Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
r ',y
MW.
H Wednesday, March 16, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 40 56 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
Area news:
•Benton marks 75th
anniversary .. page 16A
Op/Ed:
•'Same song, differ
ent singer'... . page 4A
Education sales tax passes 1,305-569
Jackson County, Jefferson schools to use funds toward debt, improvements
BY ANGELA GARY
JACKSON COUNTY voters over
whelmingly voted in favor of renew
ing the education local option sales
tax (ELOST) Tuesday.
The referendum passed in a 1,305-
569 vote with 70 percent of the vot
ers casting a ballot in favor of the
one-cent sales tax.
Jefferson voters also passed in
a 309-54 vote a bond referendum
linked to the ELOST.
The one-cent sales tax is expected
to bring up to $100 million to the
three school systems over the next
five years.
The proceeds would be split
among the three school systems
according to enrollment, with
Jackson County getting 62.7 per
cent, Commerce 12.7 percent and
Jefferson 24.6 percent.
Both the Jackson County and
Jefferson school systems plan to
use the sales tax revenue to address
debt.
The Jackson County system will
obligate up to $30 million of its pro
ceeds to retire its 2005 bonds, and
the rest for new capital projects.
Jefferson voters will use its sales
tax revenue for improvements at its
elementary school and high school.
Sports:
•Dragons top Panthers
on baseball diamon
page 1B
Features:
•Student art contest
winners named
page 1C
•JHS AFJROTC team
wins second overall in
state competition
page 28 C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-27C
•Church News
page 7B
•Obituaries
pages 8-9B
•School News
pages 12-15 A
O -s
TREE FESTIVAL HELD IN JEFFERSON
The first annual Tree Festival was held in Jefferson Saturday afternoon. A large
crowd turned out to browse through the plants and trees offered by local vendors,
check out art and crafts, listen to bluegrass music and sample barbecue. Here, a
painted gourd displayed at the Scott Peppers Folk Art tent is pictured. See page
10A for more photos. Photo by Jana Mitcham
Pre-K still on hold
County schools not taking
applications yet for 2011-12
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
ALTHOUGH Gov. Nathan
Deal has signed off on
changes to the state’s lottery-
funded pre-kindergarten pro
gram, some schools are still
awaiting final word on a few
issues before taking applica
tions.
The Jackson County
School System isn’t taking
pre-k applications for the
2011-2012 school year until
officials learn more about the
revamped program — par
ticularly a shortened calendar
and funding.
Facing a potential revenue
shortfall, state legislators
last week approved chang
es to the popular HOPE
Scholarship program, which
also funds Georgia’s free,
universal Pre-K program.
Deal signed the changes into
law on Tuesday.
Initially, the governor pro
posed cutting the pre-k pro
gram from 6.5 hours a day to
four hours a day. But, educa
tors and parents raised con
cerns about trimming pre-k
instruction to a half day and
how they would handle after
school care.
Deal later changed his
proposal for the program
— which will remain at a
full day, although the school
year will be shortened from
180 to 160 days.
Class sizes will also be
increased from 20 students
to 22 students — creating
2.000 additional Pre-K slots
for students in the state.
The Jackson County School
System has 180 Pre-K slots
among nine classes in its
district. The expanded class
sizes will create 18 addition
al slots in the school system,
according to Gwen Hartman,
director of special programs.
Jackson County typi
cally takes pre-k applica
tions from March 1 through
April 12, but will probably
won’t start accepting appli
cations until later in March,
Hartman said. Once district
officials have more informa
tion about the changes to the
program, the school system
will start taking applications
and will likely extend the
deadline.
The state hasn’t specified
if local school systems or
the state will determine the
particular dates for the short
ened 2011-2012 school year
calendar for Pre-K classes,
Hartman said.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson
City School System — which
has 80 Pre-K slots — is still
taking applications.
The Georgia Pre-K pro
gram is also available at
some day care centers that
participate in the venture.
Students struggle on end-of-course math exams
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
LIKE THEIR peers across
the state, local high school stu
dents appear to be struggling
on a revamped math curriculum,
according to test results.
The Georgia Department of
Education recendy released
school results of the End of
Course Tests (EOCTs), which
are given each semester to high
school students as they complete
their core curriculum courses. A
student’s EOCT score accounts
for 15 percent of their final
course grade.
Statewide, 42.6 percent of high
school students failed the Math I
EOCT and 35.1 percent didn’t
meet standards on the Math n
exam given in December.
Last spring, the statewide
failure rate was 35.6 percent in
Math I and 47.7 percent in Math
n, according to the Georgia
Department of Education.
For local students. Math n has
proven to be tougher — as more
kids are failing that exam than
Math I, according to test results.
In December, 55.8 percent
of Commerce High School stu
dents failed the Math n EOCT.
followed by 49.2 percent of East
Jackson Comprehensive High
School students, 35.3 percent of
continued on page 2A
Jackson County, Jefferson and Commerce School Systems Failure Rate Percentages
Math I
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
U.S. History
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
JCCHS
30.9
21.8
JCCHS
27.2
15.4
EJCHS
31.8
42.3
EJCHS
37.2
30.5
JHS
23.1
15.3
JHS
21.1
13.0
CHS
37.2
29.0
CHS
22.7
34.5
State
42.6
35.6
State
43.9
38.2
Math II
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
Economics
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
JCCHS
35.3
28.5
JCCHS
21.9
8.5
EJCHS
49.2
41.0
EJCHS
25.2
10.7
JHS
27.4
21.7
JHS
2.5
10.5
CHS
55.8
27.3
CHS
32.3
29.8
State
35.1
47.7
State
27.4
29.7
Biology
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
American Literature
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
JCCHS
11.8
15.6
JCCHS
11.3
11.3
EJCHS
24.8
22.7
EJCHS
15.8
14.6
JHS
17.7
6.2
JHS
2.3
3.9
CHS
4.4
23.9
CHS
4.5
5.9
State
35.9
33.8
State
15.1
13.9
Physical Science
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
9th Grade Literature
School
Winter 2010
Sorina 2010
JCCHS
15.5
11.3
JCCHS
14.4
18.4
EJCHS
9.0
14.8
EJCHS
14.5
19.0
JHS
*
*
JHS
3.2
4.1
CHS
14.8
5.9
CHS
7.4
8.8
State
31.1
27.9
State
20.7
20.6
‘The Georgia Department of Education doesn’t provide percentage scores of schools if fewer than 10 students take an End of Course Test in a semester.