LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Half-cent sales tax would address unequal funding
Published 10:34 pm Friday, April 20, 2018
Dear Editor,
Selma School Board President Johnny E. Moss III recently wrote a letter to the editor concerning a one-half cent sales tax passed by the Dallas County Commission in 2012 to benefit the Dallas County Schools. As President of the Selma School Board, Mr. Moss is a strong voice for the Selma City Schools. However, some of the statements and implications of his letter need a response.
The published letter states that the intention of the Dallas County Commission to pass a tax to benefit county schools but not city schools is “problematic.” We disagree and think that it is important to know the following facts:
- The discrepancy in financial status between city and county schools is not a matter of one school board or the other being more fiscally responsible and therefore more financially sound. The fact is that there has long been unequal local funding of Selma and Dallas County schools primarily due to the fact that the Selma City Schools receive a portion of Selma’s tax dollars, over and above what is received from the county and the state.
Dallas County schools not only receive less local funding, but their transportation expenses far exceed the transportation costs of the city schools. In FY 2012 alone Dallas County Schools expended approximately $435,000 more of local funds on transportation than the Selma City Schools did.
That same year the Dallas County School System could not meet the state required reserve of one month’s operating expenses and there was concern about the state taking over the system. The lack of sufficient local funds resulted in a situation which led the Superintendent of the Dallas County Schools to request assistance from the Dallas County Commission.
The Commission responded to this need by enacting a one-half cent tax to avert a crisis and to ease a long-term funding problem.
- While it is true that the bill was passed with no input from the Selma City Schools, the action of the Dallas County Commission was well publicized at the time and the full ordinance was run in The Selma Times-Journal.
No one from the city schools raised any objection to the Commission’s action, and it was only through a routine state audit in 2014 that the county became aware that city schools were entitled to a share of the revenue from the one-half cent tax.
- It is unfortunate if some feel that the Dallas County Commission is seeking to punish city students because of the county schools’ financial woes. The Commission is simply responding to the reality that local funding for county schools lags far behind local funding for city schools, and this inequity has contributed to financial woes. The intent of the Commission is not to punish city students but to help county students achieve parity.
The agreement reached between county officials and local legislators prior to Representative Chestnut’s reversal would have bolstered the county schools’ revenue while also providing for the re-payment of the debt owed to the city. Under this agreement the Commission would rescind the existing tax and the local legislators would support a replacement tax to be split 80-20 between county and city schools. This split would more realistically address the unequal funding that has long existed.
Mr. Moss’s job is to advocate for the system which he serves. However, local legislators have a broader responsibility to look out for all students, including those who live outside the city limits of Selma.
Elected officials should do the right thing even if it is not the popular thing. It certainly won’t be popular for members of the Dallas County Commission to rescind the current tax, but if that is the only way to get the local legislators to support a solution that would ease the current inequity, they may have no choice.
Kimbrough L. Ballard
Chairman of the Dallas County Commission
