Voters in Coweta were told that the extension had to be voted in favor of because Coweta County was in need of a new high school because of the counties growing population and increase in students in our school system. The truth however, is that Coweta's enrollment system wide has been falling, not gaining as claimed by the school system.
Our neighboring county, Fayette County, made similar claims during the boom time in our economy. Those claims are now coming back to bite them in the pocketbook. In an article published this past Monday, December 26th, in the AJC, there is an article titled 'Taxpayers foot bill for nearly empty school'.
Additionally, Fayette County teachers are facing paycuts as high as 5% and furlow days just to pay for the empty buildings they have in Fayette County.
This is the same fate that our school system is going to face if we continue to build new schools using the windfall taxes raised by the $95 Million tax increase from E-SPLOST.
This underscores the need for Charter Schools and school choice in our county and our state. The local school board has proven that they are not good stewards of taxpayer's money by asking the voters for more money to build yet another school that is not needed at this time. What is the cheaper, more simple solution for Coweta County? Dare I say it, redistrict our schools. Once redistricting is completed, and our school start growing again, simply add onto our existing middle and high schools if necessary.
I have included the article on Fayette County Schools after the 'Read More' link below.
Facts about Coweta County Schools:
Coweta County has 22,462 students and about 3,154 employees with 55 percent certified employees.
Number of Schools: 19 elementary; 6 middle; 3 high schools; 1 career academy charter high school; 2 alternative schools (middle and high); 1 adult education school; 1 transition learning center; 1 performing and visual arts center
Pupil to teacher ratio: Grades K-3, 22 to 1 Grades 4 and 5, 28 to 1 Middle/High, 32 to 1 Per pupil expenditure: $7,895
Article from December 26, 2011 AJC:
Taxpayers foot bill for nearly empty school
Enrollment swelled, then fell; officials say they were blindsided. Miscalculation costly, accents planning enigma.
When Fayette County opened a new $9.9 million school, it was supposed to house nearly 700 students. Years later, why is it nearly empty? And what lessons might other school districts learn from the costly mistake?
The faith in infinite growth that led to overbuilding and financial distress in Atlanta's real estate markets also blindsided one metro area school system.
In fall 2009, construction finished on a new $9.9 million elementary school in Fayette County, south of Atlanta. At more than 86,000 square feet, Rivers Elementary could hold nearly 700 students.
Today, it houses about 20.
After years of adding students --- and state numbers showing that would continue --- Fayette County school system officials say they didn't see the enrollment reversal coming.
The miscalculation cost the school system millions at a time when budgets were already straining under a recessionary decline in tax revenue. It also highlights the challenges that school districts and others across metro Atlanta face when planning for the future.
"When we were planning for this school, there were projections that the population would grow," said Bob Todd, chairman of the Fayette County school board. "Of course, the bottom dropped out of the economy."
The situation has stirred controversy in a community beset with other financial problems, such as a saturation of foreclosed homes. Officials should have noticed the enrollment falling, and they should have halted construction, say critics such as Harold Bost, a former county commissioner.
"If they didn't," he said, "they're a hell of a lot dumber than I think they are."
For more than a decade, year after year, Fayette County and its school-age population had boomed. Yards around older schools such as Robert J. Burch Elementary were filled with trailers for the overflow of students, said Mike Satterfield, the system's facility services director.
"Back in the 1980s and '90s, we were growing 1,200 to 1,500 students a year," Satterfield said. Many of the students were children of construction workers, he said.
But "when construction went south, they loaded up and moved away," said Satterfield, who's been with the system nearly two decades.
Relying on state figures
In spring 2007, the student count in Fayette County peaked at 22,498, according to state figures. The next count, in the fall, showed a drop of nearly 300. Enrollment was down to 20,539 this fall.
Satterfield said he recommended building Rivers based on state projections that had enrollment growing by 414 students in 2008.
But Lynn Jackson, a state Education Department official who monitors school construction, said she hasn't seen another case of such extreme overbuilding. While the state was projecting enrollment growth in Fayette, it also noted that there were already empty classrooms and urged caution, Jackson said.
Officials at some other metro Atlanta school systems --- Cherokee and Forsyth --- say they don't rely on state numbers. Instead, they use their own formulas.
By the fall of 2007, when enrollment started dropping, the board had already approved buying land for the school and hiring architects and engineers for the design, said Terri Smith, a Fayette County school board member.
Because the construction money had come from a voter-approved bond, the school system faced financial penalties if Rivers didn't get built, Smith said.
The epic proportions of the developing recession also were not clear then, she said.
'Mothball' the building
So on March 3, 2008, the Fayette school board voted to hire Hensler & Beavers General Contractors to build the school.
Officials intended to open Rivers as a regular elementary school, but with tax revenue falling, they couldn't afford to staff it, Smith said.
So the board opted to "mothball" the new building. To deter vandals, it was opened as a center for children with severe behavioral disabilities and as an office for about two dozen staffers.
The change in plans saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating expenses, but Fayette County property taxpayers are still on the hook for the construction debt.
Today, the Fayette school system is struggling with a multimillion-dollar budget gap. The board recently voted to cut three school days from next year's calendar --- and more cuts likely will be needed.
Some in the community suggest it's time to close older schools and move students to the new one, but that's been controversial among those who cherish their small neighborhood schools.
Brent Scarbrough was among scores of worried parents who descended on a school board meeting in the fall after a rumor spread that their schools were being targeted.
"We just think that you close the school, and you basically take away the core of the community," said Scarbrough, who has two children at Brooks Elementary.
Bost, a former Fayette County commissioner and co-founder of the Fayette County Issues Tea Party, said Rivers Elementary never should have been built.
Bost has promised to make the building an issue before next year's school board election.
In the meantime, it's unclear what will happen with the Rivers Elementary building. Enrollment growth isn't expected to resume anytime soon.
Bost and others say officials should consider closing older schools and consolidating some jobs.
Even Scarbrough, the Brooks Elementary parent, sees the financial case for that.
"They've got to respond to the economic conditions because the money's just not there," Scarbrough said. "I run a business and it's just tough.
"Anything you do, somebody's going to get their feelings hurt."
