The

school pros have begun warning about the cons of

defeating a $90 million special local option

sales tax package headed for the voters Sept. 21.

Passage

of a proposed $90 million special purpose local

option sales tax and $50 million bond sale Sept.

21 would guarantee construction of 289 new

classrooms, upgrade technology in the schools and

district office, and provide security devices at

all schools, school officials say.

Its

defeat would result in more portable classrooms

paid for out of the school system's operating

budget, double sessions and year-round school,

all possible options of dealing with continued

student population growth, according to Fayette

School Superintendent Dr. John DeCotis.

The

two scenarios were outlined for about 40 parents,

school teachers and administrators, local

government officials and interested voters

Saturday during a community roundtable discussion

on the upcoming referendum.

The

unanimous five-member school board made its

official request to the U.S. Justice Department

Thursday, calling for a special referendum on the

question in less than two months.

DeCotis,

who took over the job of superintendent just

three months ago, told the group that he

initially "wanted to wait" on proposing

a SPLOST or bond issue, but discovered that the

school system would lose $8 million in state

education funds for construction of an elementary

school and a middle school if the local board

could not come up with its $12 million share.

"We're

obligated to ask the voters, and if it fails

(funding proposal), then we lose the money,"

DeCotis said. "That's why we're moving

faster than we normally would." Construction

contracts for the elementary school must be let

collect the state money.

School

finance director Jim Stephens said Fayette County

is one of the few remaining counties in the state

not to exercise the local option sales tax for

the benefit of its schools. The state legislature

passed a law several years ago allowing school

districts to levy a tax.

While

the board mounted a SPLOST initiative in 1997,

the tax was voted down, resulting in the need to

siphon off operating funds into unfinished

projects like Peeples Elementary School and

borrow money from the sale of bonds to complete

Kedron Elementary and Rising Starr Middle School,

according to DeCotis. "It put us behind the

eight ball," DeCotis said.

The

proposed SPLOST calls for a 1 percent tax to be

levied starting Jan. 1. Stephens said he expects

the first collection to be received by the school

district in March.

The

added penny sales tax would be collected on top

of an existing local option sales tax and the 4

percent state sales tax. While the state exempts

groceries and certain other items from its sales

tax, local merchants by state law do collect the

current 1 percent local tax on all items,

including groceries. The SPLOST, if approved in

September, would add an additional penny to be

collected on all retail items, for a total of six

cents on the dollar.

In

addition, the Fayette County Commission is

considering calling for its own SPLOST to pay for

a new jail and judicial complex, which - if

approved by the voters in a future referendum

- would hike the sales tax in Fayette to 7

percent.

The

board has included a $50 million bond issue

because money from the sales tax trickles in

slowly at first, DeCotis said. "Retail

people have a hard time getting it going,"

he said. "This is so we can start all we

want at the same time and get it done," he

explained.

"The

$50 million will be paid off by SPLOST. We're

asking for $90 million and we should have no

problem getting it [if the sales tax is

approved]," DeCotis said. "It's based

on an 8 percent growth rate; it has been 15

percent the last few years," he noted.

The

package also calls for putting approximately $18

million in escrow for a new high school or other

needed school. Stephens explained that the SPLOST

would last five years or until the $90 million is

collected, whichever occurs first.

The

five-year plan for implementing $11.98 million in

technology upgrades in the schools and district

offices was questioned at length by those

attending Saturday morning's open session. Janet

Smola, fund raising director for the Joseph Sams

School, wanted to know the reason for buying new

computers instead of leasing them.

"Why

are we buying equipment we know will be obsolete

in five years? I don't know that I'll have the

money in five years to continue leasing,"

said Ed Steil, the school district's technology

guru. The lease versus purchase option was an

issue Steil and DeCotis said they would continue

to explore. The current goal is to have one

usable computer in every classroom. Steil said

the new trend is for computers to be classroom

based rather than lab based.

The

proposed $90 million to be collected via the

SPLOST will be spent for acquiring property to

build the new schools, which will include two new

elementary schools, a middle school and high

school with funds for its construction to be held

in an escrow account, plus renovations,

improvements and additions at all existing

schools totaling $77.5 million; a technology

grant totaling $11.9 million and security devices

totaling $1.7 million.

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