In his last letter opposing the ESPLOST, Mr. Edward Marshall alleges that the local school boards have “poorly” planned and are behaving irresponsibly in calling for bonds to be issued in connection with the March 1st referendum.  

He poses a number of questions and implies that because he doesn’t know the answers, something must be nefarious. He concludes with a false and hasty generalization that the school boards are being irresponsible.

As the late Patrick Moynihan once stated, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts.” Mr. Marshall’s position is not supported by the facts.

The Thomas County School System has been honored the last two years by the Georgia State Department of Audits and Accounts for Excellence in Financial Management.  The county school property tax rate is in the bottom quartile state-wide.  These facts do not suggest that the school board is financially irresponsible.

Proposed facility projects are part of comprehensive five-year facility plans that are vetted by external visiting teams and approved by the Georgia State Board of Education. ESPLOST will fund items critical to the support of local schools.

Mr. Marshall notes that there is a difference in the revenue cap and the bond amounts listed in the resolution and asks why there is a difference.  Both systems have projects that have been identified to be funded with bonds and other “pay as you go” projects. “Pay as you go” projects account for the difference between the bond amounts and the total estimated collections.

Mr. Marshall also questions the wisdom of issuing bonds to forward fund projects. When interest rates are at historical lows, as they are now, and with annual increases in construction costs and big-ticket items like school buses, the school districts get a better value by issuing bonds to fund projects at a lower cost than would be required if they waited years for funds to accumulate to make purchases when the costs would be higher. It would be financially irresponsible not to take advantage of historically low interest rates.

Moreover, there are nonmonetary costs involved in delaying some projects.  Should we leave security needs unmet while funds accumulate?  Should we spend property tax dollars making expensive repairs to patch roofs and repair inefficient heating and air-conditioning systems that could be replaced with low-cost bonds?  Should our students ride in unreliable school buses when we have a financially responsible option? Bonding capital expenses is financially responsible and necessary to meet school system needs.

When Mr. Marshall opposed ESPLOST III, I invited him to my office and answered his questions about that ESPLOST program.  I invited him back whenever he had a question.  Rather than take me up on that offer when it came to ESPLOST IV, he has chosen to raise rhetorical questions in the newspaper in order to cast aspersions on efforts to support our schools, leaving me with the impression that he really doesn’t want his questions answered because the answers don’t support his opinion.

Dusty Kornegay

Thomas County School Superintendent