugychrjqajj7gzOV-l_5_ezizzjpBORzKT3unQ8EZu-i8Glq6mLpkuL3uUZkYvusYaVP7ANP6CCPLpZIZeihumzvKNT6tb0pAatxxWyqw8LxTq6WgzdzB7wMKTgCni4qMHWNzlV3uDhwqZV9Rp9nMmoPw8Xo_lGA7_hMpoXs6GagOv6ZSCrcBjhg1sAoUXyXR9lj82v82vMWYY_mVL3_8VauE3TRu6xgyV4Jo9UagXLN6B6U3ntG2QpmlTIkW8__6K_eNvxLUVe-jEapnNfT0TY2QYF
To be fair, the nearly sixteen million tax increase projected from local sources is a reflection both in increase in local value as well as development of property such as the new housing along Poplar Road. Again, this illustrates the public must dig to get the “rest of the story”.
In Dr. Horton’s December 10 presentation where he offers to “learn from other districts” and quotes one of my columns in this paper HB 581/Amendment 1 Informational Presentation , I hope the board listens to those words and considers carefully what would happen to the great Coweta schools if it choose some alternate definition of “local control” if it is not the overwhelming votes of Coweta’s voters. What would voters do?