Back again: Taxing authority for school boards
The School Board Fiscal Responsibility Act revives debate on a question that's been kicked around for a long time and will come back every time county commissioners fail to meet funding requests from local school boards.
It gives school boards the authority to assess and collect property taxes.
Sponsors include Earl Jones and Pricey Harrison of Greensboro.
Taxing authority is an item on the legislative agenda of the Guilford County Board of Education.
Same for the N.C. School Boards Association.
The Charlotte Observer endorses school board taxing authority in an editorial today.
We have to disagree with our friends in the Queen City. Commissioners are the appropriate county taxing authority. It's their job to weigh all the funding needs of the county and set a tax rate that addresses priorities and is fair for taxpayers.
What's your view?
Comments (8)
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When you have minority no-bid contract profiteers and delusional social workers with no fiscal sense on the schoolboard like we have had on GC schoolboard for the last millenium, it's simply nonviable.
Posted on May 27, 2008 3:33 PM
The last thing that the citizens of Guilford County (or any other county, as far as I am concerned,) need is another political body with authority to tax them. The problem is not taxes, it's spending.
Posted on May 27, 2008 3:46 PM
The bill also would let school boards directly receive a portion of county sales-tax revenues and state school construction funds and issue bonds.
Posted on May 27, 2008 3:52 PM
Paul,
You're right on target. The BOE has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to spend the money provided properly and to get the most bang for the buck. I'm not sure the current BOE does either.
Posted on May 28, 2008 8:41 AM
We already have one group (county commissioners) of mostly incompetent, dishonest boneheads who have access to our wallets.
Now another even more irresponsible, more incompetent bunch of self-serving boneheads want access to our money. If this happens it will be time to begin an annual two week hunting period where we can shoot these fools on sight!!!!!
Posted on May 28, 2008 12:54 PM
Tony, this time you are kidding, right?
Posted on May 28, 2008 2:36 PM
NO!
And then the mental health folks will want taxing authority and then the community college folks will want taxing authority and then the sheriff's office will want taxing authority and then and then and then....
We might as well go ahead and declare ourselves a socialist society.
Posted on May 29, 2008 8:46 AM
Cutting back on athletic programs would save a lot of money that would be better spent on classroom education. One example of how screwed up parents' priorities are occurred last summer: At the same time that social workers were being cut from the staff, the board of ed. allocated more than $300,000 for new turf sod in a few of the new athletic fields -- just so that football wouldn't be inconvenienced while waiting for grass seed to grow. Why? Because parents would have screamed bloody murder if anything inconvenienced athletics for more than five minutes.
Posted on May 29, 2008 10:05 AM