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The Paper | Thursday, September 18, 2014
Jefferson High, Lanier Tech re-sign for dual enrollment Jefferson City Schools Superintendent Dr. John Jackson and Lanier Technical College President Dr. Ray Perren signed a new dual enrollment agreement at the Sept. 11 meeting of the Jefferson City Schools Board of Education meeting. Dual enrollment is the process through which a high school student takes courses from a state public or private college while still enrolled as a high school student and receives credit both at the high school and at the college. Through dual enrollment, high school students can have several college courses completed before high school graduation. Dual enrollment increases the classroom
COMMISSION Continued from 1A
■■ Lathan Road from Westwood Road to the city limits ■■ Panther Drive from Highway 11 to the bus shop entrance In addition, four dirt roads will also be surfaced in another contract, according to Poe. In other business, the commission: ■■ Agreed to provide a work detail for the Georgia Department of Transportation using eight to 10 inmates
options available in a high school and encourages students to continue their education. Students also experience the rigor of college courses and get a jump-start on college and a career. The document, which was signed as Lanier Technical College officials including Dr. Howard Ledford and Jefferson City Board of Education members looked on, spells out the administrative guidelines for the Dual Enrollment-HOPE Program as set forth by the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) Division of Career Technical and Agricultural Education and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) Office of Technical Education.
from the Jackson County Correctional Institution (JCCI) based upon an intergovernmental agreement. This is the second year of the agreement through which the state uses JCCI inmates under the oversight of a full-time JCCI correctional officer. GDOT provides the van for transportation, tools, equipment, supplies and materials that will be needed for the inmate detail. A GDOT supervisor handles coordination of daily work assignments. This year, the reimbursement rate will increase from $52,000 annually to $57,464
annually and covers the county correctional officer’s salary, benefits and other associated employee costs, said Poe. The intergovernmental agreement can be cancelled by either party with a 60day notice. The term of the agreement is for one year being retroactive for July 1 through June 30, 2015. ■■ Voted to allow administrative approval of alcohol license renewals which reflect no changes rather than bringing each renewal to the board for approval. New applications would require a public hearing.
John Lipscomb For The Paper
Jeremy Maddox will be competing in Oak Grove, Calif., next fall as a part of the 2015 USA Disabled Waterski Team. His selection was announced during the recent national competition.
MADDOX
Continued from 1A Not only does Maddox participate in adaptive sports such as waterskiing, softball, basketball, racing and tennis because he has always been athletic and passionate about sports, but also because he believes that “you never know who you will inspire.” “I like to use my situation as an inspiration to everyone, not just people in wheelchairs,” said Maddox. “If someone is feeling down or depressed, I want him or her to look at me and think ‘if this guy in a wheelchair is winning gold medals in adaptive sports and living life to the fullest, then I can live life to the fullest, too’.” The event also featured a USA vs. the World competition, pitting U.S. disabled water ski athletes against disabled water ski athletes from Australia and Canada. The U.S. tallied 9,337 points to the World’s 6,764 points. “It was a lot of fun to compete with the Australians and Canadians,” said Maddox. Maddox says he is also extremely grateful for how accommodating everybody was at White Stone Lake Estates in Talking Rock. He mentioned the individuals who worked at the event went above and beyond to ensure the athletes were comfortable and able to perform to the best of their
abilities. The ramps were recently updated and the entire event venue was extremely accessible. Maddox even mentioned that the ski “crowd” feels like one big family with lots of love and compassion when everyone gets together for events. However, the extreme competition is still there. “I am so impressed with the people who worked and volunteered at nationals,” said Maddox. “Adaptive athletes need help. Sometimes we need help with our skis or
getting out of the water, and these people went above and beyond to help. The ski community is very tight knit and I love being a part of it. The help and enthusiasm was much appreciated.” The USA Disabled Waterski Team selections were made while at Talking Rock and Maddox was selected to be a part of the 2015 team. The competition will take place Sept. 21-27, 2015, in Elk Grove, Calif., and Maddox says he is eager to see what he will accomplish there.
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Tumbling Waters Society presents
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BARROW COUNTY
BOE explores options in school exemption error By ZAC TAYLOR
Regional staff
The Barrow County School System will be getting nearly $2 million more in revenue this year thanks to the recent discovery of an old error, but correcting the error for the current year and for the future is as much as the county can do, according to new tax assessor Don Elrod. The extra money from previous years, which the school system could have conceivably taken in had the county not adopted a $10,000 homestead exemption for the school district as opposed to the smaller $2,000 exemption it should have, will remain in the pockets of the county’s taxpayers, as is stated in Georgia Code 48-5-303. “The county board of tax assessors shall have authority to correct factual errors in the tax digest when discovered within three years and when such corrections are of benefit to the taxpayer. Such corrections, after approval of the county board of tax assessors, shall be communicated to the taxpayer and notice shall be provided to the tax commissioner,” part a of the code states. Since the taxpayers actually benefited by the county incorrectly attributing its higher homestead exemption to the school system as well following a county commission vote in 1998, Elrod said the county has done all it can. “It’s an unfortunate error,” he said. “We found it, we fixed it, now we’re moving on.” The fix for the current tax digest means all taxpayers who receive the homestead exemption (which is anyone who lives in a residence and also
owns the land beneath the residence) will see a $148 rise in taxes. As long as the school system doesn’t rollback the millage rate from its present 18.5, that means a helpful boost for the fiscal year 2015 budget. A few BOE members, however, weren’t content at last Tuesday’s meeting to accept the problem being fixed for the present and the future, with Lynn Stevens in particular asking what could be done about the more than $20 million she estimated the county had missed out on. BOE Chairman Mark Still said at the time that it was highly unlikely the county could do anything more and said last week that the board would still be investigating what could be done. “We’re still going to get somebody to look at it,” he said. “We want to explore our options, and we owe it to the taxpayers to do that.” Elrod did note that, since the school system had con-
tinued to examine the tax digest each year since 1998 and then set their millage rate accordingly, that they had been working with the framework of the current arrangement, even if they didn’t know exactly what was going on. Elrod did acknowledge that, if the school systems had recognized the error earlier that they could have brought in more revenue, but they also could have simply worked with a lower millage rate, which would offset the revenue gain. Still acknowledged this point as well, although he did say that minus the error the school board could, if it had wanted to, have brought in more revenue and possibly kept some programs it had cut if it had maintained the same millage rate. Which is why the school board is not quite ready to move on just yet. “We’re going to explore our options,” Still said.
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