What’s right about Jacksonville’s annexation idea:• It will draw in about 100 students who, because of a legal quirk, live within the Jacksonville school district’s zone but not within the city limits. Everything a school and a city can do to foster unity in the pursuit of education is a plus.
• Annexation of two major manufacturers just outside of Jacksonville will help expand the tax base while providing city services to the businesses.
• While Alabama’s Constitution provides scant home-rule for municipalities to enforce basic government functions, it provides even less in unincorporated portions of a county. It’s practically anything goes on property just outside Jacksonville’s city limits. An undesirable business can build right next to a nice subdivision of homes and nothing can be done. This is a quality of life matter. And it just makes sense for Jacksonville to look after what’s going on just outside its borders.
What’s not right about Jacksonville’s annexation idea:
• In the short run, the annexation being studied won’t come close to fixing the school system’s budget shortfall, says one Jacksonville schools administrator. The funding crunch is hitting right now. At best, any increased tax revenue won’t arrive for several years.
• Annexing means that Jacksonville’s newest citizens will expect city services, something that doesn’t come cheap. Residents need — and in fact, will rightly demand — improved fire and police protection as soon as possible.
• County residents must agree
to be annexed. Given that these homeowners will see their taxes rise, it won’t be an easy sell in a state where the voters’ first answer is almost always, “No!”
It was January’s “No” vote on raising the city’s tax rate that landed the school system in its financial bind.
Voters faced a very simple proposition in considering the 9-mill tax rate. The school system was looking squarely at big-time cuts if it didn’t get more money. Jacksonville’s administrators and teachers had proven good stewards of meager funding, consistently graduating high-achieving students. Tests scores were in the top 15 percent of the state.
None of this was compelling enough to persuade a majority of voters who were anxious to “Say No to Liberal Taxes And Spending,” as anti-tax yard signs read.
So, the voters spoke and the system started making cuts. Drivers’ ed, gone. German, gone. Choir, gone.
Now it turns out, by the unspoken admission of some January tax critics, that these and other programs now on the cutting room floor weren’t “liberal” after all. They equip our children for a brighter future, improve education, make Jacksonville and its schools more attractive and, in the process, provide a smart return for all of us.
We’re still looking for someone who wants an uneducated populace. Too often, we find an attitude that wants quality education on the cheap.
Jacksonville’s education funding bite is being felt by residents. The City Council is looking for ways to raise more money. That’s good. Doing it through annexation, though, is not the magic bullet.
A better use of time and energy would be to convince voters already inside the city limits that approving more money for schools is a matter of economic survival.
