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Published Saturday, September 04, 2010 in Opinion
Should voters extend SPLOST for education?
Editorial
Editor's note: On Wednesday our editorial was headlined "Our school system is better today because voters said yes to SPLOST." In 2011 the Coweta school board is expected to ask voters to extend SPLOST for education another five years. Here are reactions from readers who commented on the newspaper's website: times-herald.com
* If it were not for SPLOST, we would not have 9th grade campuses, and the main high school would be overcrowded. Classrooms would have more kids in each room. We need SPLOST to help the schools. I will vote yes.
* Georgia on average spends around $9,000-$10,000 per student. I went to a private school and paid $5,000 a year and got a far better education than a public school could ever give. How were we able to get a good education and spend less? We had a budget we could not budge on. If my school spent too much money it got closed down, if a public school wastes money they just raise taxes. We also didn't have teachers unions ruining our education. Coweta has been good with its money so far, and that is why I am not complaining about the taxes I have to pay for schools, but I will not vote to continue SPLOST because it is just putting a burden on people without real results.
* Seems like Henry County and Fayette County voted against SPLOST the last time and their schools didn't fold.
* Check out other school systems that are broke and laying off personnel, then maybe your eyes will be opened to how blessed we are with our school leadership. I understand not ever voting for a tax increase. I do not understand wanting land owners to pay for everything instead of a one cent sales tax and a much bigger group of people, many who live outside this county, paying the bill.
* If the Obama health care bill gets thrown out, I'll vote yes, but until then I'm sorry. I pay enough taxes.
* Property taxes should be plenty to handle all expenses. I am a graduate of East Coweta High and I remember speaking with the librarian my freshmen year about why there was an unused satellite dish in the school yard. It was a gift from the lottery program and was essentially never used. There is no reason to have so many administrators in a school. I went to college to become a teacher. Thankfully, that is not what I'm doing now. There is too much bureaucracy, union and waste.
* As a matter of principle I vote no on any proposed tax increases. Period.
* I will not vote for SPLOST again until Georgia can rank higher than 49th in education.
* I am a Henry County employee and would like to give some good points about SPLOST. Henry voters voted no on the SPLOST years ago, and now we are suffering. We can't buy needed buses. Kids are not getting enough books in the classrooms, and other things that SPLOST pays for are not getting done.
* SPLOST actually cost each family very little over a year. People who come to Coweta to shop help pay. People who stop in off the Interstate also pay. We are great-grandparents with no kids in local schools, yet we always support SPLOST. We have to provide adequate facilities for our kids to learn. SPLOST, when prudently used, injects an immediate surge of funds to pay for buildings, etc. Otherwise, we will pay through property tax. I say keep SPLOST working but use it wisely.
* OK, if you have a SPLOST then everyone, even people who don't live here, help pay for new schools, etc. If there is no SPLOST then only people who pay property taxes will pay for the new schools. I like the SPLOST because it expands the number of people paying for these improvements. If you read up on 9th grade campuses, they are dramatically improving graduation rates and test scores, and lowering dropout rates all over the country. Money well spent.
* Has anyone ever seen the movie "Never Ending Story"? It is the same as SPLOST, which is also never ending once it got started.
* If SPLOST is so great, why can't they get the air conditioner fixed in the 9th grade campus at East Coweta High?
* How is it conservative spending when every high school in the county gets its own 9th grade building with its own 9th grade administration? Do people realize how much school administrators earn? This voter has never and will never vote yes for a SPLOST.
Comment On This Story
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Right--SPLOST does not go for salaries but the outrageous salaries to buffer school counties retirement is way out of control and needs to be radically adjusted. Have you look on the state of Ga. website to look at tax paid salaries for school administrators, principals, asst. principals, counselors, etc. Teaching Pre-K, Kindgergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades, etc. most are making above 60,000 for 180 days with kids and 10 "planning" days what a crock load of crap. The old saying if you can't then you teach.
We built schools before SPLOST was created and not Performing Arts Centers, Juvenile Courts, paving streets etc. All of this was used by SPLOST just look up your facts. I bet you work for the county Killowatts.
Posted by terry strong at 6:16 PM
Splost does not go toward any salary. How do you propose that new schools be built when the student growth in the county warrants it? What is your plan?
Posted by Killowatts at 2:02 PM
Your ideas are pure non-sense. You are the type that complains from the stands but has never been in a game. What good do you think your grand ideas and opinions do anyone in this little email world?
Posted by Killowatts at 1:07 PM
SPLOST AGAIN!!!!! The only profession I ever heard of that when you get a masters degree in anything even theology you automatically get a $5,000.00 raise in public school salaries, then another $5,000 for specialist and another 10,000 grand for doctorate's degree and yet you can still teach just Kindergarten, you got to be kidding me. I say NO to any new or repeat taxation.
Posted by terry strong at 12:37 PM
Killowatts, check to see if your power is on, because your lights aren't. I never said do away with taxes, or all that over the top absolute verbiage you injected into my comment. And I don't think you can say it is ignorant for me or anyone to question the paradigm on how schools are administered, especially having a principal at each school. Why not have a regional principal who covered several schools? By the did you purposely misspell your name with two ls or did you realize Kilowatts only has one l? Of course you can spell it anyway you wish, but I was just wondering since you apparently are so quick to point out ignorant people in the crowd.....
Posted by pragmatic republican at 10:48 AM
Kevin,
This is not an additional tax. It would simply be a renewal/extension of one that is already in place.
Posted by Killowatts at 2:27 PM
A tax is a tax is a tax and no way will I vote for additional taxes.
Posted by Kevin at 7:29 PM
The schools are not top heaby with administrators. You must be joking when you say that a school does not need a principal. Are you really that ignorant? Do away with all taxes and lets drive our horse and buggy on a dirt road and watch our house burn down because there is no fire dept. Let's put the childen in a trailer and leave out the air conditioning. Let's make them all walk to school and take out all the computers. Get real dude!
Posted by Killowatts at 1:45 PM
I would support SPLOST if the taxes were to increase the academics of the school system buy not the atheletic programs. Those programs could be funded by some of the scholarship donors. They are always much more than the academic scholarships.
Posted by Danny at 10:12 PM
Just Saying: Pragmatic R didn't say a word about OBAMA; you argue on emotion and by the way OBAMA didn't give us anything, unless he used 400 million of his own money... Now back to your statement SPLOST is used to match State Funds? Are you really saying and if so are you really sure that the State of Georgia matches funding for Athletic Facilities such as the football bleachers and basketball arena at Northgate, or the new Athletic upgrades at Newnan?????? That would be something we should all know about, so how about researching that one and get back to us with actual documents on that one.
Posted by newnaneugene at 12:55 PM
SPLOST money is not used to pay for all of the things listed by "Love You Republicans". SPLOST funding is used to match state funds for buildings or specific school system needs. The funding does not pay for principals, teachers, etc.
There are many reasons that people are hired part-time to work after retirement. You can't run a school or school system without experience. Most of the people you are speaking of work part-time. The state allows this arrangement because it is to the advantage of the system to hire employees that do not require benefits.
If your school system needs athletic facilities the SPLOST Referendum will state that. They don't just take the funding and decide one day that the system is going to take the money and build a baseball field! The SPLOST funding is for specific needs of the school system.
It is very clear that this discussion isn't about SPLOST. It is about the Obama Administration and what they plan to do to help our schools in the country. Some would rather see the schools fall down than to see the education program succeed. The last time I checked the Obama Administration has delivered 400 Million dollars to this state to help our schools. I'm pretty sure you have not paid nor will you ever pay that much in taxes in your life therefore, we can all pitch in with our sales tax money to help maintain and move our local school system forward.
Posted by Just Saying at 5:58 AM
I don't want high taxes either but one thing I do know is that you can pay for the schools or you can pay for the prisons. Might as well put it toward the schools.
Posted by AP at 12:50 PM
Just Saying, nobody said any child should go to a substandard building for a school. But we need to readjust the thinking and that usually occurs best when politicians don't have a fountain of money to suck up through a draw, which is exactly what SPLOST gives them - a credit card with virtually no limit, and they want to renew it every five years. First, we need to change the thinking of how we run schools. Why does each school need all the administration, especially a principal, which costs a lot of money? Why do we spend SPLOST money first to build athletic facilities instead of classrooms? Why do we let folks in their early to mid 50s have a very plump retirement and then hire them back at their same salary to do the same job, or worse yet, some make do work? Just Saying, you find some honest answers to these questions and you will find a lot of money to go with them that could be used to build some very good above standard buildings for our children.
Posted by pragmaticrepublican at 11:44 AM
Something is wrong here. If you would rather have your kids go to school in substandard buildings than the kind of buildings they need. You must not know that the school buildings contribute a great deal to successful learning.
Some are still concerned about the Health Care Reform Bill. I suppose the problem here is that you have never had to send your child to school without healthcare coverage and live in fear that the phone will ring telling you that your son or daughter is sick or has broken an arm or a leg. You must be pretty sure you won't get a pink slip and end up with nothing while your company posts record profits at the expense of you and your family.
Good schools help everyone. Businesses want to become members of open minded communities where education is a pirority. When new businesses come to a community they bring the one thing we need, jobs. We just have to be able to provide the healthy, well educated workers they need.
Posted by Just Saying at 4:17 AM
I will not vote for any tax that any obammite will spend.
Posted by Subject of Obama at 9:46 PM
How much of the SPLOST money actually goes to helping the kids? It appears there are not enough textbooks in the schools for every child to have his or her own. I understand infrastructure is a big part, but how many administrators need their own office in a school building? If the government schools are for the children, then cater to the children and give them what they need, not what the government wants to lead them with.
Posted by Pamela Donegan at 6:26 PM
No to splost. Run it like a small business and watch where the money goes. Even with the splost seems like one group or another from the school is out begging for money or selling stuff a rediculous prices. The school needs to make cuts.
Posted by Ronny at 1:36 PM
Water Authority just indebted the citizens for 120,000,000 on top of the 85,000,000 already owed. By all means, let's just tax and spend some more in a down economy where the mainstay of taxation - personal income and property taxes - is collapsed. Then we can be like Calliforneeeuhhh. Hey, maybe Arnold S. is available to help us run things... and I hear he is tight through his wife with O (as in Obama who never met a bankrupting deficit stimulus he did not like).
How about trying to live within your means, say like Trinity Christian School who would rather use a modular than spend 200,000 for a pretty building.
Posted by pragmaticrepublican at 11:04 AM
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SPLOST is all wrong
9/9/2010
Link To This Comment
It is time to think outside of the box. We need a amendment to the Constitution to have all "people" who have children in "public schools" support those schools by paying a small tuition fee. Only America rewards bad behavior for having children they cannot pay for or pay to raise. Our public schools, like it or not, are "full" of unwanted, unloved, neglected children payed for by taxpayers from birth to prisons. Give the money to prisons and charge for public schools.
Posted by Patriot Regulator at 6:26 PM