The most mentioned topic around budget time in Habersham County is the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) which, in Habersham County, goes to the school system.
That provision was voted in by the residents of the county four decades ago through a grassroots effort led by Sen. John Foster. That provision will not be undone any time soon.
The county consistently uses the LOST money as a crutch to deflect the ire of angry taxpayers toward the school system, but as has been pointed out many times, we are talking about the difference between the left pocket and the right pocket.
In the last year, Habersham County Schools collected $9.78 million each from LOST and ESPLOST, two of the pennies we and all of our visitors pay in sales tax in this county.
That’s around $19.5 million that went straight to our educational staff and students. If anyone thinks that money was not well spent, they should take a look at the statistics presented at Tuesday’s Board of Education and reported in this edition.
By nearly every metric one can gauge, Habersham County has reached the pinnacle when it comes to the Northeast Georgia region. We are tops in attendance, graduation rates, SAT scores, Milestone test scores, safety, workforce development and more.
Habersham County school leaders have been striving to be the best, which means providing the best educational opportunities for our students.
Sometimes in government, we are not sure where the money goes, but this seems quite clear. The investment made by the residents of Habersham County a generation and a half ago is paying dividends today in the long game.
The folks who voted to give the LOST to the school system have seen their children benefit from it and are likely now seeing their grandchildren reaping the same rewards.
This is a proud school system that has clawed its way up to the top of the region under strong leadership from Superintendent Matthew Cooper and a long list of principals, teachers and Board of Education members who have helped put them there.
There can be no better money spent than an investment in our children. They are our future, and they are the ones who will take this county into the next phase of its development, both economically and culturally.
We applaud the school system, its leaders and our educators for what they do every day for our kids.