By PAT NEWMAN
Staff Writer

Fayette County Board of Education will plan its course of action for an estimated $91 million special local option sales tax and possible bond referendum Monday at 7:30 p.m. at F.A. Sams Auditorium.

Prior to the meeting, the board will take public comment during a forum, 6–7 p.m. at the auditorium.

“We need to get the resolution in place soon, so we can get clear to get on the ballot,” school superintendent John DeCotis told the board during an informal discussion on the SPLOST and the projects it will fund last Thursday. The board may seek a special referendum as early as September to get things rolling on a major funding package, which will provide additional classroom space, upgraded technology and improved security.

“I truly believe we're at a point where we need to make some hard decisions and give them [taxpayers] the opportunity to vote,” school board Chairman Debbie Condon said during the meeting.

“I know we have the need, but how do we want to get the money? I don't know about borrowing... how do we want to go?” asked board member Connie Hale.

Board member Woody Shelnutt said he was “a little gun shy” about the amount of the proposed sales tax and the projected construction costs of building a new high school, estimated at about $23 million.

He said he was concerned about committing $11.8 million to technology for the schools. “I'm gun-shy on the big prospectus. I'd like to see the difference between the bonds and pay as you go. So what if we don't start anything for a year,” Shelnutt said. “Let's leave the high school out of the proposal and look at what we have left.” He suggested putting money in escrow for the high school.

Proposed facilities include two new elementary schools (40 classrooms), a new middle school (65 classrooms), and a new high school (90 classrooms), plus additions at existing schools (54 classrooms) for a total of 289 classrooms.

Security proposals include 30 color cameras, two color monitors, two multiplexers, two walk-through metal detectors and two hand-held metal detectors for each elementary school; 45 color cameras, three color monitors, three multiplexers, three walk-through metal detectors and three hand-held metal detectors for middle schools, and 60 color cameras, four color monitors, four multiplexers, four walk-through metal detectors and four hand-held metal detectors for the high schools.

Total cost for the new security equipment is estimated at $1.6 million.

Plans for upgrading technology in the county's schools and offices include extensive rewiring with fiber optics, replacing dated computers and adding software over a period of five years with a grand total of $11.98 million.

Compared to surrounding counties like Coweta and Henry, Fayette is way behind in technology, admitted Ed Steil, who heads up the schools' technology services. “Some school computers are so old they won't take Internet Explorer,” he said. It also takes 30 minutes or more for some teachers to log on to the Internet, because of the schools' limited power capacity, Steil noted. The five-year technology plan would “get us caught up to be competitive,” he said.

He noted that the growing trend is putting computers in the classrooms as opposed to keeping the majority of them in the labs. “The counties next door, Clayton and Coweta, are setting a standard. They have four or five computers in each class versus putting them in labs,” Steil told the board.

The first-year plan calls for extensive rewiring in existing schools with fiber optic cable, plus replacing the existing high school writing lab computers and old foreign language labs. Software for special education departments, student information and human resources total $2.65 million.

School officials hope to impose a SPLOST for five years, with a bond sale immediately to provide money for the most crucial projects, such as one of the two elementary schools. The school already has been awarded state funding. Bonds would be paid back using the sales tax as it comes in.

The board will present information on the proposed tax and varying estimates of how much money will actually be generated during the public forum prior to the meeting.

Two financial groups that want to handle the funds will present their plans to the board for informational purposes only, giving the members at least three firms to choose from. One group presented its plan at the June 28 work session.