School Insider "SURVEY SAYS!": Increase Taxes and Spending! Bartow School Board Meeting 5:30 on 6/17/24. Part 1.
Citizens not surveyed by school board. Their answers may not have been so supportive of that.
By David McKalip, M.D.
Editor’s note: On Thursday, this blog indicated an incorrect time for the School Board meeting. The meeting will be a 5:30 pm for the 6/17 Bartow County School Board 2nd Budget Meeting. Please come by 5:15 to sign up to speak if able. Yours truly can’t attend due to an important, personal, prior commitment, so GOD SPEED! The meeting is at 65 Gilreath Rd.
The School System likes to make excuses for why they are raising taxes, increasing spending and placing more money in their bank account by taking it out of your bank account. On 6/13/24, this blog pointed out how the school wants to spend more money again and take in extra revenue. This will set up another property tax hike in the Fall.
One such excuse for higher spending and taxes was offered to the School Board in April. It was a “Survey” of parties to determine answers to questions on taxation and spending.
But the survey didn’t go to citizens who pay the taxes. The survey went only to school system insiders. 307 responded. Who knew that Teachers, Principals, and School Guidance Coalition members would want higher taxes and higher spending?
Oh, that would be “everyone knew”.
The Survey
(Part two will explore the rest of the questions soon.)
The survey asked six questions and asked those surveyed (school system insiders) to respond based on the following scale:
1- Not Important 2- Low Importance 3- No Opinion 4- Moderately Important 5 - Highly Important.
Questions went to the following groups:
Teacher Advisory Council (13 people)
Principal’s Advisory Council (8 people)
School Board Members (5)
System “Guiding Coalition) (38) - (Investigating the relationship these people have with the schools)
Local School Guiding Coalition (215) - (Investigating the relationship these people have with the schools, but may be mostly school staff)
Parent Advisory (18)
The Questions…..
1. Provide a minimum of 6% salary increase to all BCSS Employees: (All Funds 1% Increase = $1.5 million)
2. Decrease the current local property tax millage rate; (Current: 17.43: 2023 Digest, 1 mil = $4.7 million)
3. Increase fund balance to support designating funds for capital improvements for future growth needs. (FY23 Year End General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance: $60,260,000)
4. Increase substitutes pay (Current: No Degree - $85/per day, Degree - $100/per day, Long- Term $160, Recommendation: No Degree - $100/per day, Degree - $115/per day, Long-Term - $175/per day)
5. Continue to enhance athletic facilities at each high school with a multi-sport indoor facility.
6. Increase board member pay. (Current pay: $50/day, Recommended: $500/month, Vice Chairman $550/month, Chairman $600/month)
Salary Increase
They asked about increasing salaries for ALL employees by a minimum of 6%. Note that when teachers get salary increase, about half of that is paid by the state, not local government property taxes. It is unclear if other employees that are not teachers (which are very numerous) get help from state tax dollars for pay.
We citizens would all like a raise. Did you, the taxpayer get a 6% raise recently to cover inflation in the Biden economy? Not likely.
The vast majority of the school insiders surveyed (80-100%) were supporting at least 6% increased pay for ALL employees. Are you shocked that when those who are insiders to the school system were asked if they want higher pay, they said yes?
Why were the citizens not asked?
Decreased Millage Rate
Another “Shocker” most of the school insiders do NOT want any property tax cut. The vast majority of those surveyed said “Not Important” or “Low Importance” for cutting the millage rate.
This is no surprise, since no one inside the school system wants to stop the gravy train that keeps them wealthy while citizens have to cut back.
Oh, by the way, why were the CITIZENS NOT SURVEYED on their preference for tax cuts?
Note that three out of five School Board members said cutting the millage rate was moderately (one) or of “high” importance (two). That is because they know they can deceive the public by lowering the millage rate a bit, while STILL COLLECTING MORE TAXES due to increased property values. See here about that. However two of the school board members said it was of low importance to cut the millage rate. One wonders which ones.
Even the 50% of the “Parent Advisory” council were opposed to lowering the millage rate. Only 11% rated it as of moderate or high importance. The rest (39%) had NO OPINION! Really? If you can’t offer an opinion on a critical issue like this, why are you on the Guiding Coalition?
Of course the “System Guiding” Coalition(38) members were 100% united behind not lowering the millage rate with 88% saying “NOT IMPORTANT” at all!
What Will YOU Do?
Most people think their voice at a school board meeting won’t matter. They say they are just to busy. They say, well, the high taxes are the cost of a good education, without understanding that we are not getting “more bang for the buck”.
So, if you want to stop these higher taxes, you are going to have to show up. It matters not how they vote. It matter that they see citizens are taking notice of their profligate spending and taxation and are wanting it to stop. This is a long term campaign. Please show up for the fight!
The next part of this post will explore answers to the other survey questions….
The Bartow County School Board will meet on 6/17/24 at 5:30 pm (UPDATED TIME!) to go through the routine motions of rubberstamping the massive, unnecessary spending plan. They already “approved” it on the “first read” on 6/3. However, the School Board needs to hear from you. If you want to avoid a tax increase this fall, you need to ask them to oppose the budget.
Show up at 65 Gilreath Road by 5:15 to sign up to speak on 6/17/24.