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Local BoE turning a blind eye to illegal studentsTue, 04/08/2008 - 3:44pm
By: Letters to the ...
I thoroughly agree with Ellen C. Kirkes letter which was published in the April 2, 2008 edition. We have been paying for out of county students for years and the Fayette County Board of Education has been turning a blind eye. In the past, when I reported seeing vehicles with Clayton tags dropping kids off at bus stops on Hi-Lo Road and Inman Road, I was informed that the schools required electric utility bills with Fayette addresses. Well, guess what: a large Clayton County subdivision (River’s Edge), which was built quite a while back, is in the boonies of Clayton County but just happens to be on our county line (as if our streets and stores weren’t already too crowded). These homes have Fayette County addresses since the postal service’s zip code boundaries are different from county boundaries. Furthermore, River’s Edge is serviced by the same electric company that we use (how convenient). Now we are building a new elementary school on Inman Road, just a few miles from River’s Edge. I wonder how many Clayton tags will regularly appear in that parking lot at our expense? Don’t sit back and think you are safe because this may not affect your section of the county; we all pay high school taxes to build, maintain, and staff Fayette County schools. Residents with children in Whitewater schools should not feel safe because they are in the lower portion of the county. I overheard part of a conversation in Griffin the other day wherein a woman was stating that there were problems with their high school and she sure hoped this bill would pass. All Fayette County residents should be outraged, whether they have children or grandchildren in school or not. Flooding our county with out of county students will result in higher taxation, lower standards, and lower property values. Furthermore, once this snowball has started rolling, it won’t be easy to stop, if possible at all. What I don’t understand is why counties even need the state’s permission to accept out of county students. I thought I had read that some Georgia counties already have this policy. I don’t know who introduced this bill, but you can bet there is a reason Fayette County residents won’t like. Remember that Ronald Reagan joked that politicians are members of the oldest profession. Just changing the wording from “shall” to “may” is not good enough. All that would be required later on down the road is a minor amendment or action by the FCBOE. Fayette County residents, as well as residents of many other Georgia counties, should be demanding that this bill be completely and forever killed, either by the state House or the governor. I feel that this sort of issue, if it must be raised at all, should be subject to a county referendum (as the county commission’s decision to join the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) years ago should have been. All that got us was emissions tests/fees, threats of MARTA, and threats of helping to rebuild Atlanta’s sewage system.). Oh, well, politicians. Chuck Roberts Fayetteville, Ga. login to post comments
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