Board of Education struggles between saving tax money and buying locally

The Wilkes County Board of Education struggled with the competing desires to cut the budget and to use local companies whenever possible in its regular October meeting Monday night.

The lease for system-wide copier services was up for bids, and Superintendent Joyce Williams and her staff had worked to compare the bids received and give her recommendation to the board. She was prepared to recommend the low bidder, an out-of-town vendor, based on all the criteria the board had given her, she said.

Board Chairman Ricky Callaway said that things had changed with the economy, and that local leaders had to help local businesses. "We've got to keep every dollar we can in Wilkes County," he said. "I don't fault the superintendent. It's easy to pick the low bid, but it's bigger than that now. We've got to look at things differently now. A lot of things have changed in the last 30 days."

Board members Kay Finnell, Kelly Powell, and Bob Guin agreed. Pointing out that the difference between the low bid and the local bid was not large, Guin said, "If the local company can provide the service at a comparable price, we should always take the local company."

Board member Steve Albertson took the side of the numbers. "I understand wanting to do business with local businesses, but the other side is the best use of our resources. I support local businesses when I can, but this is taxpayers' money and I'm more careful."

Williams made the recommendation to accept the low bid, but the motion failed for lack of a second. Callaway asked the superintendent to study the bids and come back with a recommendation at next month's meeting. No bidding information was disclosed, he stressed.

In other business, the board decided to hold off paying membership fees to the Consortium for Adequate School Funding after reviewing the Consortium's dropping of its lawsuit and hearing of a question as to whether public funds could be used to pay for the county's membership in the group.

The council also decided to allow Linc Energy Solutions to conduct a no-cost feasibility study, agreeing that by the time the study is done, money may be available to engage the company's services.

In her construction report, Williams said that high school and middle school principals were evaluating what furniture went and what didn't, that change orders were moving forward, and that the middle schools wings A and C were 95 percent complete. The builders say the school complex will be available to turn over in January, she said, but she expects it to be February.

The board passed two requests for out-of-state trips, one for the Tiger basketball team and coaches to travel to Calhoun Falls, S.C. in January, and one for six teachers to travel to a Reading First conference in Nashville.

The school system's software to track students will soon lose its tech support, and Williams proposed that the system change over to PowerSchool. Funds were found in the budget to purchase the new software. The board approved the purchase in the amount of $29,470 to be spread over the 2009 and 2010 budgets.

The board also approved the expenditure of $15,689 for a new cafeteria steamer for the elementary school to replace one that quit working.

The meeting began with a spotlight on the Advanced Placement program at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School. Teachers Donny Swinson and Dr. Margaret Sloan operate the program, which offers four AP courses: AP Calculus, AP Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, and AP Government. Although Wilkes County leads the rural area in course availability, Sloan said, the average freshman at the University of Georgia has taken five AP classes, and some suburban schools offer 30 courses.

Swinson said that the program had an open enrollment, and 30 percent of the test-takers were black, which has been recognized by the state. Last year, some 70 percent of those taking an AP course passed the end of course test, and the program has saved some $130,000 in college tuition for Wilkes County students.

Two Wilkes County students, John Lovvorn and Josh Cosby, have been named AP Scholars, he said, placing in the top 15 percent of test takers. Cosby, now a Georgia Tech student, even discovered a computational shortcut in AP calculus problems that will soon be published in a math teaching publication, Sloan said.

Finally, the board appointed Kay Finnell as legislative liaison to the Georgia School Board Association for the coming year.