Letters to the Editor

Support continuing excellent Fayette schools by supporting the ESPLOST

Tue, 10/28/2008 - 3:45pm
By: Letters to the ...

As the election draws near, the coming decision regarding the E-SPLOST has come more into focus with Mr. Brown and Mr. Paquin choosing to offer a different strategy and using data from a different decade.

They accept that Fayette schools are near the top in every scholastic category while maintaining per pupil costs near the metro Atlanta average and below the state average for cost of instruction, administration, and transportation.

Neither author has disputed that Fayette County’s investment in our schools has resulted in higher property values and the overall quality of our community.

Former Mayor Brown has accused us of asking people to vote for the E-SPLOST on behalf of the children. This is untrue. Our guiding principle is “children first.” This is intended to reflect our desire to put our children and our schools above personal or party politics.

However, in his last article, Mayor Brown made his plan clear. First, he claims our school board should not have given the teachers the state mandated 2 percent raise, even though this wasn’t an option.

A recent pay study indicated our teachers give our community great results even though they are compensated on “average to surrounding districts.”

Next, the mayor suggests we buy computers using construction bonds that would be paid off over the next 20 years even though the useful life of a computer is five years, maybe six.

Fortunately, the FCBOE has not pursued a policy that would be almost financially negligent. There is a reason you cannot get a 20-year loan on your car, because it is very unlikely it will be around for 20 years.

The mayor suggests we can purchase cheaper computers, although he has a copy of the FCBOE analysis on why schools computers cost $1,000 and this document has also not been disputed. We have posted this on our website for anyone to see.

Lastly, the former mayor suggests that we increase class size to the state maximum similar to schools in Clayton County and the city of Atlanta.

Ask a front-line teacher about that idea. Mayor Brown can promote this idea as his children do not go to Fayette County schools. This fact does not invalidate his opinion, but it does give us an idea on how he will share in the results of his plan.

Mr. Paquin reports that in 1998, he estimated that only 4 percent of sales tax collected was from out of county purchasers. Since 1998, Fayette County has added The Avenue and Target in Peachtree City, more than doubled the size of the Pavilion in Fayetteville, and many more retail outlets around the county.

More importantly, in 1998, the state of Georgia funded almost 58 percent of the FCBOE budget. Next year, they will fund nearly 47 percent. This “belt tightening” has resulted in over $20 million in lost funding that might have paid for some of these projects.

Given that most households spend less than 50 percent of their gross income on items that could have E-SPLOST attached to them, it is unlikely this data is correct.

Last year the SPLOST for roads collected $20 million dollars. Given the average per capita household income in Fayette County, it is likely that between 20-40 percent of that was paid by out of county consumers. We have attached an analysis of this on our website also.

We are all connected to the schools by our property values and as members of the community. Our great schools attract and retain great neighbors. The best school system attracts great employers such as Cooper Industries, Hoshizaki, Sany, and other quality employers.

As our new friends from Northwest decide to move to Atlanta, they will choose to live in Fayette County because of our quality schools. Our excellent schools provide our children with the best opportunity for scholarships and entrance into the best colleges.

Quality Fayette schools benefit the entire community and reflect well on our property values. I hope the voters will continue to support them.

Neil Sullivan

Co-Chair Fayette Citizens for Children

www.yesfayetteESPLOST.org

Peachtree City, Ga.

Neilsullivan72@gmail.com

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Steve Brown: Mr. Sullivan out on a limb on ESPLOST
Steve Brown's picture
Submitted by Steve Brown on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 8:33pm.

Many of us knew the special interest group behind the ESPLOST would have to start distorting things sometime before the election. I address some of Mr. Sullivan's comments.

“As the election draws near, the coming decision regarding the E-SPLOST has come more into focus with Mr. Brown and Mr. Paquin choosing to offer a different strategy and using data from a different decade. As the election draws near, the coming decision regarding the E-SPLOST has come more into focus with Mr. Brown and Mr. Paquin choosing to offer a different strategy and using data from a different decade.”

Different strategy? I was asking for financial accountability, so I hope Mr. Sullivan’s strategy is no different. Also, the data and documentation I referred to in my columns were from 2000 to the present.

“However, in his last article, Mayor Brown made his plan clear. First, he claims our school board should not have given the teachers the state mandated 2 percent raise, even though this wasn’t an option.”

The pay raise, per state DOE officials, is not mandated if the state legislature does not provide the funds. The FCBOE, unfortunately, sealed the contracts without the cash in hand. In fact, in a recent FCBOE meeting on possible budget cuts, pay cuts were mentioned by FCBOE staff.

“Next, the mayor suggests we buy computers using construction bonds that would be paid off over the next 20 years even though the useful life of a computer is five years, maybe six.”

Mr. Sullivan is wrong here. It was the FCBOE, in fact, who suggested buying technology with the 2004 bonds. This fact is clearly written throughout their bond documentation. I would have preferred the FCBOE show some fiscal discipline and set aside the appropriate funding on an annual basis knowing the current lease would expire; unfortunately, the FCBOE chose to do nothing. However, if given the unfortunate set of choices we now have, I would elect to purchase the technology with the 2004 bonds, as the FCBOE promised, instead of using over $13 million worth of funds on unnecessary facilities which causes us to lose more state funding. The remainder of the bond funds should have then been credited back to the taxpayers.

“The mayor suggests we can purchase cheaper computers, although he has a copy of the FCBOE analysis on why schools computers cost $1,000 and this document has also not been disputed.”

Yes, I disputed the cost. In fact, many who are in government IT and corporate IT have also questioned the cost.

“Lastly, the former mayor suggests that we increase class size to the state maximum similar to schools in Clayton County and the city of Atlanta.”

Mr. Sullivan made this one up. I never mentioned increased class sizes as a solution and I never mentioned any comparison to Clayton County or City of Atlanta. What I did say was that our extensive over-capacity means smaller class sizes because we do not have enough students to fill the spaces and that means we lose state funding. The “spaces” I am referring to are the Fayette County class standards.

“Ask a front-line teacher about that idea. Mayor Brown can promote this idea as his children do not go to Fayette County schools. This fact does not invalidate his opinion, but it does give us an idea on how he will share in the results of his plan.”

Oh boy, this is just like when Mr. Sullivan attacked Mr. Claude Paquin for being a senior citizen. Yes, Mr. Sullivan, I have gladly paid for your children to attend public school for a dozen years. I was also one of main proponents (as documented in the archives of this newspaper) for the largest one-time funding increase in FCBOE history (2000 bonds). In fact, I did not complain about the 2004 bonds at the time because I trusted the FCBOE was acting properly, my mistake. None the less, all of those taxes, I willing paid for your children and our community.

“Last year the SPLOST for roads collected $20 million dollars. Given the average per capita household income in Fayette County, it is likely that between 20-40 percent of that was paid by out of county consumers.”

To even suggest that out of county contributions to our county sales tax could reach 30 to 40 percent is absurd. I remember a lot of special interests telling us they had data showing the TDK Extension was going to relieve 25 percent of the traffic off of Ga. Highway 54-W. We all know how that turned out.

Mr. Sullivan, how about telling the truth and beginning a dialog on the real issues: financially accountability and legal conduct. If you want to quote one of my columns and have a discussion, please do. Your letter here is nothing more than making it up as you go.

Steve Brown


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Mayor Brown sorry for the delay
Submitted by NeilSullivan on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 5:50pm.

Hi Mayor Brown:

Sorry for the delay, I appreciate you taking time to respond. First, let’s be clear again, the only special interest our group supports or represents is our schools. We actually turned away money and volunteers that we felt didn’t reflect our goal to be a non interested party in the usual goings on. We do not endorse or coordinate with any candidate and with good reason. Our committee comes from all over the county and the E-SPLOST is the only thing we all agree on.

Many of your comments that I take issue with are ones where I feel that you address one thing without taking into account the impact of your problem statement. For example, I believe it is technically possible for Fayette to opt out of the minimum teacher pay scale, however, if we do as you propose, the teachers of the best system in the state be paid less than the state minimum? The FCBOE did indeed discuss this as they should include all options, but paying our teachers less than Clayton and Coweta is not a sustainable strategy.
For those who do not know, when a teacher changes systems, they take their pension credit, pay seniority, and longevity with them. In other words, a 10 year teacher coming to or leaving Fayette would start on the 10 year step of the pay scale with their new system. Therefore, lowering teacher pay would not help Fayette attract and retain the BEST teachers. The teachers can choose to leave without sustained penalty.

The 2004 bonds were for construction and bandwidth technology. Bandwidth technology is the wires and infrastructure that becomes part of the building. The technology we need with the E-SPLOST are computers and small items that do not become part of the building and are therefore ineligible for the bonds. The State of Georgia did this intentionally to prevent school systems from using long term financing (20 years remaining in this case), to purchase short lived assets such as computers (5 years). I spoke to Mr. Scott Austensen at the State Board of Education to confirm this.

My comments regarding perspective were not meant as disqualifying or to be disrespectful. I do think it is important for people to know what “ax we have to grind” as Cal says. My wife is a teacher and my son will start PCES next year. They are part of my foundation in this discussion. Mr. Paquin advocates raising the property tax ceiling when he does not pay property taxes himself, people should know that he will not share their pain with the higher property taxes he proposes. Your situation is different; my parents sent me and my three sisters to 12 years of parochial school working 2 jobs for over 16 years to do it. However, if the E-SPLOST does not pass, your children will not lose resources in their school while children in the Fayette County schools may lose parapros, computers, drama in the early grades, school nurses, band in middle school, and other non Georgia mandated Fayette funded programs. You are correct when you imply you pay for the extras you choose, however, many of our neighbors chose to live in Fayette to have these programs and paid for them in their home values.

I firmly believe in financial accountability, if you go to our website you will see many documents that our team has researched and assembled from our county and others to gain perspective on our performance. You will see that we are near the Atlanta metro area average on a cost per pupil basis in nearly every category although our performance is consistently the best. You will see that we are in the middle of the 12 metro counties in the cost per pupil for instruction, administration, general administration, and transportation. In the finance industry we use ratios as a tool to measure different entities in a consistent manner. I feel these ratios indicate our school administration and board have done at least a reasonable job.

Reasonable is a big word to auditors, it means that management has done at least a decent job, FCBOE financials have been audited annually and they have received a passing grade. I do not believe they have made a perfect decision every time, but I know only one perfect person in my life. I think they could do better and I have made a proposal to help them.
I proposed that there be some sort of financial committee where each board member would have one to two delegates who serve two year terms. This team would review and advise on FCBOE financial decisions and would issue a public report. This would bring people with special skills to the board without having to serve in every facet of board decisions. I believe this could help our schools get better financially. Either way, I plan on reporting on various financial data as it becomes available. It was a shame it took a crisis to make us all aware of the good and bad of our schools.

As a finance person with almost two decades experience in forecasting, budgeting, audit, and taxation, I can see what can happen if we do not invest now. We have already waited too long. Many businesses will try to wait until better times to invest in necessary infrastructure to survive. They will hope to cut costs and go without basics that have made the business successful to make it to calmer waters. However, hope is not a strategy, luck is not a plan. The E-SPLOST will allow us to navigate our schools through this tough time. We can capture future efficiencies to lower property taxes even further for all of Fayette County and make our schools better.

I believe the E-SPLOST is necessary regardless of who is on the board. 1,800 computers may be sent back to Dell in the very near future. The state is already making noise of even more cuts. We need a plan in place to make sure we can sustain the Fayette Advantage through this time. If we need to make changes on the school board we should do that, however, we must ensure we have the resources necessary

Take Care and thanks for the discussion,
Neil Sullivan
Co-Chair Fayette Citizens for Children
www.yesfayetteESPLOST.org

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My God Neil, don't call him mayor brown
mudcat's picture
Submitted by mudcat on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 8:14pm.

And certainly don't use capital letters. At his best he is the former mayor of PTC.

No one except Dingy Don and his sidekick on city council - Dick, Dave, Doggie something like that - pay attention to Steve Brown.

Cindy keeps us alive. Next November we will elect 3 new people. Let's think about who will go up there and fight off the brown cloud that is slowly taking over the city. The dork (brown) is so arrogent he forgets how badly he was defeated last time out - and the time before that. Don't let complecency set in since that is has he got elected the first time. BTW where is Gary Rower


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Where is Gary Rower, the twice spanked
KraftyFla's picture
Submitted by KraftyFla on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 5:54am.

Where is Gary Rower, the twice spanked politician wannabe? The same place as Carol "Big Box" Fritz----- The Fayette Political Graveyard. Rower got pounded twice. Fritz squeaked in only because another sychophant was being voted out. Once she got in she folded like a pup tent and voted in the Big Box mess and other works of art. Another one who talked about running for Mayor who was just like Rower and Fritz was Freddie Wellman. They were all Developer Suckups that were happy to get the holiday invites. At least Brown wasn't a lap dog.


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Well Mr. Neil Sullivan?
Spear Road Guy's picture
Submitted by Spear Road Guy on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:10pm.

I can hear the crickets ...

Vote Republican


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Spear just saw this
Submitted by NeilSullivan on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:25pm.

Have been in budget meetings the past three days and nights and did not see this. Gotta pay the bills or there will be no money to E-SPLOST with.

Anyways, I will ponder Mayor Brown's points. He has taken the time to respond and I will do the same but I should respond properly and with facts and to be honest too tired tonight. Depends on the workload it may not be till Sunday. My son turns 5 on Saturday so that is his day. Sorry family before work, work before E-SPLOST.

Take Care

Neil Sullivan
Co-Chair Fayette Citizens for Children
www.yesfayetteESPLOST.org

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Spear just saw this
Submitted by NeilSullivan on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:25pm.

Have been in budget meetings the past three days and nights and did not see this. Gotta pay the bills or there will be no money to E-SPLOST with.

Anyways, I will ponder Mayor Brown's points. He has taken the time to respond and I will do the same but I should respond properly and with facts and to be honest too tired tonight. Depends on the workload it may not be till Sunday. My son turns 5 on Saturday so that is his day. Sorry family before work, work before E-SPLOST.

Take Care

Neil Sullivan
Co-Chair Fayette Citizens for Children
www.yesfayetteESPLOST.org

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i can hear this county sigh with relief
Submitted by hi grover on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:15pm.

Fayette County is a very conservative county. Twice already the ESPLOST has been defeated. As far as voting REPUBLICAN is there really any other choice out there?

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hi grover, there is a choice
bad_ptc's picture
Submitted by bad_ptc on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:21pm.

Vote for whoever you agree with, not just the 'party line'.

Fortunately there are many Rep's and Dem's I happen to agree with on various issues.

It is possible to pick the best of both worlds. Neither party is my first choice.


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