(Excerpts from an email exchange between school board member Brad Smith and resident Ed Tracey, reprinted with permission.)
Mr. Tracey: Tax Commissioner Ray does have a formula which calculates our millage. If the millage comes out to a lower rate, then that is what we will approve. If it comes out to a higher number, I can promise you I will not support a millage higher than what we have proposed at this time. There is no guarantee that if we pass this budget and set the millage rate that we will not have to do furloughs if the State cuts funding. There is not much else to cut. You say cut the school calendar, but you demand a higher quality of education. I believe, "You can't have your cake and eat it too!"
As for your comments about the Bible and religion in school, I went to a parochial elementary/junior high school so I know the values of God and his foundation in my life and in my decisions. As far as public school, I feel it is not the job of public schools to teach religious morals or values. I believe that is the job of the parents and the church. Not the taxpayers. I feel we should allow devotion time and prayers if that is what a child wishes to do but on a voluntary basis. Thanks to the ultra liberals and the American Civil Liberties Union the concept of separation of church and state has been perverted from the original concept, but those are other issues.
As far as the millage rate, I believe we will have to agree to disagree.
This is from the original email I thought I sent on May 31:
The average home in Rockdale is valued at about $150K. If our community is fortunate enough that our property values do not fall, the millage increase would raise the school taxes on the average home by about $68 per year ($5.66 a month). If the property values do decrease, the taxes on the average home would stay almost exactly the same (decreasing about $6 for the year) with the millage increase.
My assessment of the situation was that the value of providing uninterrupted education and continuing to provide a livable wage to our teachers exceeds the cost of a couple of pounds of hamburger each month for the tax payers. The expectation that our teachers should absorb the $3.3 million deficit so no one else in the community is inconvenienced in so small a way is appalling.
I feel strongly that furlough days are not the best answer for our children's education or for the community at large. We are, again, asking teachers to take a reduction in their retirement funding again, continue using of outdated technology and manage to do more with even less than last year. We then inform them that we expect them to do all this for an average of $1,650 less this year than each of them received last year. Also, RCPS has numerous households where both breadwinners are employees of the school system.
This idea would never have occurred to me if our schools were not performing, but even in this recent economic downturn over the past several years, our teachers and staff have provided a school system that has made AYP the last 5 years and our 4-year graduation rate is the highest it has ever been. We do not have any debt and do not service any school bonds.
Educated children are less likely to end up on welfare and be a ward of the government.
Look at it as an investment in our future. Good schools will draw employers to Rockdale and we will have an educated populace for a potential employer to draw from. So is it worth 5 to 15 bucks a month more in taxes?
I say yes it is!
Brad Smith
Rockdale County School Board member
