Now That It Passed...

To few peoples' surprise, the E-SPLOST vote yesterday passed.  A whopping 23,248 people voted in favor of the continued 1 percent sales tax on everything we purchase - including groceries.  That's approximately 3.3 percent of the roughly 700,000 person population that were able to enact a tax on the entire county.
I know that everyone has talked at length about whether or not we should pass this, but that conversation is over.  I've got a few questions left over though that haven't been raised yet about the legality of some of the projects on this list that perhaps should be considered by whomever decides the priority of each of the projects.

Let's start with the Georgia Constitution.  If we skip down to Article 8, Section 6, Paragraph 4, we see the paragraph titled "Sales tax for educational purposes".  Part (b) under that paragraph goes on to say "The purpose or purposes for which the proceeds of the tax are to be used and may be expended include: (1) Capital outlay projects for educational purposes;".  It continues on with the second use being retirement of previously incurred general obligation debt and 3 being a combination of the first two.

So what, then, are "Capital outlay projects for educational purposes"?  I'm glad you asked.  Let's head over to the OCGA (Official Code of Georgia Annotated), where that is defined in state law.  OCGA 20-2-260 is titled "Capital outlay funds generally".  If we read down through the definitions to (b) (5) we see the following:

(5) "Educational facilities" shall include buildings, fixtures, and equipment necessary for the effective and efficient operation of the program of public education required by this article, which, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, shall include classrooms, libraries, rooms and space for physical education, space for fine arts, restrooms, specialized laboratories, cafeterias, media centers, building equipment, building fixtures, furnishings, related exterior facilities, landscaping and paving, and similar items which the State Board of Education may determine necessary.  The following facilities are specifically excluded: swimming pools, tracks, stadiums, and other facilities or portions of facilities used primarily for athletic competition and the central and area administrative offices of local units of administration.

Now if we look through the project list, we will see such things as tennis court resurfacing, track resurfacing, athletic field electrical projects, and concession stand modifications.  Now, perhaps we can argue over whether the primary use of the tennis courts and tracks are for competition or physical education.  But what about the athletic field electrical projects and the concession stands?  Are we now serving concessions during PE?  And are we operating the scoreboards or lights during PE?  I thought lights were primarily only needed when it's dark outside.  You know - before and after when classes are actually in session?

I would hope that as the money comes rolling in that the projects geared towards fixing the immediate issues like leaking roofs and mold that the county has been neglecting will be funded first along with projects that actually enhance the education of our students, with the sports and recreational wants part of the "needs" list coming last.  It's up to all of us to hold the appropriate parties accountable in the spending of our hard earned money.  I look forward to continuing the conversation with various members of the Cobb County School District and the school board.  We've all got to work together to try move Cobb from 34th in education in the state to number one.