The new school year is now upon us, along with the contortionist demands required of parents by the new school start times. As we send our little ones back to the schools, it seems appropriate to respond to the endless barrage of damage control articles cranked out by the school system’s primary propaganda arm – the Forsyth County News. In just the last 41 days, we have seen 15 articles and 2 editorials written about the school system. A few dealt with neutral issues regarding news events, but most were clearly meant to portray positively or to outright praise the school system. A few of these pieces are particularly worthy of a response.

Did we really get a property tax cut? Certainly not. There are enough smoke and mirrors here to make David Copperfield envious. The Board of Education gets credit for cutting taxes when they did no such thing. Of the growth in the tax digest this year, $333 million came from property value re-assessments. This means that, on average, your home was given an increase in its assessed value that wiped out any benefits you would have received with the lowering of the school tax millage rate. It is a politically clever, yet dishonest way for politicians to pretend that they are cutting your taxes. It is also worthy of a separate discussion to explain how property taxes are calculated and divided between the school board and the county maintenance and operations – a roughly 80 to 20 split.

What about these amazing new whiteboards? The rosy pictures painted for us would indicate that every student’s SAT score will double and halos will surround our schools. Certainly, technology is a fine thing. But at what cost? The Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University is producing quality MBA graduates without any such system. A high quality education is clearly available without them. In a perfect world, we could add these products without impacting the school budget. Yet what we have seen is a whopping $20 million jump in the school budget all while being told that we had to radically change our school start times in order to save a comparably paltry $500,000 in transportation costs.

Not only are your dollars being freely spent, so are your pennies. Our children are charged fees varying in severity for the privilege of using lockers that were already bought and paid for by you, the taxpayer, and are maintained by employees already on the taxpayer funded payroll. At least we had enough money to buy some slick whiteboards and to boost our superintendent’s pay by $20,000! When you factor in that sweetheart deal of a “tax cut”, we must be doing pretty good.

It is particularly offensive that the radical change in school times was made without any research or input from the parents and taxpayers of this county. The current Board of Education members, while claiming to be Republicans, are operating contrary to their party’s platform of open, honest government by shutting out the people. Doubters should just try to speak to the Board of Education. The bureaucratic mess you must endure will prove that your voice is neither welcomed nor desired. Make no mistake – these policies are not supported by the local Republican Party leadership (nor any other level of Republican Party leadership).

Finally, we are constantly reminded of Forsyth County’s stellar performance in standard testing and AYP progress. These achievements are certainly welcomed, yet while the administration and politicians race to the microphones to take credit, the real contributors are lost. These goals were met largely through the hard work shouldered by the Forsyth County school teachers and parents. Teaching is already a difficult enough calling with teachers having to frequently deal with a lack of supplies and support. When you add to that burden the cloud of fear and retribution that casts a wide net over teachers and principals willing to speak up against wasteful or ineffective administration practices, the achievement of the teachers is truly amazing. In addition, there is a dedicated, supportive parent behind every successful student pushing her to greater heights.

Let’s tip our hat to the teachers and parents, but not to those holding the chains that restrict even greater success. Let your (allegedly) Republican elected representatives know that you have had enough of their hidden tax increases and dishonest dealings with the people. Unless we the people hold them to account, we can expect nothing less than the duplicitous mediocrity that we have elected, nor the continual spinning of the truth by their accomplices in the media.

Chris Goldston

Corresponding Secretary of the Forsyth County Republican Party