Many metro residents will go to the polls Tuesday to impose or continue a penny sales tax to improve school facilities. The original sales pitch for SPLOST 15 years ago was that new revenues were needed for special projects and new schools for a fast-growing population.
Nowadays, the SPLOST revenue is still used for new schools, but also funds pork projects and offsets budget deficits incurred by poor use of property tax revenue.
SPLOST has become a safety net for poor facility management. All too often in DeKalb County, maintenance is overlooked and even relatively new buildings are in need of significant repairs. Continuing the flow of money won’t incentivize these bureaucracies to look after our investments any better.
Voters should look to past performance to predict future outcomes. How has your school district spent your tax dollars? Cherokee County is following the lead of Gwinnett and DeKalb counties by allocating $12.5 million for a new central office. DeKalb spent $30 million in current SPLOST funds for its central office, dubbed “the Palace.”
Although the planned Cherokee offices don’t include the splendors of neighboring DeKalb and Gwinnett, voters should question if these expenses fall under the category of “needs” or “wants.”
In DeKalb, taxpayers have seen years of improper spending, resulting in indictments of a former superintendent and chief operating officer. There have been no significant staffing changes, and it appears to be business as usual with the bloated central office. All of the financial malfeasance has occurred while DeKalb has fallen to the bottom in metro Atlanta in achievement. DeKalb also has spent $17 million for legal fees in a $100 million lawsuit over the management of SPLOST.
DeKalb voters should demand transparency through an online checkbook and overhaul of the central office before voting to approve the almost $500 million SPLOST. Unlike Cherokee, which has seen growth, DeKalb wants to build new schools in areas that continue to see sharp declines in enrollment.
Gwinnett voters have their own reasons for sending a message to the school system — land deals. Over the past decade Gwinnett school leaders have made questionable land deals, paying premiums for some parcels; and don’t forget the projected total of $73.5 million for its central office.
In Cherokee, many voters are concerned with the school board issuing bonds to pay for school projects, counting on future revenue. Many school systems estimate the five-year revenue of their SPLOST and spend that amount. But in Cherokee, where growth was rampant for many years, some future SPLOST funds already have been spent.
If SPLOST fails in Cherokee, an increase in property taxes is likely due to that district’s aggressive land purchases and school building during the past decade. SPLOST in 2001 for Cherokee gave the school system the green light to put itself in debt for years to come. Rather than frugally allocating their current resources, they felt free to spend as much as they could and they will go back to the taxpayer for more.
Our economy has not stabilized and voters should vote to say “no” to more government debt. Our school systems should return their focus to instruction. With lofty plans for new stadiums, sports fields and so-called technology, the focus of some of our mega-sized school systems has switched from instruction to construction.
Schools need to focus on a quality curriculum, maintaining and hiring excellent teachers and principals, and not building palaces for central office personnel. They need to recognize that SPLOST is not a tax in perpetuity or an excuse for poor maintenance.
Vote “no” on SPLOST and send that message to your school boards.
Rick Callihan is a small business owner and writes the DunwoodyTalk blog.
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