Commissioner Jim Puckett,
District 1
jhpucket@bellsouth.net
Commissioner Dan Bishop, District 5
Dan@votedanbishop.com |
|
The Truth About Utilization
of Newly Replaced Urban-Core Schools
http://billjames.org/ListBuilder/listbuilder-email-9-22-2005-Busting
the CMS Mythbusters.htm
"....Rather,
CMS and the Chamber simply told us
one thing when they asked approval
to spend the money; they now tell us
another to hide that the money was
spent foolishly.........Is it any
wonder that there is a crisis of
confidence in the stewardship of our
tax dollars and public schools?
It's time for a new direction. No
more poorly prioritized, wasteful
spending. Vote NO on the school
bond issue, and the County Commission can begin focused funding of
the real school construction
priorities THIS FALL."
In
June, five Republican officials
urged the Board of Education to
propose an affordable school bond
referendum focused on the most
critical construction need—new
schools and new seat additions. In
our recommendation, we mentioned
that, because of poor prioritization
in the recent past, suburban
overcrowding has been insufficiently
addressed while “serviceable schools
[in the urban core] were razed and
replaced only to be half-filled.”
We cited eight examples and
observed that reconstructed First
Ward Elementary “has 49 classrooms
for 639 students—13 students per
room.”
The
School Board ignored our
recommendation and sent a whopping
$510 million request to the Board of
County Commissioners. There, the
Democrat majority whittled it—by
cutting funds for new school sites!
We have urged voters to defeat this
still-bloated, misprioritized school
bond and then ride herd on the
Commissioners to accelerate
construction of new seats with COP’s
(Certificates of Participation
Bonds) , STARTING THIS
FALL.
Two
weeks ago, on behalf of a
well-financed pro-bond campaign,
school board member and Chamber of
Commerce official Kit Cramer labeled
a “myth” our report of half-full,
newly rebuilt schools. She claimed
utilization rates of 89% or more for
the eight schools we cited, except
for two in the mid-60s and one that
is a foreign language immersion
program in transition. A number of
recently replaced schools, Ms.
Cramer claimed, are at more than
100% capacity
Well,
Ms. Cramer, you didn’t say where you
got your numbers, but we’ll tell you
where we get ours. From CMS and your bond campaign web site.
The
table below sets forth 2004-05
utilization rates of every one of
the replaced schools cited in your
memo. (The schools in bold are the
ones we mentioned in our paper.)
The figures are calculated from the
CMS 2004-05 20th-day enrollment
list and school capacities of
reconstructed schools published by
the bond campaign: See “Bond
Projects 1996-2005,”
http://www.voteyesforbonds.com/SummaryBondFundYears.pdf
|
School |
Enrollment |
1 |
Capacity |
3 |
Cramer Utilization
Claim |
Actual 2004-05
Utilization |
Sq. Ft. Per Student |
6 |
|
Barringer ES |
676 |
|
800 |
|
92% |
85% |
137 |
|
|
Druid Hills ES |
428 |
|
800 |
|
89% |
54% |
217 |
|
|
First Ward ES |
639 |
|
800 |
|
119% |
80% |
146 |
|
|
Highland Mills Mont. |
231 |
|
572 |
4 |
88% |
40% |
210 |
|
|
Lincoln
Heights
ES |
471 |
|
800 |
|
100% |
59% |
195 |
|
|
J.H. Gunn ES |
653 |
|
800 |
|
112% |
82% |
138 |
|
|
Merry Oaks ES |
529 |
|
800 |
|
129% |
66% |
182 |
|
|
Pinewood ES |
388 |
|
800 |
5 |
115% |
49% |
220 |
|
|
Selwyn ES |
517 |
|
572 |
|
124% |
90% |
149 |
|
|
Sterling ES |
430 |
|
800 |
|
89% |
54% |
215 |
|
|
Windsor
Park
ES |
541 |
|
800 |
5 |
121% |
68% |
178 |
|
|
Ashley Park ES |
268 |
|
572 |
|
64% |
47% |
270 |
|
|
Billingsville ES |
550 |
2 |
800 |
2 |
81% |
69% |
173 |
|
|
Eastover ES |
440 |
|
575 |
|
114% |
77% |
146 |
|
|
Eliz. Trad. ES |
522 |
|
575 |
|
103% |
91% |
182 |
|
|
M.P. Trad. ES |
620 |
|
800 |
|
102% |
78% |
170 |
|
|
Oakhurst ES |
479 |
|
800 |
|
83% |
60% |
200 |
|
|
Oaklawn ES |
184 |
|
572 |
4 |
58% |
32% |
410 |
|
|
Thomasboro ES |
420 |
|
800 |
|
92% |
53% |
251 |
|
|
Westerly Hills ES |
337 |
|
800 |
|
66% |
42% |
220 |
|
|
Walter G. Byers |
430 |
|
800 |
|
91% |
54% |
211 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2004-05 20-day
enrollment. Curent
facilities management
stats produce similar
results |
|
2 |
Independently sourced |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
Planned capacity per
www.voteyesforbonds.com/SummaryBondFundYears.pdf |
|
4 |
Capacity not stated;
projected from similar
cost Ashley Park project |
|
|
5 |
Capacity assumed by cost
equivalent to full
replacement. |
|
|
|
6 |
From CMS-furnished
square footage figures,
excluding trailers |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Median utilization - 9
schools bolded: |
|
|
|
54% |
|
|
|
- all replaced
schools: |
|
|
60% |
|
|
|
Median from Cramer's
figures, 9 schools: |
|
| | |
