How Georgia's Delegation Fared

The National Taxpayers Union just released its Congressional Ratings for the 1st Session of the 110th Congress. The results for the Peach State delegation are striking:

“A” Rating
Nathan Deal (Republican – District 9) 90%
Lynn Westmoreland (Republican – District 3) 90%
John Linder (Republican – District 7) 89%
Tom Price (Republican – District 6) 88%
Phil Gingrey (Republican – District 11) 86%

“B+” Rating
Jack Kingston (Republican – District 1) 84%

“D” Rating
Jim Marshall (Democrat – District 8) 29%
John Barrow (Democrat – District 12) 17%

“F” Rating
John Lewis (Democrat – District 5) 7%
Sanford Bishop (Democrat – District 2) 5%
David Scott (Democrat – District 13) 5%
Hank Johnson (Democrat – District 4) 3%

Neither Charlie Norwood nor Paul Broun (Republican – District 10) were rated, though one may easily guess were either may have fallen. The state average for the House of Representatives was 50%.

Over on the Senate side of the Capitol, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson each scored 75%, which works out to a rating of B+.

Any analytical commentary on my part would obviously be superfluous, as the numbers speak rather well for themselves. See the NTU’s press release and ratings.

Addendum - John McCain received an NA rating due to a lack of applicable votes, while Barack Obama (5%) and Hillary Clinton (3%) both received a rating of F.

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The Truth About QBE Austerity “Cuts”

Advocates of big government routinely claim that reductions to projected budget increases are the same thing as budget “cuts,” even as the budget in question continues to expand. Needless to say, this claim is as specious as it is pervasive – which brings me to the question of QBE funding.

For those who may not know, Georgia’s Quality Basic Education Act (QBE) dates from the 1980s. The legislation did a lot of things, but over the years most of the focus on QBE has concerned the state’s funding of public education. Specifically, QBE established an arcane and convoluted formula for determining the state’s annual contribution to local school systems. The economic downturn of a few years ago predictably resulted in a reduction of state revenue, hence “austerity reductions” were introduced into QBE funding as a cost savings measure.

To paraphrase Maus, it was here that the troubles began. That is because even though the austerity reductions have continued, the actual cuts to funding lasted for two years only. Since then, the state’s QBE funding to local school systems has grown dramatically. The political demagoguery of the issue, however, has continued apace.

As is my custom, I will use the Clarke Count School District to illustrate the point. We will assume FY 2002, the fiscal year prior to the introduction of austerity reductions, as a baseline: FTE is “full time equivalent” student, that is to say the CCSD’s number of students; QBE is the total of state QBE funds contributed to the CCSD; and Austerity Reduction is the difference between QBE earnings according to the formula mentioned above and the actual number of dollars contributed to the CCSD for each fiscal year indicated.

FY 2002
FTE 10,921
QBE $43,134,498
Austerity reduction $0
Per pupil $3949.68

FY 2003
FTE 10,989
QBE $42,394,751
Austerity reduction $1,119,072
Per pupil $3857.93

FY 2004
FTE 11,122
QBE $40,583,318
Austerity reduction $2,321,688
Per pupil $3648.92

FY 2005
FTE 11,258
QBE $41,258,951
Austerity reduction $2,719,741
Per pupil $3664.86

FY 2006
FTE 11,311
QBE $43,309,132
Austerity reduction $2,719,717
Per pupil $3828.94

FY 2007
FTE 11,415
QBE $46,766,651
Austerity reduction $1,342,765
Per pupil $4096.95

FY 2008
FTE 11,834
QBE $49,948,819
Austerity reduction $1,100,429
Per pupil $4220.79

As can be clearly seen, actual budget cuts occurred in FY 2003 and FY 2004 only. Despite the continuance of “austerity reductions,” though, QBE funding to the Clarke County School District has risen in every subsequent fiscal year in both absolute and per pupil terms. Even with austerity reductions totaling $11,323,412 over the period, the state’s QBE contributions to the Clarke County School District have increased by 15.80% (6.84% per pupil) from the FY 2002 baseline and 23.08% (15.67% per pupil) from the FY 2004 nadir. Remember this the next time someone decries state “cuts” in education funding, which will happen presently as the CCSD budget for FY 2009 begins to take shape.

Feel free to verify these figures for yourselves; with the exception of per pupil and percentage calculations, which are mine, they are all taken from the Department of Education’s Mid Term System Allotment Sheets for the CCSD spanning the period FY 2002 through FY 2008. And yes, I spoke to the DOE's Financial Review folks to make sure that I was reading them correctly.

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Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

If your live in Athens-Clarke County and want to run for elected office, here is your chance. The following information concerning qualifying fees and dates is verbatim from the local Board of Elections:

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 21-2-131(a)(1), the following qualifying fees were set by the Athens-Clarke County Commissioners in their January 2, 2008 Regular Session meeting:

• Judge of Probate Court $2,173.02
• Clerk of Superior Court $2,173.02
• Chief Magistrate $2,173.02
• Tax Commissioner $2,173.02
• Sheriff $2,424.58
• Coroner $ 426.38

Qualifying for the office listed above will begin at 9:00 am on Monday, April 28, 2008 and end at 12:00 noon on Friday, May 2, 2008.

• Judge of State Court $3,491.74
• Commissioner of ACC $ 450.00 (Even-Numbered Districts)
• School Board Member $ 108.00 (Even-Numbered Districts)

Qualifying for the non-partisan offices listed above will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, June 23, 2008 and will end at 12:00 noon on Friday, June 27, 2008. The General Primary will be held on July 15, 2008 and the General Election will be held on November 4, 2008.

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What Price Fungibility?

I will be the first to acknowledge that the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, along with its constituent members, has just as much right to try to influence government policy as do the rest of us. Even so, the condescension, hyperbole, and disdain exhibited by some ACHF members - admittedly not all – concerning the Kappa Alpha fraternity and its recent demolition of a couple of old houses on Reese Street, an action entirely in accord with existing zoning ordinances by the way, prompts a pointed observation on my part. (See here, here, here, here, here, and here; taking particular note of the rhetoric employed).

ACHF routinely advocates more restrictive historic preservation ordinances, supports hastily-adopted development moratoria, suggests that property owners take less for their holdings, and decries those property owners who do not submit meekly to the organization’s narrow vision. Predictably, these actions have the consequence of increasing the costs and bureaucratic hassles of developing or redeveloping private property. In other words, ACHF is perfectly content to spend other people’s money rather freely. The next time someone from ACHF puts forth such arguments, though, just remember that he or she does so as the direct beneficiary of the taxpayers’ largess.

That is because the ACHF office, located at 489 Prince Avenue, is the property of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, and by that I mean the taxpayers, which leases it to ACHF for the staggering sum of $1 per year – a rate I verified through an inquiry made to Athens-Clarke County’s Central Services Department.*

The current value placed on the property by the Clarke County Board of Tax Assessors is $256,400: $40,000 for the 0.04 acres of land occupied by the building (for the non-mathematically inclined, that works out to a staggering $1 million per acre) and $216,200 for the structure itself (at 1512 square feet, that works out to a pricey $143 per square foot) - rented for the princely sum of one solitary greenback a year. Any guesses as to what the true market rent for a similarly-sized building located on a main thoroughfare into the downtown area is? I don’t know, but I’ll wager that it is significantly more than 8¢ a month.

The point is that whatever money ACHF is not spending on renting its publicly-owned headquarters frees up those funds to lobby the Unified Government to grant its wishes, through either direct expenditures, enacting policies, or otherwise pursuing the organization’s legislative goals. Political science and economics types will immediately recognize this concept as “fungibility.”

It is true that ACHF acts as a “secondary” organization that ostensibly works toward the public good in exchange for its essentially free rent, by performing such services as operating the Athens Welcome Center. It is also true that several other organizations have similar arrangements with the Unified Government, including the Junior League of Athens (Taylor-Grady House), Morton Theatre Corporation (Morton Theatre), and Town & Gown Players (Athens Community Theatre). The conspicuous difference is that these other “secondaries” do not lobby the Commission to curtail the property rights of, and inflate the costs incurred by, their fellow citizens in their attempts to use their own property. More importantly, neither do their members routinely lambaste those with differing opinions or political priorities with gratuitous, ad hominem attacks.

So, how about this as a solution: the Unified Government could either cancel ACHF’s sweetheart lease and charge the group a market-based rent or, better yet, declare the property surplus and put it up for sell, thereby returning it to the property tax digest. To my mind, this proposed solution would constitute a win-win-win situation; the Unified Government cold use the money thus raised to replace whatever services ACHF might no longer provide at the Athens Welcome Center, the ACHF's more radical folks could continue to hector the rest of us to their hearts’ content, and my tax dollars would no longer be subsidizing their tantrum-laden activism.

Any takers?

*Those interested can see the information on the Prince Avenue property from the CVIOG and the Board of Tax Assessors for themselves (the parcel number is 17-1-A1-G-001).

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GACR Convention - 2008

The theme of this year’s convention is “The Future Is Yours.” Scheduled speakers include Georgia Republican Party Chairman Sue Everhart, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, various Senators and Representatives, some special guests, and candidates for public office (after all, it is an election year).

The convention takes place on Friday and Saturday, 28-29 March, at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta. The conference runs from 6:00 p.m. on Friday until 3:00 p.m. on Saturday

Registration, which is free, includes the Chairman’s Awards Banquet on Friday evening and a buffet lunch on Saturday. If you need a hotel room for Friday night, the cost is $29.

Register for the convention and check out the GACR blog.

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Georgia Among Best Managed States

The purpose of this post is mainly to annoy the progressive types here in Athens. That is because whatever problems are identified in local government, consisting of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County and the Clarke County School District (and they are legion), the locals will inevitably trace them back to a paucity of funds from, or attacks on local control by, the evil Republicans who control state government - as opposed to the wanton spending and conspicuous over-regulation that occurs at the local level. From the 10 March edition of the Office of the Governor’s Week in Review:

Georgia Receives Highest Grade in the Southeast; Grade Rises to B+

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Pew Center on the States and Governing Magazine Monday ranked Georgia among the best managed states in the nation in the Grading the States 2008 report. Georgia’s overall grade of B+ is the highest awarded to any state in the Southeast. Governor Sonny Perdue traveled to Washington D.C. today to speak at the luncheon where the results were announced and to share some insights into how he has transformed Georgia’s state government.
“We have made sensible, strategic reforms in Georgia to make government more efficient and more responsive to the needs of our citizens,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “As a result, Georgians are getting better value for their tax dollars and better service from their government, and we will continue to work to surpass every other state and become the best managed state in the nation.”
Only three states received a higher grade than Georgia's B+, and four other states received the same grade as Georgia. The national average among the 50 states was an overall grade of B-. Thirteen states earned grades above the national average and 19 states were below the national average.
Georgia’s overall grade was determined by averaging the state’s score in each of four categories: “Money” B+, “People” A-, “Infrastructure” B, and “Information” B+. Georgia’s previous overall grade was a B in 2005, the most recent year the study was conducted. This year’s study is the fourth in the series.
The 2008 report emphasized the value and impact of improvements made by the Governor’s Commission for a New Georgia, an initiative Governor Perdue launched shortly after being sworn-in as Governor in 2003. The commission is made up of private sector business and community leaders who offer a fresh perspective on how to make government more efficient and effective.

See the Pew Center on the States, Governing, and the Commission for a New Georgia.

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Goodbye, Farewell and Amen*

Mike Huckabee pledged his supporters that he would stay in the GOP presidential contest until such time as a candidate secured the number of delegates required to clinch the nomination.

True to his word, the Governor bowed out gracefully last night when rival John McCain reached the requisite 1191 delegates. Even so, considering the comparative paucity of staff and funds with which Huckabee waged his campaign, he achieved stunning results. In conceding, Huckabee proved himself a team player, vowing to support McCain, the Republican Party, and GOP candidates for the US House of Representatives and Senate.

I think that too many wannabe pundits wrote Huckabee off as simply the “evangelical” candidate, ignoring his positions on a wide range of issues. As the editors of the Dallas Morning News noted in their recent endorsement:

. . . Mr. Huckabee, 52, should be a top leader in tomorrow's Republican Party. His good-natured approach to politics – "I'm a conservative; I'm just not mad about it," as he likes to say – is quite appealing after years of scorched-earth tactics from both parties. He's a pragmatist more concerned with effective government than with bowing to ideological litmus tests. For example, he has proven himself willing to violate anti-tax dogma to undertake investment in infrastructure for the sake of long-term prosperity.

Mr. Huckabee also is good on the environment, contending that the future of the conservative movement depends on embracing conservation and stewardship of the natural world. And he's a compassionate conservative especially in tune with middle-class anxieties in a globalizing economy.

Though I may differ with McCain on a number of high-profile issues, I think that he is a far better choice than either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton (hardy a surprise, I know). And with that, I will set presidential politics aside for a while. More about that and the veep sweepstakes later.

*Apologies to the 4077th.

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Upcoming UGACR Speakers

The UGA College Republicans have an impressive slate of speakers scheduled for the remainder of the semester. They include:

Secretary of State Karen Handel discussing Georgia’s voter identification requirements on 05 March

Congressman John Linder talking about FairTax: The Truth on 19 March (though it has nothing to do with the UGACRs per sé, in a related event Neal Boortz will be hosting a free FairTax webinar on 06 March).

Tenth district incumbent congressman Paul Broun and challenger Barry Fleming will debate on 03 May.

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Public School Accreditation Follies

Here I go again, citing statistics from the Georgia Department of Education concerning per pupil expenditures, graduation rates, and AYP progress. The context this time is the potential revocation of the Clayton County School District’s SACS accreditation. This story keeps getting bigger and bigger; as the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Secretary of State have all become involved.

But what would losing accreditation mean? I realize that it may cost some students their eligibility for HOPE scholarships and such (through no fault of their own - which would really suck), but does a loss of accreditation mean anything objective insofar as the quality of instruction or academic performance of a school district are concerned. I maintain that it does not.

The reason I can make this claim is quite simple, as the following numbers will reveal:

State of Georgia
FY 2007 per pupil expenditure $8428.05
2006-2007 graduation rate 72.3%
2007 AYP 82.2%

Clayton County School District
FY 2007 per pupil expenditure $7453.37 (11.56% below state average)
2006-2007 graduation rate 71.8% (0.07% (below state average)
2007 AYP 67.8% (17.52% below state average)

Clarke County School District
FY 2007 per pupil expenditure $10,746.94 (27.51% above state average)
2006-2007 graduation rate 58.4% (19.23% below state average)
2007 AYP 57.9% (29.56% below state average)

Thus, the Clayton County School District, which outperforms its Classic City counterpart by a substantial margin and at considerably less cost, may lose its accreditation due entirely to non-academic misteps, while the chronically underperforming Clarke County School District remains in good standing.*

Can someone tell me just what in Hades is wrong with this picture? Such a distorted situation merely brings to mind my earlier comments as to what a meaningless concept public school accreditation really is. I fully understand that accreditation has no demonstrable relation to the academic performance of a given school district’s students – and that is precisely my point.

*You may have heard talk of a Cedar Shoals High School parent filing a formal protest with SACS, but that concerns a specific personnel matter and has nothing to do with student achievement. I know nothing about the specific issue other than what media has told me. For those interested, see here and here.

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Huckabee Donation Drive

The Hucakbee for President campaign has a donation drive scheduled for Thursday, 28 February. The purpose of the drive is to fatten the coffers as we head into the GOP primaries slated for Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont next Tuesday.

“Firewall,” meaning a must-win situation, has become a popular term this campaign season. This upcoming group of contests probably amounts to that for Governor Huckabee, as John McCain can virtually assure himself of the Republican nomination with a good showing. Even so, Huckabee has vowed to remain in the campaign until such time as McCain has the nomination mathematically locked up.

Besides which, I think that it is good to have someone through which the party's base can put McCain on notice regarding his leftward tendencies - and having Huckabee draw protest votes may serve McCain well in the end by forcing him back toward the center on a few high-profile issues (or perhaps not).

Regardless, Huckabee is calling on McCain to participate in a “Lincoln-Douglas” style debate prior to next week’s primaries, though the latter has refused. Even if I find McCain’s position annoying, which I do, as a practical matter he is entirely correct to dodge any tête-à-tête with his nearest rival. McCain occupies the commanding position with regard to delegates and is the presumptive nominee; he has nothing to gain and much to lose by debating Huckabee at this point – so he is not going to do so.

Finally, thanks again to Jamey Loftin for letting us use the “Moose Room” at the Locos Grill and Pub on Barnett Shoals Road to view primary returns on Super (Duper) Tuesday. Check out the picture of Nathan and Avery in the Banner-Herald.

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