The fact that the school system does not appear as a very high priority

in the decision-making process is placing our county in jeopardy. If you

want low crime rates, better recreational facilities and an above-average

quality of life, then you need to attract exceptional residents. So if

you want good, civic-minded families to move into your community, you

need to furnish a top-notch school system to entice them.

Take a historical glance at which metro counties once boasted of having

the state's top school system: Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb, just to name

a few. The development in the metro area is so rapid that many counties

are passing one SPLOST after another and issuing bonds to make up for

shortfalls with the SPLOST with no hope in sight for most of them.

A representative from Cherokee County's school system characterized

their status as being in the "triage" stage. Gwinnett's

cheap and abundant housing market has forced their school system into

the position of never catching up to student demand, and they rake in

close to $200 million per year on their SPLOST.

Fayette County has an opportunity to be the leader in education for a

long time to come if we can allow residential growth to take place incrementally.

My proposal of a countywide, inter-jurisdictional agreement that would

not allow any of the governmental entities to increase a residential zoning

to a higher density unless the school system could sustain the additional

students (without trailers, etc.) is receiving some support from all over

the county. Commercial and industrial zoning is not applicable to the

agreement since it provides school funding without adding students.

We must allow the school system to catch up to the current student demand,

and we must be able to provide adequate educational facilities in the

future. If we cease to control our own educational destiny all we need

do is to look northward to see what our future holds - one SPLOST

or bond after another and always behind.

When the quality of education takes priority with our governmental councils,

commissions, committees and authorities in Fayette County, only then we

will remain the education leaders in Georgia long into the future. Quality

families are attracted to top quality educational opportunities.

The citizens must hold the Board of Education accountable for the management

of the school system. However, we must not allow the blame for a massive

influx of students year after year to fall on their shoulders. "The

school system will just have to keep up" mentality must be discarded

for the sake of Fayette's quality of life.

Our school system is operated on a five-year plan. A great deal of the

time, the Board of Education staff is forced to make revisions every two

to three years because of unforeseen changes.

Every governmental entity in Fayette County has a land use plan and most

Fayette residents favor controlled growth. You can add into the equation

that we are at least four schools behind, the state is facing major teacher

shortages (AJC, Aug. 22), the after-school program has a waiting list

following the initial two weeks of school (Fayette Neighbor, Aug. 24)

and that the funding per student has increased from $3,860 in 1993 to

$6,052 in 2000 (Today in PTC, Aug. 24).

I am not proposing a total ban on residential zoning; rather, I would

like to see a stricter adherence to the land use plans. Give the school

system predictable future student counts and the citizens will not encounter

a barrage of last minute, crisis-funding measures designed to provide

relief to an assortment of overburdened schools.

This is a pivotal point in our county's history. We can act now and

insure that our governmental entities do not create self-inflicted, inflated

student demand or we can duplicate the model of the northern counties

and watch our school system deteriorate.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City

[email protected]