After attending the Fayette Chamber of Commerce education funding night on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008, I am left with many observations about the lack of fiscal responsibility exhibited by some members of the Fayette County Board of Education (FCBOE).

I am running as a write-in candidate for FCBOE Post 1 against Janet Smola. I promise you, if I am elected to Post 1 of the Fayette County Board of Education, I will be a better steward of taxpayers’ funds in serving our students, teachers, and community.

A basic right of all taxpayers is knowing how their money has been spent and will be spent in the future. This ideal seems to be lost on some members of the FCBOE.

I agree wholeheartedly with the chamber’s guest speaker, Mr. Dennis Bega, senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Education, who stated that school boards are “stewards of public funds.”

Stewardship, originally a biblical practice, can also be practiced in the public discourse surrounding the operation of our county school system.

An example of lack of proper stewardship occurred in the fall of 2004 when the FCBOE asked taxpayers to vote on a $65 million bond referendum.

Projects earmarked for those dollars included Bennett’s Mill Middle School, information technology (IT) needs throughout the school system, land for another three school sites, and renovations and upgrades to existing schools.

Let’s focus on the school site land for a moment. The FCBOE spent $2.5 million on 130 acres of land for Inman Elementary School when only 30 acres were actually needed, a waste of funds on excess land.

The FCBOE spent $1.6 million purchasing 60 acres of land at the Kiwanis Fairgrounds for a bus barn. According to the Georgia Attorney General Opinion #98-12 for bonds issued under OCGA 20-2-430 and OCGA 20-2-431, it is improper to use bond funds for bus storage facilities.

The FCBOE also purchased land for a new high school on Lester Road in the middle of the county, and then sold all but 12 acres, with plans to build an indoor pool which was discussed this summer during the SPLOST hearings.

SPLOST funds cannot be used to build athletic facilities, according to ACCG SPLOST guidelines.

Although this high school site was supposed to complete the Cleveland Elementary-Bennett’s Mill Middle School-high school complex (and was promoted to the community as similar to the Starr’s Mill complex) the Lester Road high school property was quietly (??) sold.

The FCBOE then spent $1 million to purchase 60 acres of land for the new high school on Tyrone Road and Ga. Highway 54, just a stone’s throw away from the previous location.

It seems to me some current members of the FCBOE are more concerned about land speculation and land deals then being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.

I ask you, why is the FCBOE building schools along both Fayetteville bypass projects? Who stands to directly benefit from this?

To me, stewardship is about spending taxpayer money wisely and prudently, limiting and paying off any debt incurred. The FCBOE needs to be aggressive about how they manage debt and how it impacts the school system operations.

In March 2007, the FCBOE issued the second phase of the 2004 bond and received $30 million. The FCBOE stated, by their own projections, that if they built the two additional elementary schools as planned, they would have an excess student capacity of 3,713.

The FCBOE went ahead and built those two unneeded schools instead of using the bond funds to pay off existing debt or to buy technology, both of which are now included in the proposed SPLOST.

Please keep in mind that the FCBOE had to close East Fayette Elementary School to find students to populate the new Inman Elementary school. This was not part of what the taxpayers voted on in 2004.

State law, O.C.G.A. 36-82-4.2 allows for bond funds to be repurposed and used for purposes similar to those that taxpayers voted, as is the case for technology or paying off general obligation debt.

Instead, we have two unnecessary schools in under-populated areas of the county — and more debt.

Not only is this not good stewardship, it is not even mediocre stewardship, because the school system is obligated to operate schools that are not full and to pay the excess administrative (overhead?) costs for their operation.

It is precisely this type of illogical reasoning and obvious poor planning that compels me to run as a write-in candidate for the Post 1 seat now occupied by Janet Smola.

We must have someone in this position who will stand up for our community and demand that common sense be a factor in making multi-million-dollar decisions that affect thousands of students on a daily basis.

When my husband and I plan our family budget, we look ahead, determine our needs and figure out how income and expenses will vary in the future. We spend less than we make, we save, and we donate to charity and those in need. We try and practice faithful stewardship of what we have in managing our family finances.

I want to help the FCBOE, Fayette County, and you as a taxpayer improve the management of school funds and taxpayer money. I want to bring more fiscal responsibility to the leadership of the FCBOE.

I believe that it is essential that parents and taxpayers have a voice that is listened to and thoughtfully considered in the school system.

I would appreciate your help and ask that you select the write-in candidate box and enter my name, Nicole File, for Post 1 of the FCBOE.

Nicole File

Peachtree City, Ga.