By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

Fayette voters may once again be asked to approve a special sales tax to fund school construction.

A recommendation to put an estimated $66 million bond referendum or special sales tax on the Nov. 7 General Election ballot will be presented to the Board of Education Monday night.
The board-appointed Facilities Action Committee, the voting segment of the larger Facilities Advisory and Action Committees, voted Wednesday night to present the proposal, along with several other recommendations to ease school overcrowding. Among the 15 votes cast, 11 members said they preferred a SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax), but would support either a SPLOST or bond, and four said they preferred a bond, but would support either funding option.
A straw poll also was taken among the nonvoting members of the advisory committee and interested citizens attending the meeting.

Eight voted for a bond referendum, but said they would support either a bond or SPLOST, and six said they preferred a SPLOST, but would support either option.

Wednesday’s meeting was the culmination of a half-dozen discussions among the 50 or so committee members composed of school district administrators, county and municipal officials, citizens and parents with experience in finance and construction, who met to tackle the growing problem of school overcrowding.

In addition to placing a funding referendum on the ballot, the committee agreed that the school board also should consider using portable classrooms at overcrowded facilities and redistricting schools, particularly middle and high schools with the highest level of overcrowding.

Initiating split sessions or the year-round trimester was considered as a last resort.

School Superintendent Dr. John DeCotis noted that the board would have to make a decision on the ballot question by Sept. 5.
The school system is dealing with severe overcrowding at Fayette County High School, which has a 2,100-student body packed in a facility built for 1,800 students, according to figures provided by Mike Satterfield, school facilities director. Sandy Creek High School is about 300 students under capacity, with its feeder middle school, Flat Rock, capable of handling more students following an addition earlier this year.

DeCotis told the school board Monday that almost all the schools in the county are at or exceeding student capacity. With new subdivisions springing up like crabgrass all over the county, school officials will be dealing with a growing student population for years to come, based on figures contained in the Five Year Facilities Plan. They must also meet the lower student-teacher ratios mandated by Gov. Roy Barnes’ A-plus Education Reform Act” within four years.

The top 10 construction priorities in the school system’s five-year plan are additions at Whitewater, Booth and Fayette Middle schools, three new elementary schools and improvements at McIntosh High School, East Fayette Elementary School and Brooks Elementary School, three of the oldest schools in the system.

The board meets Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Board of Education building at 210 Stonewall Ave., Fayetteville.