On March 20, Coweta County voters — that’s where I live, Coweta County — defeated by a mere 98 votes a measure to extend for five additional years a one-percent special local-option sales tax (SPLOST) for the county’s public schools.
That 98-vote figure isn’t as narrow as it sounds considering that, although there are over 85,000 people living in Coweta County, the voter turnout for this minor special election was quite small. But it was pretty narrow nevertheless, and as you might imagine, if you’ve ever witnessed a school-related ballot measure election in your neck of the woods, the supporters of this SPLOST are hopping mad over the defeat.
Coweta County is growing by leaps and bounds, more than doubling its population since 1990. School construction here, as just about everywhere else in the shadow of Fortress Atlanta, is a minor industry in itself. There is undoubtedly a need for new facilities to serve the growth in the population of school-age children. It’s unclear whether the present economic ebb will translate even temporarily into a cooling of Coweta’s growth trend, but once the economy picks up steam again, any such softening of growth will vanish quickly.
The current SPLOST, enacted four years ago and set to expire in 2002, was supposed to address the county’s need for more and bigger public school facilities, and to pay off a previous bond measure used to finance school construction work. As the day of reckoning for the local school board’s proposed extension drew near, the members of the school board failed to answer pointed questions from people in the community about the use of those previous funds. And therein lies the rub that rubbed out the school board’s plans.
Against the rising tide of unanswered questions, the supporters of the SPLOST extension trotted out the usual arguments — along the lines of, If you oppose this modest but necessary measure, you must not care about the children.
It would be nice to have confidence that Coweta’s response to such campaign tactics represent the beginnings of a nationwide trend, but that would be as-yet unfounded optimism. Indeed, the local attitude toward matters of public school spending had been much more pliable until this time around, and had the turnout been larger on March 20 the outcome might very well have been different. The school boosters now know they’re up against an incipient revolt, and will be plotting strategy for the next attempt. If they hold to this year’s flagrant tactics, but simply turn up the volume several notches, they will probably lose again. Or they may win. It remains to be seen.
What the Coweta County school board and their supporters — and counterparts around the country — need to come to terms with is that there is a distinction, readily apparent to adults to whom it is pointed out, between saying “educating our children is our top priority” on the one hand, and going on to say that the school board should be given everything it asks for, every time, regardless of any questions that may be asked and unanswered. That a narrow majority in my home county recognized this distinction when they went to vote, is encouraging. But too many people remain unaware of the need to hold school boards, and public school establishments in general, accountable for how they spend the taxpayers’ money.
The lack of accountability we see in education today reminds me of President Eisenhower’s warnings against the “military-industrial complex”, a combination of Pentagon generals and defense contractors that — if not watched closely by congressional overseers — could ratchet up the cost of defending the country beyond all reason, even as they painted their questioners as being “soft on defense,” with unconscionable negative consequences on the rifle-bearing enlisted men who actually achieve our nation’s defense. Examine a school district budget these days (assuming you could get hold of one) and I’m willing to bet there will be more than an occasional “educational” equivalent of the $400 hammer and $8,000 toilet seat.
It’s a lot easier to scrutinize the Pentagon’s spending. The nation only has one Pentagon, and a national news media outlet can afford to commit the resources, if it chooses, to dig through the reams of paper describing what America’s defenders are doing with the billions allocated to them. But few local newspaper editors want to be slandered by their hometown’s own education-industrial complex as being “soft on education.” Besides, it’s only a few measly million…
Right. And Coweta’s SPLOST extension died by only a measly 98 votes.
