Hey No to Sweeney, you act like education is some complicated matter that only people who have fed from the "public education" trough can understand. IT IS NOT. But it does require some common sense.

By all accounts, however, the "education" people on the CCSB sorely lacking in the area of common sense.

SWEENEY has shown more than a glimmer of common sense thru his answers to MDJ questions. Snell to a lesser extent. Combine that with the fact Snell is a part of the problem (long time Cobb Educator type) and Snell just makes no sense. You can't keep inbreeding and expect it to yield genius, let alone common sense.

To West Cobb Widow, the post is actually more than a month old. There seems to be letters reposted regularly and I agree with you to stir up the readers. Kind of like the on line poll where there are only two choices neither which represent the topic such as the recent one "is the Tea party racist" yes or no are the only choices without a choice as to "are some in the tea party racist". Certainly this kind of stuff stirs up the readers.

Why are you running a letter to the editor which is over a week old? Haven't you gotten any other letters since that time that could be run - or do you just not like what you are receiving. I believe the real reason is to stir this topic up again. And I really believe I should pay this extra tax so teachers can receive health insurance, and if as it is in other states, their families are included, at little or no cost. I am on a fixed income, and my heart just bleeds for the teacher who was complaining that he was gonig to have to put in a few dollars a week to help pay for his health insurance. Try paying over $3,000 a year in medicare premiums plus secondary, which is what I, a single person, must pay on a fixed income with the government deciding there was no "cost of living" increase last year, nor will there be this year, so seniors receievd no cost of living increase. Of course, what you aren't told is they do not consider food and transportation increases into this number to justify "no cost of living increase" for TWO years.

Thank you "Do the Math:" Your post adds some economic clarity to the issue.

Go get some real facts... The Sweeney's son was in my daughter's class this past year at Sope Creek. Plus you might want to check out which family ran one of the major fund raisers of the school year.

This is my first time writing on one of these things but you need to be fair and truthful.

First off the biggest cause of debt is the BOE and the idiots on Glover Street who fall under a spell any time a salesman with a new widget walks through the door.

The first SPLOST promised no more trailers, right that really happened, didn't it!

Then we had the laptop fiasco, the all eletronic class rooms with the fancy electronic blackboards, the WiFi in the buildings, the new fancy designed schools that were all over budget, GPS for the buses and tons of other crap that is hidden from the taxpayers until the MDJ digs it out.

When was the last time the BOE did a line item audit of the budget? Probably never but just the Supers word it was OK.

As a matter of fact has the BOE ever made the line item budget open to public inspection?? Not that I know of and if you ask to see it at their offices you get stonewalled.

And just why do we need all of these high paid people in the main office, and what exactly are their job descriptions?

Last what are they bringing in outsiders to do the tribunals? What does HR do?????

Sorry but the entire BOE along with Sanderson need to be tar and feathered and run out of town!!!!!

Oh - please Sweeney supporters - I mean summer fantics - don't put C-E and Snell in the same bucket.

Sweeney has NO experience in school at all - except of course when he attended. Supposedly he has kids at Sope Creek - but I haven't seen any list where he has volunteered AT ALL.

I won't be voting for someone that the Crooks supporter/sumer advocates are backing.

I might just be looking at another party!

Hey fallguy - check under your bed tonight, I think there an illegal has camped out there and he's raiding your fridge when you're asleep. No matter what the problem, what the issue, what the cost - the "solution" is always the same - get rid of illegals and utopia ensues. Great insights dude. If only those illegals would rent apartments in Gwinnett - all of Cobb's problems would be solved immediately. Do you even know how many illegals are in Cobb Schools? Have you counted them? Must be at least 100,000 I'm sure.

To:Do The Math.....Cobb is over run with children from undocumented citizens. By law they too must attend school. When these more then one family lives in one home it causes a burden on the system. Many live in apartments or trailers. Though Cobb County has less mobile home parks then 40 yrs ago the number of apartment homes has resin. The owners of these apartment homes pay one flat property tax on value. If 12 family's living in multiple apartments per acre pay 4 or 5 times what a single home owner would pay then the schools would still be short by 6 or 7 family's paying tax on a property. If you want to be fair this is where they should start. I have great admiration for the undocumented in that they are not afraid of work. But on the other hand they too need to pull thier own weight in paying tax's. All who live in apartments should pay part of the school tax. When all is said and done the bottom line is schools need to get back to basics.

You are right about not making old district employees members of the board of education. Don't expect Snell to be any different from Crowder-Eagle.

Most likely, both are nice grand parents but they just do not have the experience to run a budget which approaches one billon dollars. Both have said the problem with education is they need more money (higher taxes).

There is not much we do about Crowder-eagle for two years but Democrat acting Snell should be kept out of office on July 20th.

Bravo, Mr. Boyette.

How many times must it be said? Seniors have already paid their dues in property taxes. Many seniors live on a fixed income and social security barely provides for the needs of those for whom it is the only source of income.

New board? Definitely! Their behavior, comments and decisions oppose the quality of instruction and support provided by the majority of our teachers.

Throwing money at every new bandwagon that comes along? Definitely! Central office administrators should trust our teachers to be creative/innovative with existing curriculums.

Top-heavy administration? Definitely! Big bucks are paying the salaries of administrators in central office who create nonessential paperwork for teachers – busywork that has nothing to do with instruction except to negatively impact our children by taking away time that teachers need to reflect on instruction and plan lessons.

The problem is definitely not lack of money from our seniors.

An easy claim for Mr. Boyette to make as long as he presents no facts. Residential exemptions lowered the amount of taxes collected by Cobb Schools by $86 million in 2009 - more than 18% of total taxes actually raised. The value of exemptions granted has been growing at a rate of 7% per year and is likely to accelerate. If nothing changes, granted exemptions will increase by another $34.5 million within five years -- over and above the 18% of total collections already forfeited today. But the probability is that exemptions will grow much faster in the future because the number of County homeowners aging into their 60's is exploding. CCSD taxes not collected from people over 62 will simply be charged as a double digit tax increase to everyone else. The solution is inevitable. Seniors receiving the exemption today can keep receiving it, but the qualifying age must be incrementally raised over time. To do otherwise is fiscal stupidity.

A family with 2 kids living in a $250,000 house will pay about $23,000 in total school taxes over the 12 to 13 period those children are in public school, while the taxpayers' cost of educating their 2 kids through graduation easily exceeds $200,000. The argument that homeowners should be able to stop paying school taxes after their kids graduate is absurd -- unless of course they are expected to pay 100% of their kids' education costs while in school.

It would be nice if someone in Cobb County actually studied this issue rather than submit emotional and baseless opinion.

am I wrong or doesn't apartment building owners required to pay taxes? How is that determined for the school tax? Perhaps that is what need is to be looked at for consistency, base it on a fixed amount per unit vs value. Then we can get the illegals paying too!

to resentful- do not use logic here please, it only shows the ignorance of our legislators.

Before you make seniors pay school taxes again, why not collect a tax from apartment dwellers (payable as part of the rent and submitted to the school system by the apartment management). There is an incredible amount of parents with children living in apartments who never pay school tax and they benefit big time! Now that's a novel idea!

I have had to pay additional taxes for the past thirty plus years living in Cobb and extra taxes to cover the seniors who were exempt. I have no problem being taxed as a senior, but if you want to start taxing seniors I want the extra amount I payed over the years to benefit seniors rebated to me.

Wise up, boys and girls. The senior exemption has been in place for 37 years!! This is not something that just started and can HARDLY be blamed for the district's current problems.

I agree with New Board below who says that it's time to get rid of anyone connected with the current board. New Board is right that Snell and Crowder-Eagle are in favor of tax increases, and Borden is a puppet for the TAD-friendly Abraham, Mathews and Allegood. He would divert your tax dollars AWAY from education into land development.

Read all you can about these candidates - and look into their backgrounds and you will agree that the seniors are not the problem here.

We should start getting rid of illegals, jailing employees who hire them. Then we can see exactly what we need to provide education paid for by Americans and for the benefit of Americans only.

look at all the money spent on technology that may or may not be used. Does it really help educate students or is it just a project that will look good on a resume? Yes, it is SPLOST money, the old separate pot of money we hear so much about, but they are replacing things that are only a year or two old. What a waste and poor leadership in technology and central office/Board for approving it

No, seniors don't need to continue paying for school - especially since our kids are graduating with no job skills and are too dumb to get into college. What's more, it is the overload of anchor babies from illegals that swell the classrooms and overburdern the system.