The amount of money the county school board will have to pay back in interest will be approximately $33,350 for the school's two loans, known as Tax Anticipation Notes for the 2009-2010 school year due to the delayed tax digest. The amount is roughly equivalent to a full-time teacher's salary. Gordon County Financial director, Gail Farriba, agrees but said the county school system couldn't meet their payroll obligations each month without the Tax Anticipation Notes. So far, the interest rate on the 2009 TAN was $13,350 and was already paid back, and another estimated $20,000 must be paid back on the 2010 TAN. Tricia Dillard/Calhoun Times
“Our concerns are there are going to be additional state cuts, and another concern is the collection of property tax revenue,” said Gail Farriba, financial director of Gordon County Schools.
“Part of the concern was there were so many (tax) appeals, and we base our budget on the approved tax digest,” Farriba added, “but we did build in a percentage (of estimated appeals) too, in case (taxpayers appeals are) adjusted for less than the 100 percent assessed value.”
The schools’ tax digest was delayed this year because of more than 2,300 outstanding appeals, according to numbers County Tax Assessor Wayne Walters gave to the Calhoun Times in November.
Enough appeals had to be processed so that the total number fell below 1,300, or 5 percent of the total 26,000 parcels before a tax digest could be submitted to the state and before the school systems could begin seeing revenue from taxes collected.
While money continues to be collected from property taxes, Farriba said the school has run much of its operation on two Tax Anticipation Notes.
Update: Borrowed Funds
The county schools have stayed afloat on borrowed money, using a $2 million loan (with a 3.25 percent interest rate) from North Georgia national Bank during the last months of 2009 and a $3.5 million loan (with a 2.76 percent interest rate) from Regions bank this year.
A TAN allows the school to borrow money without any collateral or a down payment and covers salary and general operating expenses.
“We paid back the 2009 TAN,” Farriba said, of the North Georgia loan, which the school drew from in November and December 2009.
Farriba explained that the total amount of interest paid on the 2009 TAN was $13,350, which was included in the payback.
We wouldn’t have been able to meet our payroll obligations each month without the Tax Anticipation Notes,” Farriba said. “We realize it is an additional expense to taxpayers.”
During the months of January and February 2010, the members of the Board have approved drawing money from the TAN via Regions bank. The payment is due March 15.
Farriba estimates that the amount of interest for the 2010 TAN loan is $20,000.
Gordon County has steered clear of deficit financing, but continues to have problems with a steady cash flow due to slow property tax collections.
“We still have cash flow issues,” Farriba said. “We’ve had to be strategic in paying accounts payable in order to make sure we could meet our monthly payroll obligations.”
But that's to much information and TRUTH for you I guess.
If either school system's administration was isolated or recently started, taxpayers [might] understand cash flow problems.
Neither fact is true. County and city administrators, scores of national, state and local consultants, and multiple education specialists [all highly paid] work on financial problems, e.g. Gail Farriba, financial director of Gordon County Schools and City Schools Financial Director Don Hood.
Collectively, not one anticipated that a bump in the road [will] occur or can determine cash flow for basic expenses, e.g. paying teachers and building mortgages. Complete lunacy.
Typically, every household has a/n individual(s) who figures out cash flows to keep the bills paid.
Warren Buffett, second richest person, says, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked."
Great Recession took the tide out. We've discovered local education, city and county, is naked.
SAT Comparative Scores and percentages from 2008
SCHOOL SCORE % TAKING TEST
Etowah HS 1623 13.0%
Woodstock HS 1582 14.1%
Sequoyah HS 1565 21.6%
Rome HS 1558 9.0%
Cherokee HS 1537 11.1%
Dalton HS 1489 9.1%
Pickens HS 1467 10.5%
Calhoun HS 1457 11.3%
Woodland HS 1446 10.8%
GordonCentral1396 10.7%
Sonoraville 1310 4.8%
Annually, taxpayers would save $2,400 each to send all children to private schools.
All children, cupcake.
athenry, I appreciate you putting the number of kids that take the test in your response. Notice the number both Calhoun and Gordon Central have taking the test. They have nearly 3X the number TAKING the test than other schools their size. The schools that have a percentage of 10 have 2-3 times the number of students. SO, IF GC and Calhoun were to limit the number who take the test to 3-4%, they could raise their scores, but they would not be helping the kids left out get into college. I think they are on the right track.
Actually, it's FDR's. Moreover the 1930's. You'll remember the New Deal lifted the US out of the the Great Depression caused by the three previous Republican Presidents' Harding, Coolidge, Hoover. [doubters' look it up]
Facts:
Democrat - Franklin Delano Roosevelt won his first of four presidential elections in 1932, while the United States was in the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and economic activism is often credited with keeping the country's economic crisis from developing into a political crisis.
Roosevelt named his approach to the economic situation the New Deal
I believe we need to hold the administrators and teachers accountable for what they do that is good and what they do not do that results in poor performance. We can say as oldman76 says that other places don’t test as large a percentage as we do. That is not true, that is why I compared the Gordon County students to other Northwest Georgia schools having similar types of students and testing in relatively the same percentage. (see below)
If a school system and the supporters of a school system, which I count myself as one of the supporters, are not willing to look at where we fall short then the systems is destine to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Any entity must compare itself to others in the same or similar boat and try and learn what they are dong to make their students more successful.
SAT Comparative Scores and percentages from 2008
SCHOOL SCORE % TAKING TEST
Trion HS 1625 6.3%
Etowah HS 1623 13.0%
Woodstock HS 1582 14.1%
Armuchee HS 1574 4.6%
Sequoyah HS 1565 21.6%
Rome HS 1558 9.0%
Ridgeland HS 1538 2.1%
Cherokee HS 1537 11.1%
Model HS 1518 5.3%
Pepperell HS 1512 3.1%
Cartersville 1505 3.1%
Southeast
Whitfield 1494 3.4%
Dalton HS 1489 9.1%
Coosa High 1478 4.8%
Pickens HS 1467 10.5%
Calhoun HS 1457 11.3%
Adairsville 1456 7.5%
Northwest
Whitfield 1449 8.0%
Woodland HS 1446 10.8%
Lafayette HS 1412 4,2%
Cass High 1398 6.0%
GordonCentral1396 10.7%
Murray Co HS 1368 6.1%
Chattooga HS 1329 4.6%
Sonoraville 1310 4.8%
"I know the truth... hard to grasp..." No it isn't.
Facts were reported by US Chamber of Commerce and Georgia Department of Education.
Basic math - Expenditures for
Public school <$9,000
Private school $6,600
Savings $2,400 each to send all children.
Currently, Georgia spends more than $9,000 per pupil. Imagine if parents were able to use that money to choose where their child goes to school.
Considering that the average tuition of private schools is around $6,600
"Public school seniors on the SAT... and a national rank of 45th in the nation in 2008."
Source
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/pea_communications.aspx?ViewMode=1&obj=1665
Since Perdue took office, Georgia briefly moved out of last place in SAT scores; though it returned to last place in 2005, in 2006 Georgia rose to 46th place The high school class of 2006 recorded the sharpest drop in SAT scores in 31 years.
HR person is: Cole, Susan
Director of Human Resources
Picture and email here:
http://www.gcbe.org/education/components/scdirectory/default.php?sectiondetailid=1023&&PHPSESSID=920c84853b4caf7b7d2c54825df56c9c
Reality, sport. Local schools 1) produce more felons than fellows, 2) are run by easily trapped, fabricating, fully certified nitwits.
Return on Investment (ROI). Facts below.
In 2009, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave the state of Georgia a grade of D in academic achievement, ranking 39th out of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. Some organizations have ranked Georgia even lower.
Whatever the case, it is clear that Georgia’s education system has some urgent problems.
Georgia ranked 10th in total education expenditures, spending about $18 billion in 2007-2008. Spending more on education obviously does not mean improvement.
Currently, Georgia spends more than $9,000 per pupil. Imagine if parents were able to use that money to choose where their child goes to school.
Considering that the average tuition of private schools is around $6,600.
Grade repeats and dropout rates are lower in charter schools compared with other public institutions. The Average Yearly Progress (AYP), required by the No Child Left Behind Act, was met by 74 percent of charter schools, higher than all of Georgia’s schools, of which only 64 percent met the AYP standards.
Source:
http://ksusentinel.com/op-ed/school-choice-in-georgia-it’s-about-time