State Budget- 4 Day School Week??

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Quick question, have property tax assessments kept up with values during the boom years? I know that they didn't in my former county. Our property wasn't re-assessed for the entire 10 years we owned it. So our taxes were based on what we paid for it in 1999. When we sold it in 2008, it had approximately doubled in value. I haven't been here long enough to know how often the assessor re-assesses. Does anyone know?

We've only owned property in Cobb County since 2005, but it seems like Cobb only does a reassessment of a given property every few years, so our property spiked and came back down before the adjustors were able to react at all.

Based on assessments I've had done, our property gained maybe 21% in value during the last value spike and then lost most of that, with a net gain of 4% or so right now, and that's what they ended up adjusting to. But they missed the big spike because of timing.

[MovedfromFL]

According to information that my real estate agent put together for our home sale book, Hall County spends $8,726 per student (before the cuts, I guess). That puts us at the 22nd percentile in the state ranking (139 out of 180) according to the info provided by eNeighborhoods Inc. Nationally, that puts us at the 20th percentile (11,502 of 14,453)

As far as enrollment, we are around 24,083, which is 97th percentile nationally, and 91st percentile statewide.

I'm tired of hearing people here say that public schools need to "tighten their belt" like everyone else. I think our public schools have done just that up to this point, but now I think we are asking public education to put the belt around its neck and strangle.

In the AJC today, it says Gwinnett County is now facing a $97 million deficit. That district is adding 1,600 kids and opening 7 new campuses, but FEWER teachers than now will be needed.

The district expects to collect $40 million less in property taxes due to a 7-8% decline in the tax digest.

Dekalb Schools may close four or more campuses and cut jobs, including those of 15 top administrators. Deficit is $88 million. Fulton Schools could cut 1,000 jobs to trim $120 million from the budget. Cobb has $100 million deficit and will "slash jobs" according to the article.

Gwinnnett is on a hiring freeze and will scrap crossing guards for next year.

My husband and I are both teachers. (I'm staying home with our kids right now) We our desperately trying to sell our house so we can be mobile in case he loses his job. Based on the memo from our superintendent last week, we could face thousand of dollars in pay cuts. 5.5% from the state if the 2 proposed weeks of furlough are approved, plus loss of our local supplement which is 10%. I don't think this degree of "belt tightening" is fair at all. These kinds of cuts, for the second year in a row, really hurt teachers at the lower end of the salary scale.

When I taught in FL, I think our per pupil was about $7,000 and we seemed to have everything that we needed (but pay and benefits were not very good). My school was consistently rated an "A" by the state of FL and we earned merit pay each year (about $800 pre tax). One other thing to note is that I believe certain counties in GA have a school tax exemption for "seniors" over age 62. I don't recally Florida having that. Personally, when I am 62, I will not have a problem paying for public education. It's the same as military spending in that it benefits everyone. I think the age for exemption should be raised to maybe 68 or 70. Also, I hope these banks are paying the property taxes on the foreclosures that they hold. Before the property gets to foreclosure, the taxes are still the reponsibility of the owner. Counties should be able to seize the property and sell to collect back taxes. Of course, the bank would squeal. I don't know how this is working out these days, but I hate to think that taxes are not being paid.

[TwoSides]

Moved-

It sounds like you are in a tough spot. But you should know it's not just Georgia which is cutting budgets, infact many states are cutting much deeper than here. California, for instance has such a bleak and dire circumstance that school districts there face 100 million for a single district! Something like 200 teachers were let go, again from just one district.

You and everyone else will eventually get through all this, but pretty much wherever you move in the US there are going to be education cuts and in many states cuts much more severe than in Georgia.