|
Watchdog of the Taxpayer's Dollar Since 1956 Fairfax VA |
 |
| Home | Email Alerts | FORUM | Press Releases | Trend Graphs | Bulletins | Testimony |
Updated Oct. 8, 2004
|
Updated Oct. 8, 2004 |
|
Taxpayer Links
|
FCTA column published in the Fairfax Journal, January. 29, 2001 Proposed sales tax hike will only reward irresponsibility by Arthur G. Purves, President of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance In his Jan. 22 column in The Journal, ``Only Sales Tax Can Stem Physical Decline of Schools," the Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Daniel A. Domenech, suggests that the neglect of school buildings is due to inadequate tax revenues. He is wrong. Taxpayers have funded the school system lavishly. The real problem is that the School Board and administration have been neglecting buildings to expand ineffective programs. Dr. Domenech cites the increase in enrollment. But between 1997 and now, enrollment has increased 10 percent. Over the same period, the school budget, adjusted for inflation, has increased 25 percent, more than twice as much as enrollment growth. The school staff has also grown 19 percent, almost twice as fast as enrollment. This trend has been going on for at least 25 years. Since 1975, Fairfax County Public Schools' inflation-adjusted spending, per student, has increased a whopping 100 percent. This gives the schools, this year, $700 million more than is needed to cover inflation and the increase in enrollment since 1975. Incidentally, over the same period, the school staff has increased four times faster than enrollment. You will not find graphs of these out-of-control spending trends on the school system's Web site, but you can find them on the Fairfax County Taxpayer Alliance's Web site at www.fcta.org. This extra $700 million, each year, could have built the schools needed in Dranesville, Lee District and Lorton. It could have renovated Lake Braddock Secondary, South Lakes High, Woodson High, Glasgow Middle and Freedom Hill Elementary schools, and eliminated the trailers. So why doesn't the School Board spend any of the $700 million extra on school construction? Because the board irresponsibly decided to try to fund all school construction from bond sales, even though the board has known for years that bonds do not provide enough construction revenue. The school facilities problem has been growing for at least 10, and probably 20, years. As a result of excess bond sales, the board will spend more on debt service (the cost of principal and interest to pay for bonds) than it gets from bond sales. Dr. Domenech's proposed FY 2002 budget spends $105 million on debt service, but will raise only $100 million from bond sales. By neglecting buildings, the School Board and administration expanded programs that neither raised achievement nor improved student behavior. These include a massive overinvestment in computers. Dr. Domenech told the press that since 1995, computer spending has increased from $40 million a year to $100 million. The board did not neglect buildings just to prevent larger class size. It neglected buildings to fund a well-hidden build-up in computers. Not only have computers not increased achievement, they have not reduced administrative costs either. In fact, even with computers, administrative costs have increased. Dr. Domenech has introduced many programs to raise achievement, including Excel and focus schools. These would be unnecessary, and the Learning Disabilities program could be reduced, if schools taught phonics-based reading in the regular classroom. However, that will not happen because, as Dr. Domenech also explained to the press, he opposes phonics-based instruction. Taxes are already too high. The Washington Post recently reported that of the $50,000 required by a family of four with two school-age children to live in Fairfax County, the top two expenses are child care ($15,000), and taxes($11,000). Taxes cost county residents more than housing, food, transportation or clothing.High taxes force the second parent out of the home, leaving adolescents unsupervised after school. Unsupervised teen-agers are vulnerable to the temptations of drugs, promiscuity and vandalism, the effects of which also drive up government spending. Remember, it is likely that the Board of Supervisors, whose spending habits are also out of control, will announce an increase in the real estate tax on Feb. 26, thanks to spiraling property assessments. Check out Del. James Dillard's bill to increase the sales tax (HB 2776) on the Internet, at leg1.state.va.us/011/bil.htm. HB 2776 does not have the 10-year sunset provision that Dr. Domenech said it does. It does not require that construction projects be listed on the referendum, as Dr. Domenech claimed. And it does not even require that the money be spent on school construction, as Dr. Domenech also claimed. The bill states that money can be used for construction, maintenance or operation of school facilities At the end of his column, Dr. Domenech notes that the 20 percent increase in the sales tax (from 4.5 cents to 5.5 cents on the dollar) ``will not solve all our problems." Here he is right. What the tax hike will do is reward and perpetuate School Board mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. |