We buy stock in a company because it shows good management, growth potential and success at marketing a product. Investment is the key to viability, and that revenue source is earned every year. Not so with government funded schools. That sucking sound you hear is the flurry of tax dollars flowing into a black hole!

The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education is a non-profit research and advocacy organization. Not surprisingly, their 2008 symposium lists education funding as a pivotal topic. Some say they want a return to the QBE 60%-40% state funding formula. Others say that is not enough. They all want the state to “give back” about $140 million from funding cuts. They all lament the shortfall in state funding over recent years.

Liberal factions in the legislature, like House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) say there is too much pressure on local school systems. What he is not saying is that local systems are killing real estate values through over-taxation. When the state reduces funding, local systems justify increasing property taxes. We are even convinced to approve SPLOST taxes because "It's for the kids." Henry schools, for example, receive two-thirds of local tax revenues - and not one dime of it goes toward public safety, transportation or capital projects in the county.

There are several legislative bills in the hopper that would freeze assessments, rebate state and local property taxes, or completely remove property taxes from the educational funding formula. Providing relief from the taxing authority of local school boards is a good thing. But legislators are failing to address the real problem.

Among the top ten issues identified by the Partnership we find items that would cause any board of directors to fire the corporate executives!

Poverty, Diversity and the Reality of Georgia’s Demographic Changes.
Georgia’s Still Unfinished Business in Teacher Quality.
Charter Schools and Vouchers.
No Child Left Behind – Lingering Achievement Gaps.
The Crisis of High School Dropouts and Unskilled Graduates.
Building a Better Information System.
And lastly, A Deliberate Educational Plan.

A litany of failures, social engineering, and protecting their own turf. Identifying the top issues important to education in Georgia should include curriculum, methodology, focus on academic achievement, raising standards… but, no, this corporate annual report reveals nothing that would entice investors!

The problem is that hundreds of millions of our tax dollars are fed into a system that fails its primary task. The state allocates 56% of its general fund budget to education and it is not enough. Homeowners get annual property tax increases – even in markets when the home cannot be sold. Property assessments are manipulated to increase tax revenues, and have no basis in market reality.

The problem is a broken bureaucracy with unlimited hunger for increased taxation. Real world businesses are forced to provide improvement, growth and a marketable product or face financial ruin. It is called accountability and fiscal responsibility. While legislators are dropping bills to relieve property taxes, why not curb the taxing authority of our school systems? Otherwise we simply continue to enable that sucking sound as tax dollars flow into the dark abyss.