Friday, May 22, 2015

Vote "No" on Tuesday!


Trust Me! I've Tried to Fire Only 4 Out Of 9 Principals!

Somehow we never thought we would see the day we would tell anyone to vote "no" on a school tax. That day has come, brought to us courtesy of Anthony Olivis and his blood-thirsty cronies. Here are some interesting facts about Colbert funding for schools:

* According to School Digger, Colbert County ranks 86th out of 123 school systems in Alabama. Yet they receive more tax dollars than 92 percent of those same school districts. They are wasting our money. Now, they want more of YOUR money to throw at the problem in the hope it will simply go away. Make sure you go VOTE NO on Tuesday, May 26th on the proposed 27% property tax increase in Colbert County. Let the School Board know they need to learn to use the money they have wisely before asking the voters for more!

* Colbert County Schools spends MORE tax dollars per student than 92% of school systems in Alabama, yet they rank LOWER than 70% of schools in the state academically? This tax increase would put Colbert County Schools in the 95th percentile in Per Pupil Expenditure, according to new numbers release last week by the Alabama State School Board, even though they currently spend more than 130% as much per student than the median. If we aren't seeing results at these outrageous levels, why would we expect to see any better results by throwing even more money at the problem?

* The May 26th Special Election to vote on the proposed 27% Property Tax increase in Colbert County will cost the voters between $30,000 and $40,000. If this election had been held last November with the rest of them, it would have been completely free. If the County School Board is going to waste tens of thousands of dollars on a low-turnout election, why should we trust them with more of our tax dollars?

* Colbert County Superintendent Anthony Olivis has been telling people that this is only a 10% tax increase, not a 27% tax increase. Depending on how you look at it, this could be true. If you lump all property taxes together, you get 30 mills, which this vote would increase by 10% if passed. However, this is not what is being voted on. We are voting on the county district-level property tax for the school board, which is currently 11 mills. The tax being increased is being increased by 27%. With no other type of tax increase would you lump everything together and use the smaller percentage. If a municipality had a 2c sales tax rate and wanted to raise it by .5c, nobody would lump it in with all the other sales taxes - they'd naturally see it as a 25% tax increase, as they are measuring that on the tax actually being increased. This is merely an attempt to make the tax sound less burdensome than it is. Even if we went with the Superintendent's number, it would still constitute a 22% total property tax increase over a 2-year period. Whether it is 10% or 27%, it is too much! We are taxed too much already, and our families are hurting. We can't afford to pay more money to a massively mismanaged school board.

*Finally, a previous blog: Olivis Seeks More Tax

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It would seem without Robert Montgomey's guidance, the graduation at Colbert Heights Elementary was less grand than usual, but at a higher dollar price. We've received some complaints. Our initial opinion?

The kids will live no matter if they were robbed or not. The parents are the ones who feel cheated. Make your voice heard at the polls...on Tuesday and at the next school board election.



Shoalanda

1 comment:

  1. What is going on at Colbert Heights Elementary School? A new principal who has been there since January and was able to have a long time janitor fired. I have several kids who came thru this school and I always saw Mr. Pride Working. I am a witness to the other janitor asking kids if their rooms were clean and said if not go tell the principal.
    Maybe the firing of this janitor was part of the deal with this principal who was also hired in a rush and secret. I also pay property taxes in the county and I am not fooled by all the facts and figures put out by Mr. Olivas and Mr. Cornelius. My entire family will vote no. Until I know quality and high standard people are hired I have no intentions of paying another penny in taxes. How can you possible justify the fact of hiring a long time employee and just having a fiend of the principals already standing by to sub when he was out and was immediately hired to replace him. Mr. Montgomery may have had his problems but he was loyal and respectful to all parents, grandparents, students and in fact anyone who was in the school.
    I simply asked the principal what happened to Mr. Pride and she told me all the things he did wrong. The paper said private meetings are held to discuss employees. should this not be the case in the schools also. Hopefully one more year and the system can again clean up the mess made in the last 3 years. But until then I guess out with the old and in with the new will continue. I just don't have extra money to fund getting rid of old employees. VOTE NO Tuesday for the tax.

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