Be careful what you wish for
The Guilford County Board of Education includes taxing authority on its wish list. So do many other school boards.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg board has received a big boost from Commissioner Parks Helms, who says most of his board supports giving school leaders the power to raise their own property tax revenues. The idea also requires legislative approval.
What do you think about the idea for Guilford County?
I'm against it because ...
1) One county taxing authority is enough;
2) If the school board had taxing authority, its members would be much more bitterly divided among themselves. They might split between fiscal conservatives and tax-and-spend liberals. And don't kid yourself: Lots more fiscal conservatives would run for school board seats if tax rates were at stake. I think the school board should concentrate on educational policy and let the commissioners come up with the money needed to support school programs.
The power to tax is a grave responsibility. If the school board had it, its very character would be changed in ways that might not actually benefit the schools.
Comments (1)
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I'm VERY against it because the BOE has a proven reputation for MIS-managing money.
Until the GCS administration can spend wisely and stop the mind-set of "more money = smarter kids" they will be hard pressed to find supporters--ESPECIALLY with the shenanigans that they have pulled in the last year with High Point schools.
It would be a cruel joke to give these people THAT much power. We NEED checks and balances in our BOE. Giving them taxing authority would be giving them a blank check, which would be more money to waste. They NEED a HAWK to watch over them, and a babysitter to watch the hawk. Otherwise, we may as well hand our paychecks over to Grier.
Posted on March 1, 2005 1:55 PM