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Monday, December 3, 2007
School Taxes In Speaker’s Cross Hairs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was told every time state House Speaker Glenn Richardson talks about his GREAT plan — for eliminating property taxes in Georgia — something changes. His latest speech, at the education conference I attended Friday, didn’t disappoint.
Now, instead of eliminating all property taxes in one fell swoop and replacing them with increases in sales taxes, Richardson announced he’s scaling down by suggesting the elimination of only school system-imposed property taxes (and only those paid by homeowners) as well as taxes on personal vehicles.
“It is not a total elimination of property taxes,” he said. “It is to give everybody an idea that this will work.”
Not surprisingly, many superintendents and school board members were less than impressed with Richardson’s newest proposal, which they had opposed in its other forms. Some that I talked to were downright incredulous the speaker would suggest partially eliminating school property taxes as a way of testing his idea.
“Why start with us?” asked Jim Simms, superintendent of the Clarke County School District, which includes Athens.
Others view Richardson’s ideas as an attempt to negate Georgia’s 181 local boards of education, which have increasingly relied on property taxes to raise funds since the governor and Legislature instituted so-called austerity cuts.
“When you’ve eliminated the school boards,” Emmett Johnson, vice chairman of the Atlanta Board of Education, told me, “you’ve done what you set out to do.”
Richardson’s remarks were perhaps the most anticipated of the conference. But many of the 900 attendees left with more questions than answers — including, how would state officials determine how much sales tax revenue each school system should receive?
Jack Parish, the outgoing superintendent in Henry County and current president of the Georgia School Superintendents Association, was more diplomatic than most:
“If there is a better way of funding education, we’re all willing to look at it,” Parish said. “But I think … before you make a major change in the way services are funded, you have to take a very, very comprehensive look.”
Lottery Part II: Bonuses Vs. Scholarships
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When we talked about the Georgia Lottery Corp.’s spending a couple weeks ago, some of you wondered about salary bonuses for Lottery executives.
Well, our capitol reporter, James Salzer, reported yesterday that Lottery President Margaret DeFrancisco took home a whopping $236,500 bonus check this year — on top of her $286,000 annual salary. All told, DeFrancisco and her employees collected nearly $3 million in bonuses.
According to the article, that’s equivalent to 515 state-funded scholarships for high school seniors hoping to attend the University of Georgia.
Of course, DeFrancisco defended the bonus structure, saying the Lottery wouldn’t be nearly as successful if workers didn’t have an incentive to increase ticket sales.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but that sounds an awful lot like the argument they used for not sending a higher percentage of revenues to the state’s HOPE scholarship and Pre-K programs.
So, is the explanation — that you have to spend more on prizes and bonuses to make more money — valid?
You decide.
