Five metro counties have sales tax referendums worth millions to their schools on Tuesday's ballot and some disgruntled residents working against them.
Opponents say school boards must understand that taxpayers are tapped out financially and worn out by scandal.
But the districts go into Tuesday's election having never lost a tax vote.
Three times since the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) was created in the mid-1990s, they've asked their voters to approve the penny-on-a-dollar sales tax for new schools, roof repairs and classroom renovations. And three times, Cherokee, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Henry county voters have said "yes" to sales taxes that also benefit the city school systems in Atlanta, Buford and Decatur and the nearly half-million children they collectively serve.
“It’s simply an easier pill to swallow if it’s going for kids and education than maybe a transportation SPLOST,” Kennesaw State University political science professor Kerwin Swint said.
Terri Ford, a Gwinnett parent, says she's not supporting the tax this time.
“Voting ‘yes' on [ESPLOST] seals our fate for another five years,” Ford said. “We don’t want bigger operating budgets."
Each school system has its own laundry list of SPLOST projects, but the same message for voters. With the ESPLOST, shoppers from out of county pitch in a sizable share of the tax money. Without it, local property taxpayers foot the bill. Cherokee County School Superintendent Frank Petrizulo penciled in the details for locals, essentially telling them a "no" vote could add $200 a year to the tax bill on a $200,000 home.
By holding their elections next week, the school districts are getting their sales tax proposals in front of voters ahead of a planned 2012 vote on possibly adding yet another 1 percent sales tax, this time for transportation. They're also following an often-used strategy: timing their ESPLOST extension referendums for low-key elections such as Tuesday's, which is forecast to draw less than 10 percent of DeKalb voters.
Low turnouts are said to work to the advantage of school systems, which can't legally promote the sales tax themselves, but traditionally have well-organized parents and community leaders willing to hit the streets to encourage a pro-tax turnout.
In Gwinnett, Mike Levengood, a co-chair of the local ESPLOST campaign, has made the rounds of 30 groups, including the Korean-American Association, PTA organizations, churches and civic groups, discussing why the SPLOST is essential.
The economy has taken a toll on sales tax collections going to the state's largest school district. The current tax, which expires next June, has raised $660 million, far less than the $1.1 billion originally projected. The district issued $425 million in bonds in conjunction with the ESPLOST so project money would flow faster, and a state audit said that allowed the county to complete the major projects it promised voters in 2006.
But the bond issue also cost $92.3 million in interest, money that could have been spent in classrooms, say members of the Citizens of Gwinnett County Action Alliance, a group working against the ESPLOST.
Tax supporters worry this year that a combination of factors could work against them: the bad economy, an anti-tax sentiment and a public distrust in how government at all levels spends its money. Another factor that could influence the vote is a series of education scandals that have school administrators facing possible jail time.
In DeKalb County, former Superintendent Crawford Lewis is facing trial for racketeering, fraud and bribery related to construction work done with previous ESPLOST funds. Ernest Brown, a father of four from Lithonia and a tax supporter, said he has detected distrust of system's current leadership.
"I say we should be frustrated with our board members, but we should find other ways of sending a message," Brown said.
Susan Anne MacKenna, a member of the pro-ESPLOST group, The Friends of DeKalb, said residents seem supportive of the tax once they understand how the projects will touch the lives of students and teachers.
"The message to be sent to the [school] board is that we need to fund our schools," MacKenna said. She knows some people are planning to vote ‘no' in hopes of sending a message that they don't trust the school board, but she hopes they are just a vocal minority.
Despite the distrust of local leadership and a flagging economy, history favors the SPLOST.
The economy was bad back in March when 24 school districts -- including Forsyth and Coweta in metro Atlanta -- held elections on extending their SPLOSTs. All 24 passed.
In Fulton, where Tuesday's vote will determine whether the county school system and Atlanta Public Schools, continue bringing in SPLOST money, Morningside resident Sharon Ferguson will be giving the extension a thumbs down.
The school system's construction needs should have been covered with money from this and two earlier ESPLOSTs, Ferguson said.
"What else do they need to do that we need a special tax to fund?" she asked.
Ferguson said she's been disheartened by the APS cheating scandal, the lavish central office, what she sees as other misplaced priorities and the large chunk of her tax bill that goes to the school system.
"And there is absolutely no return for the students, which is the most important thing," she said.
Danny Dukes, a member of the local governing council of Cherokee Charter Academy and the Georgia Charter Educational Foundation, said he's voting against his district's SPLOST because he's concerned about how the money is spend.
“We continue to put too much in the goody bag of wants versus needs," Dukes said.
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Their record so far on the education SPLOST
Cherokee County
1997 Vote: 7,402 for; 5,927 against/ voting yes -- 56 percent
2001 Vote: 4,474 for; 1,041 against/ voting yes -- 82 percent
2006 Vote: 34,349 for; 13,516 against/ voting yes -- 72 percent
DeKalb County
1997 Vote: 47,388 for; 21,855 against/ voting yes -- 69 percent
2002 Vote: 17,558 for; 11,044 against/ voting yes -- 62 percent
2007 Vote: 13,409 for; 5,840 against/ voting yes -- 70 percent
Fulton County
1997 Vote: 11,036 for; 8,225 against/ voting yes -- 58 percent
2002 Vote: 14,386 for; 6,914 against/ voting yes -- 68 percent
2007 Vote: 12,361 for; 3,052 against/ voting yes -- 81 percent
Gwinnett County
1997 Vote: 30,344 for; 12,565 against/ voting yes -- 71 percent
2001 Vote: 27,121 for; 7,327 against/ voting yes -- 79 percent
2006 Vote: 87,731 for; 43,443 against/ voting yes -- 67 percent
Source: Georgia Department of Education
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