I had the privilege of attending the Facilities Advisory and Action Committees meeting July 27. The committees are appointed by the Fayette County Board of Education. One of the speakers was a name that you may recognize — Mr. Claude Paquin. Paquin fostered quite a bit of opposition to the SPLOST vote initiative that was voted down for the second time in 1999.

I began to recognize that Paquin had a command of the education funding issue when I read his letters to the editor on the subject. Unfortunately, the Board of Education and the committees shunned his views. Perhaps the reason the official bodies did not want to entertain his arguments was the fact that nearly every county in the metro area had jumped on the SPLOST bandwagon and it looked like the way to go. His presentation on July 27 merely confirmed my earlier assumption. He is a superb number cruncher.

School Superintendent John DeCotis allowed Paquin, a lawyer and actuary by profession, to give an impressive presentation on the subject of sales tax (SPLOST) versus bonds for school funding. He beautifully transformed an incredibly complicated subject into an easy to understand lesson on protecting the taxpayer, the basics of property tax, the two separate taxes for schools, defining what a new school costs in property tax and the effects on the senior citizen population. He went on to reveal that the news media did not have an appropriate knowledge of the tax system and millage rates in their 1999 reporting on school funding.

Paquin concluded by showing the committees how to pay for five new schools without raising taxes above their current level. Hopefully the news media will reprint exhibit 19 from his lecture that contains a list of his 12 recommendations to the School Board.

After personally speaking with four school administrators from four different counties currently using the SPLOST, I contend that it was truly a blessing that our 1999 SPLOST vote did not pass. The administrators explained to me that the recently passed House Bill 1187 seriously damaged their SPLOST programs since class sizes had been forced downward, thus their projections were reduced to ruin.

Gwinnett County raised $105.2 million in SPLOST funds for 1999 alone. They currently have 850 trailers. Gwinnett like most of the other metro boards is extremely dependent upon passing one SPLOST initiative after another just to avoid disaster.

Gwinnett claims that 40 percent of their SPLOST dollars come from residents outside their county. Of course about the only restriction to getting a commercial zoning and a site plan approved in Gwinnett is the seven-month wait in line to get a hearing. I dare say that is why we in Fayette County do not live in Gwinnett.

The administrators in Gwinnett admit that they do not anticipate catching up with the increasing student demand any time in the foreseeable future.

The Clayton County Board of Education had a balloon payment due and had to pass the SPLOST or be critically wounded. Fortunately for Clayton County, the $9 billion producing Hartsfield International Airport is in their county and it helped them collect a grand total of $46.3 million in 1999. Without the airport, a SPLOST might be a useless endeavor in Clayton County.

A pertinent question at this point would be to ask do we in Fayette County want to focus our efforts on attracting more out-of-county shoppers along with the additional traffic and crime to fuel a SPLOST effort?

All of the county board of education administrators I spoke with mentioned that the unceasing flow of new apartments in their counties is a dilemma because of the large number of students that follow.

All of them agreed that zoning decisions made in their counties took almost no consideration of the impact upon the school system. All of them agreed that most budgetary expenditures in their counties take priority over educational funding. As to why education funding is on the back burner in people's minds they could not say.

Interestingly, I presented a thought to the administrators and said imagine if it were possible to not allow the county or a municipality to change the zoning of any residential property to a higher density without first making sure that the school system could absorb the new students. Then I asked if under those circumstances they would then be able to sustain their systems without constant bond or SPLOST initiatives. All of them stated that they probably could sustain the system under those conditions.

According to the polls, Fayette County is probably the only metro county that would even have a chance of imposing such zoning constraints. I have to wonder why we would not be looking into such restrictions in order to protect the quality of our school system and avoid the threat of always being behind.

Then again, I am pondering why the Fayette County School Board chairman is supporting the high density version of annexation in Peachtree City that would add enough school children to require yet two more schools that we cannot fund.

Hopefully, the Board of Education will continue to work with Mr. Paquin with objective hearts and minds. To increase public awareness of the debate with bonds vs. sale tax, perhaps the School Board could post Paquin's lecture points on the Board's web site. Open debate is essential to making smart decisions.

Environmental advocate Dennis Chase is also trying to get the Board of Education's ear on some important subjects. Hopefully, the Board's recent move towards inclusion and debate will allow Mr. Chase the opportunity to speak as well.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City

steve_ptc@juno.com

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