BOE faces tough financial decisions in the coming weeks

Because of this looming financial pressure, the system is considering a tax hike. Understandably, that is being met by much taxpayer protest.

I’m not much of a fan on how the public education bureaucracy works in the nation these days. The federal government has interfered too much and in the wrong way. The state government has been playing games with both curriculum mandates and funding. And local school systems are often so caught up in the bureaucratic bubble of process they fail to focus on outcomes.

Specifically, today’s public education structure is too rooted in its century-old agrarian roots rather than in a modern economy. Financially, school employees should work far more than 190 days for the kind of salaries and benefits they’re getting. Academically, too many schools are failing to deliver a quality program while talking blah, blah, blah about achievement.

Despite those criticisms of public education, the BCSS does face legitimate problems financially in the coming year that is not totally of its own making. Specifically:

• The BCSS has no control over the number of students it has. Although the pace of growth has slowed some, the system continues to take in new students, over 700 new students since 2008.

• The BCSS has no control over the cuts in state funding, or over the system of how those funds are allocated.

• The BCSS has no control over either state or federal mandates, many of which have to be paid for with local dollars.

• The BCSS has no control over the local Barrow tax digest. That tax base has in recent years been declining due to the housing bust. It could decline more this year and there is nothing the system can do to change that. It’s not the BCSS’ fault that the county tax digest is thin on industrial and commercial property and heavily reliant on residential.

And the system has some valid arguments to make that it has been good financial stewards of the money it does spend. Specifically:

• The BCSS has made real cuts in spending since 2009. In 2009, the system’s budget was $102.1 million; last year it was $90.7 million, an 11 percent decrease. That was despite a growth of 450 students in that same period.

• The system’s local teacher supplement, which is the only part of teacher pay the local BOE has control over, is among the lowest in the area.

• Compared to other systems in the state, the BCSS has a low per student administration cost.

• At $7,815 per student, the BCSS is among the lowest in the state in per student spending.

So the BOE does have a valid argument that it faces a lot of financial issues over which it has no control and that it has been conservative with taxpayer money when compared to other school systems.

Does that mean that the BOE should raise the millage rate?

Maybe.

Boards of education really only have two tasks: To hire the superintendent and to set the local tax rate. Both of those are always controversial.

For the Barrow County BOE, there may not be any choice but to raise the tax rate and make some more major cuts in spending. If the tax digest drops 12 percent as some expect, the system would be in the red next year by over $9 million at the current tax rate. And even if the system raises its rate to the maximum 20 mills from the current 18.5 mills, it would still be in the red around $7.5 million next year unless it makes further cuts.

It is likely the BCSS will have to implement a large number of furlough days next year and make major program cuts for its budget to come close to balancing.

Despite its record of conservative fiscal management, the one thing that really hurts the Barrow BOE is its history of weak academic performance on standardized tests. While that is now showing signs of improvement, the BCSS has historically not had the kind of academic success that many of the surrounding schools systems have had. Historically, expectations were not very high in the BCSS or for that matter, the community at large.

Nobody likes higher taxes, but in the world of education, parents and taxpayers are usually willing to spend a little more for a quality school system that has a record of achievement. But taxpayers don’t like spending more when a school system is perceived as being academically (or athletically for that matter) weak or unsuccessful.

It remains to be seen what moves the BOE will make in its budget. No decisions have yet been made. But if the board seeks a tax increase, it will have to pair that with even deeper cuts in spending and it will have to convince a dubious public that the system is improving its academic performance.

That’s a job the board cannot delegate to its staff. BOE members, either collectively or through a board member, need to take a high-profile role in this discussion. This situation calls for strong board leadership to explain to the community just what the choices really are.

Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.