Most people would not mount an organized write-in campaign for elected office. But that is what Peachtree City resident Nicole File is doing.

File on Aug. 29 announced her intention to run against incumbent Janet Smola Nov. 4 for Fayette County Board of Education Post 1.

The recent millage rate increase and school board’s inclusion of a one-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) initiative on the November ballot were the events, she said, that triggered her her decision to unseat Smola.

The 10-year Fayette resident lived in Fayetteville for six years and has lived in Peachtree City for the past four. File said Monday she is not deterred by running as a write-in candidate, adding that she is complying with the required process outlined by Fayette County Elections Division.

Referencing the increase in the Maintenance & Operation millage from 18.596 mills to 19.75 and the increase in the bond debt millage from 3.55 to 4.17 mills, she said even though the millage increase guarantees increased funding, that increase in tax revenue may not have been needed if the board had saved for a rainy day over the years.

“I am never a proponent of raising taxes. That is the last thing we should do. We should always try to find dollars internally before going to the taxpayers,” File said.

“Our money has not been spent wisely. Our tax base has grown over the last eight years by 72 percent. And I want to know why we weren’t saving for a rainy day. Why were we not putting money away?” File said.

“Our taxes have been increased now by $8.2 million. If we had been saving $1 million a year, and that’s a drop in the bucket for a $200 million corporation, then we would not have had to raise the millage rate. We have been dipping into the reserve account and spending freely without planning for that rainy day,” File said.

File also questioned the school board’s recent decision to include a SPLOST initiative on the November ballot to fund a host of needs such as technology, bus and textbook purchases, security and debt service on the bond.

The manner and timing with which the SPLOST was approved for a vote does not live up to the openness, transparency and spirit of cooperation with the public that should be at the forefront of all board decisions and actions, File said.

“SPLOST was brought up in July. You’re asking the taxpayers for an incredible amount of money, $20 million a year, that they’re going to be taxed. Yes, it’s just one penny on each dollar, and it doesn’t seem like much, but over the five-year period, it adds up,” File said.

“I feel like it was politically convenient for the school board to bring up SPLOST in July after they had secured their seats in the primary election. That’s another indicator to me that the school board is not operating in the most open way.”

File said her priorities are open government and fiscal accountability. In terms of meeting its obligations to the public, File again likened the school board’s responsibilities to that of a corporation.

“I’m an advocate for open government. I believe the Fayette County School System is a public corporation and we, as county taxpayers, are stockholders in the school system. I believe there is an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality, a kind of bunker mentality that developed over the years,” she said.

“I want to know when it got to the point that it became us, the taxpayers, against the people running the school system that we elect, the people that are supposed to be serving us and our children. Taxpayers deserve full disclosure in the form of well-documented meetings and open records.”

File said she believes the school board should not be asking taxpayers for maximum flexibility. The board should be showing taxpayers how they can best support students in a time of belt-tightening, she said.

“My family has a budget that we have to live on. As a result of that we’ve had to cut back in areas. One of the things I do is make cheaper meals at home, and I use the money I save to put gas in the gas tank. And some of the things we used to do, now we do without,” File said.

“I want to see the school system find a way to tighten their belt instead of sticking it to the taxpayers,” she said. “The cash cow of Fayette County has stopped giving milk with the lack of population growth. I want to know why no one was preparing for a rainy day. Our enrollment over the last eight years grew by 19 percent but our system-wide expenses grew by 45 percent.”

File suggested that an easy way for the school system to exemplify open government would be to keep better meeting minutes. Requests such as Open Meeting Law requests should be complied with immediately and without delay. File cited a recent request where the the school system attorney responded saying a cost of approximately $2,000 in staff time and other costs would be required to comply.

“These are taxpayers, stockholders in the school system, that are not getting the information they want. Instead, they get a letter from the school board attorney,” said File.

“And that’s an intimidating thing. It disturbs me that people can’t get their hands on documents that are legally theirs. We have a lot invested in this community and in this school system. I just wonder if the ($2,000) sum of money is used to intimidate somebody. This is symptomatic of the last couple of years where I’ve noticed (the school board) is a closed body and you never quite know what’s going on.”

In her view of school board business that cover the past several years, File questioned the rationale that led to decisions she said ran afoul of fiscal and public accountability.

“I’ve been watching the Fayette County School Board for the past few years. You cannot study something for this long and not see some fundamental flaws in the way they’re operating. This includes land deals where we’re buying too much land that we don’t need in places where there are not enough children, or when we pay consultants when we admit we don’t have the expertise and then, all of a sudden, the plans he came up with are scrapped and we do our own thing anyway,” she said.

“Who’s watching the purse? We’re building a $10 million school for students who are not there. All the footprints for our schools were planned for 800 (students). The capacity for (Rivers Elementary) is 675. We downsized Inman Road. We’re building schools we don’t need,” File said.

“At any time the school board could have called three public meetings to re-purpose that ($10 million) to spend it on things like technology or new buses or computers. Yet we’re building a school right now that we don’t need and cannot populate.”

Underlying the impetus for her decision to mount a write-in campaign was something personal, a foundational perspective that speaks to the heart of personal responsibility.

“There comes a time in a person’s life when they have to stand up for what they believe in. And for me, that time is now. I’ve lived by a moral code and I can no longer stand by with the things I’ve watched over the last few years, like the debacle every time we go to a re-districting, with money not being spent prudently,” File said.

“I’m a common sense person, and common sense is in short supply right now. Rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, I just want it to turn in a more efficient way. We have to spend our money wisely. (The board) has to tighten their belts and think outside the box to find a better way to provide a service that we already provide.”

File was trained as a teacher and graduated from James Madison University in 1992. She is active as a volunteer in church, PTO and sports and served as a program manager for the USO in Okinawa, Japan, before moving to the area. Her husband Jay works with Chick-fil-A in the company’s corporate office. File has three children, of which two attend Fayette public schools and one attends a private school.