Craig Cardella said his wife Anne was a current Valdosta City Schools teacher and former Teacher of the year, and he was a former city manager who had done community development all his life.

I can tell you without doubt this is the most damaging useless thing I’ve seen proposed in many many years. This will do more damage to our community than just about anything I can think of short of a hurricane running through the middle of town. It will damage both the county and the city school systems severely. It will hinder the growth of the education of our children. It will cause chaos among the city and county school staffs, both of which are like this, because a lot of times they’re the same people.

Here’s the video:

The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardell @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

More transcription; he’s just getting to the best parts:

The issue we now face, though, is one that I am very familiar with, and that’s taxation. As a former local government consultant I am very familiar with it.

…

I can tell you without any reservation that when this passes, the additional bureaucratic and administrative requirements on our schools will raise the millage a minimum, a minimum, of 8 mils the first year. A minimum of 8 mils the first year.

…

And this is not speculation. I spoke with a Lowndes board member whom I’m not going to name, because that’s unfair: he can speak for himself. … He gave me a number slightly less than that.

I was with a Lowndes administrator today at the courthouse on a different matter, and that number was confirmed on the high side.

…

This is going to be devastating. If we talk about recruiting industry, this is going to kill us.

Not to mention the controversy that we’re going to have for the next three or four years, because this won’t pass. It won’t. People in this community are not willing to be bullied by a group of Chamber of Commerce know-it-alls who don’t have a dog in the fight.

[applause]

I just want to set the record straight. If anybody says this is going to save you money, tell them: prove it!

If anybody says this is going to improve education of our children:

prove it!

And I think that should be the model for all of us from now on. When somebody feeds you a pack of garbage about consolidation being good for our community, all you have to say is:

prove it!

And they can’t.

-jsq

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