The AJC reports that CDS wants to raise the millage rate by 1 mill (about an $100 increase on a $200k home), after 4 years of declines, so they can hire more staff and give them a pay raise.

Here’s the full text…

While DeKalb County school officials consider possibly laying off staff, Decatur city school officials next year may actually add positions — but they also want to raise residents’ taxes.

A proposed $37 million general fund budget will go next week before city school board members for preliminary approval, and includes a 1 mill increase in owners’ property millage rates.

The increase equates to about $100 more in property taxes on a home valued at $200,000. This is the first city school millage increase after four years of rate reductions. The new rate clocks in at 19.90 mills. By comparison, the rate in 2004 was 20.24, but had declined to 18.90 as of this year.

The proposal comes as the system, now with 2,500 students, grew by about 100 children. It adds three new fourth-grade teachers, two new kindergarten teachers and new middle-school Spanish and choir instructors. For existing staff, it also includes a 2.5 percent pay raise in addition to a 3 percent “step” increase.

Step increases are a salary supplement based on years of experience. DeKalb officials originally proposed not giving county staff step increases, but school board members have suggested cutting some positions in order to restore them.

Annoyed about rising taxes? Don’t forget to first direct your anger at DeKalb County over HOST or get vocal on commercial annexation before taking CDS to task.

So I just noticed that the spam blocker has been a bit over-zealous in the past months and some people’s comments have been blocked. I sincerely apologize for the oversight. I’ve “unblocked” them all, but instead of coming up under the “Most Recent Comments” sidebar (like I thought they might) they are being sorted by date posted, so unless you want to sort through months of postings, you won’t know where they are.

And neither do I. Now that I’ve “unspammed” these (and not noted them first) I don’t have anyway of finding them. However, as I was sorting through the list I noticed that many of the blocked comments were from Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne. She’s mentioned to me in the past that her comments weren’t going through but I never put two and two together, being the brilliant individual I am.

So…as a consolation to everyone that’s been blocked, I’ve collected Lyn’s comments here that have been blocked over the past months, but still have relevance today.

In response to DeVry To Shack Up With AIA-Decatur at One West Courthouse Sq. she wrote

“CDC occupied most of the space in the building while their new facility was being constructed. Their move left several floors open. We look forward to having the Devry’s Decatur campus students join us on the square.”

In response to Details About The Angel’s Future, she wrote

“The property wasn’t owned by Derek Lawford but he holds the lease for the space. Our understanding is that he was attempting to sublease the space because he’s still legally responsible for making the lease payments.”

In response to The Value and Importance of the Downtown Grocery Store, she wrote

“It’s always interesting to me how stores like Trader Joes start out in places that should be a perfect fit for Decatur but once they go corporate and start expanding they only want to look at places like Alpharetta. It isn’t impossible and certainly is one we continue to work. I think a grassroots movement would be great! I wonder if folks have tried Sawicki’s Market down from Taco Mac. She’s really trying to develop the type of urban market that folks are describing. Lynn Sawicki lives in Decatur and I’m sure that she would welcome suggestions on expanding her selections. It’s an amazing place for meat and fish and she’ll give you advice on how to prepare it. Many of the vegetables in the spring and summer come from her personal garden. The selection isn’t large but if people are looking for the neighborhood market option like Europe or NYC this is it. As with all of our small retailers, they are feeling the economic pinch so I urge people to shop locally. If they haven’t tried Sawicki’s at 250 W. Ponce de Leon – between Heliptrope and Kaleidescope — you should.”

In response to Little Shop of Stories Moving into Starbucks Building, she wrote…

“Also let me add that a lease has been signed for the Mick’s restaurant space. It will be locally owned — not a chain — and plans call for a major investment in interior upgrades. We are told the opening should be around the first of July. No lease has been signed on Zocalo but the property owner tells us that he is entertaining a number of promising concepts.”

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Again, I’m very sorry that I didn’t notice this sooner. To me, comments and feedback are the best part of this blog, so please keep commenting! If you’ve had trouble with your comments being posted in the past, they were probably a victim of the spam blocker…so please try again!

Not surprisingly, the debate surrounding the “leveling” of classes at DHS is quite heated and involved.  Pit a bunch of highly-educated and motivated parents against a school board and you can expect nothing less.

In contrast to yesterday’s posting detailing the reasons and research supporting the elimination of “tracking”, Cherie sent along two detailed messages that oppose the move and challenge the research provided by Principal McKain-Fernandez.  (Both can be read in the continuation at your leisure)

I’m not foolish enough to expound further on this subject from a research perspective.  I’ll let the self-proclaimed Ph.D.s fight this out.  I’ll just say from personal experience there are definite merits on both sides of this argument.  Classes with higher-achieving students were always more interesting and engaging than those without.  But at the same time, classes populated with non-honors students were really uninspiring, soul-sucking experiences.

So, what’s the compromise?

Read the rest of this entry »