[CharterSchools] TP says YES TO SCHOOL BUILDING PROPOSITION: Dec. 6 Ballot

[charterschools at LACharter.org]

'Yes' to NewOrleans school maintenance tax proposition: Editorial


The EditorialBoard, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 

November 15, 2014 



Times-Picayune editorial board makes the following recommendation for the Dec.6 ballot.


ORLEANS PARISH
SCHOOLMAINTENANCE TAX PROPOSITION
To levy 4.97mills of property tax for the preservation, improvement and capital repairs ofpublic school facilities, minus the millage needed to repay outstanding bonds.


Yes


After HurricaneKatrina and the levee breaches in 2005, the federal government agreed toinvest $1.8 billion for rebuilding schools in New Orleans. As of July, 11new schools were open and seven others had been renovated. From Lakeview toGentilly to Algiers to eastern New Orleans, students are in new classrooms. Inthe Lower 9th Ward, a new high school is under way.By 2017, every student is supposed to be in a new or renovated school.


The focus so farhas been on stretching the funding from FEMA to cover all that construction.But the long-term maintenance of the city's campuses is a significant concern.


Before the flood,many schools in New Orleans were old and in deplorable shape because of yearsof deferred maintenance. There was no dedicated stream of revenue for repairs.


It would be aterrible waste to allow that to happen again with the schools being built orrefurbished post-Katrina.
A property taxproposition on the Dec. 6 ballot provides a sound solution to the problem ofhow to pay for
maintenance ofNew Orleans' public school buildings long-term. If voters approve, a4.97 mill tax being collected to pay off construction bond debt would bereplaced gradually with a 10-year tax of the same amount for maintenance. Theamount of the millage needed for debt service would be subtracted each year,with the remainder going toward repairs and upkeep of the buildings.


The revenues formaintenance would be modest at first but would rise to an estimated $14.8million per year after the bonds are paid off in 2021, according to an analysisby the Bureau of Governmental Research. In addition, the Legislatureapproved using an estimated $13 million per year existing sales taxes dedicatedto schools for the maintenance fund. The sales tax can be used for repairswithout going on the ballot.


If the newproperty tax millage is approved, there would be no increase in what propertyowners pay -- although without the restructuring they would see their taxes godown as the existing debt dwindles.


The money wouldbe divided among all the city's schools according to a formula in thelegislation that creates the maintenance fund. Individual schools would havesome control over how to use their share.


This proposal isa sensible way to ensure that the gleaming schools thousands of New Orleanschildren are attending now won't decay badly over time. There was no such planin the past, and many students had to try to learn in awful settings. Thatisn't acceptable.


There is a broadrange of support for the tax initiative: BGR, the Urban League, Stand forChildren, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Citizens for 1 Greater NewOrleans and other business and education groups.


When the OrleansParish School Board in September voted on the tax revisions, opponents expressedconcerns about how the money would be parceled out. Some people at the meeting,including some board members, were unhappy that the state Recovery SchoolDistrict would share in the resources.
But thousands ofNew Orleans children are attending schools under the RSD umbrella, and theydeserve the benefit of this money. How long RSD will have a role in cityschools and when more schools might return to the School Board's control areseparate questions from this tax proposition.


Flozell Daniels,representing the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, cut to the essence of theissue: What is best for children. It would have been "purenegligence" for the School Board to vote against the proposal, he said."I want my tax dollars to go where my children and my community candirectly benefit."
Former OrleansParish school facilities manager Ken Ducote showed the board a list of 34reports and films from the early 1990s on the terrible condition of cityschools.


Surely no New Orleanian wants the city's public schoolbuildings to ever get to that point again. © 2014 NOLA.com. All rightsreserved.


 

Cheron Brylski
The Brylski Company
3418 Coliseum Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70115
www.brylskicompany.com
(504) 897-6110
FX (504) 897-0778
Cell (504) 460-1468


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