Who should bear cost of superior school system?

Despite claims to the opposite, in my previous column, I demonstrated that our schools have enough money, if they were not tied up in bureaucratic restrictions. While we are reducing seventy school-based positions in our schools, due to lack of funds, Fayette County Board of Education (BOE) is sitting on more than one hundred million in “capital funds.”

These funds were generated by the ESPLOST, which limits funds use to books, buildings, buses, debt retirement, and other nonoperational projects. My proposal was to relax these restrictions to provide another way to fund the classroom.

In my example, this would have cancelled the school-based reductions at the cost of an unknown vanity project, likely a middle school Starbucks. Across the border in Clayton County, this would open access to over four hundred million dollars in funds set aside to build pretty buildings for struggling students.

Looking to the future, there are proposals in Coweta County for an outlet mall with features including a Top Golf near Poplar Road. A reasonable estimate of revenues generated may allow a reduction in property taxes if this project materializes if the Coweta County BOE can use the funds from this fifth ESPLOST for operations.

This article generated a robust discussion on the blogs. It was interesting that two themes stood out.

Some disagreed that we already have funds they need to manager their operations and suggested we keep ESPLOST funds restricted for future capital projects such as an arts center at the Trilith community.

Instead, they proposed two different sources for more property taxes. First, it was suggested that NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) such as churches would be a good source. This discussion grew to the elimination of Fayette’s Senior Homestead Property Tax Exemption.

While I completely disagree with both, it is an interesting turnabout for opinions in Fayette County which I never thought I would see. Many of our seniors laid the foundation of our excellent and wonderful Fayette County Schools. It seems reasonable, to give these taxpayers a break from school taxes as they generally have no school children at their addresses and are usually on a fixed or reduced income.

One poster recognized that fact and suggested that if the people could not afford to or did not wish to continue to paying property taxes, they should sell their home as “Younger families with school age children who want to relocate to our community are waiting for these homes to come on the market.” It is safe to say, I do not agree with that.

During the past Peachtree City Council election, the question of “affordable housing” was explored at length. The same argument of people waiting outside our community to come in was discussed. In that discussion, there were people who wanted to live in Fayette/Peachtree City, but either could not afford a place to live, or did not want accommodations they could afford.

At that time, I questioned the desire of some to build multi-unit housing that would create additional demand on our school system but might not provide the tax necessary to cover that demand.

Some suggest that developer impact fees should be collected to ensure that new multi-unit developments in Peachtree City and Fayetteville do not create additional need to ask existing residents to dig deeper to fund the education of those who want to live in Fayette County.

But others would point out that raising the cost of new “affordable housing” by truly burdening them with the cost borne by the community to build and maintain a superior school system would make the housing more expensive. Is Fayette responsible for providing affordable housing? Should the desires of people who do not live in Fayette County drive the school funding argument?

While I question the suggestion that Fayette or any other community has a duty to provide opportunities for those who want them, outside the system of supply and demand, I know Fayette’s leaders must ensure that they have the resources to address any “affordable housing” plan.

If some truly wish to grow our school system, the cost of that growth must be borne not by those who have already given so much but rather by those who seek to come into our schools and enjoy the benefits developed by so many over the years.

[Neil Sullivan is a finance/accounting executive and CPA. He has lived in Peachtree City over 20 years with his wife Jennifer, a Fayette County History teacher and son Jackson, a student at Erskine College. He has been active in public school related issues in Fayette County, leading three E-SPLOST initiatives as chairman of Fayette Citizens for Children. He has appeared previously on these pages in letters to the editor.]