Brian Vanderhoff's North Fulton Real Estate Blog

Under a new law (HB 251) signed this year by Governor Perdue, parents of Fulton County Schools students have the option to enroll their child in any FCSS school that has available classroom space.

If you would like to request a transfer from your child's home school to an eligible transfer school for the 2009-10 school year, please visit www.fultonschools.org/dept/studentassignment for an application or call the Student Assignment Office at 404-763-6801. Applications will be accepted from July 15 - July 29, 2009

Placement will be determined by lottery drawing. Parents will be notified of transfer approval and enrollment guidelines. Bus transportation will not be provided.
Elementary Schools:
Mary M. Bethune, Medlock Bridge, Mount Olive, Mountain Park, Love T. Nolan and Roswell North

Middle Schools:
Haynes Bridge
Note: School availability subject to change based on enrollment capacity. High School transfer requests have already been fulfilled under the FCSS Open Enrollment Process.

More information about public school choice can be found on the school system's web site.

Labels: fulton county schools, governor sonny perdue, house bill 251

Just three line items totaling less than $2 million in the 2010 state budget met with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s displeasure.

Perdue on Wednesday signed the $18.6 billion spending plan, but unlike past years, he found little to quibble with in doing so.

The budget that now becomes law for the year beginning July 1 is $2.5 billion less than the budget passed during the 2008 session of the General Assembly.

“Cutting the budget has forced a number of difficult decisions, but we have managed the state in a thoughtful, conservative way to ensure Georgians are receiving value for their tax dollars,” Perdue said in a statement.

The budget includes $23 million for trauma funding and more than $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money for Medicaid and other programs. It avoids new health insurance premium increases for 225,000 teachers and state employees, but no raises.

The budget features more than $1 billion in year-to-year cuts as well as $1.2 billion in borrowing for construction projects, mostly for schools and libraries.

“It looks like we’re all pretty much in agreement,” House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans) said.

Harbin did say that the limited number of vetoes were a — pleasant — surprise.

“We’ve dealt with so many things in the past, this is kind of a signal that the governor and Legislature worked together in tough economic times,” Harbin said.

Harbin’s counterpart in the Senate, Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), was likewise pleased, but not terribly surprised. Perdue didn’t have much choice, he said.

“There’s no spending in it much, so it really is just a lot of pain,” Hill said. “Frankly, this year, because we’re operating under such duress and all the pressure of cutting, the House and Senate worked together better than we have. There really weren’t many options anyway.”

Here are the items vetoed:

» $25,000 in general funds for the Georgia State Games Commission. The commission operates the state’s annual Olympic-style championship.

» $250,000 in bonds for the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center in Savannah to design and construct a covered biofuels testing facility through the sale of bonds. The state already issued $2 million in bonds for the center, of which $900,000 remains unspent.

» $1.6 million in bonds for the University System of Georgia to acquire a museum. Lawmakers approved the bond sale for Darton College in Albany to purchase a local museum of art. The only problem: the museum isn’t for sale.

Labels: 2010 state budget, Budget, Georgia, governor sonny perdue, vetoes

Attention homeowners: Your property assessment cannot increase until after January 2011.

Legislation Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law on Wednesday makes sure of that. House Bill 233, sponsored by Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta), prevents local governments from increasing the assessments used to calculate property taxes for three years, ending with the 2012 tax year.

Of course, assessments may be lowered, a distinction that is important as counties deal with the effects of another new law that requires assessors to consider foreclosures and other distressed properties when setting property values. That has led to thousands of homes seeing assessed values fall.

Some counties have needed a little extra push to convince them to do that, however.

Labels: freeze property assessment, Georgia, governor sonny perdue, Property Taxes

Department of Energy Approves Request for Release of Crude from Strategic Petroleum Reserve

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman approved a request Wednesday from Gov. Sonny Perdue for additional releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to refineries in the Gulf Coast region.

"Today the Department approved an additional release of up to 900,000 barrels of crude oil from the SPR for two refiners that have not been able to obtain adequate supplies due to the ongoing disruptions," Secretary Bodman wrote. "With this additional release, the total amount provided from the SPR to refineries will be approximately 5.7 million barrels since Sept. 3, 2008."

Perdue asked for the additional releases on Monday after hearing that refineries may have excess capacity as they restart their operations.

"These crude releases will help ensure that the Southeast continues to receive consistent fuel supplies as we continue to see more stations receive fuel and lines shorten," Perdue said. "I appreciate the administration's quick response and their concern for the fuel shortages we have experienced."

Out-of-state haulers

After Tuesday's announcement that the Department of Revenue will grant temporary waivers for out-of-state haulers to bring in supplies to Georgia, the state has identified new suppliers that are bringing in at least 150,000 additional gallons of fuel per day. That number could grow as additional suppliers are identified in other states that have excess capacity that they can bring to Georgia.
These supplies include both regular fuel and diesel, and will be distributed throughout the state based on identified acute shortages. Diesel will be directed to any first responders and school systems that are seeing low supplies and to the state's major agriculture centers so that farmers continue to have a strong supply available.

The DOR temporary waiver allows out-of-state haulers that do not hold a current Georgia motor fuel license to bring supplies into Georgia as long as they apply for a Georgia license within 72 hours. These haulers would normally have to apply and be granted a license before coming into the state.

DOE Update

The Department of Energy also released an update on the recovery of fuel production in the Gulf Coast.

Power outages – Outages are now down to just 35,000 people without power in Texas. Crews are making rapid progress restoring power – about 154,000 people were reported without power on Monday.

Percent "shut-in" – The U.S. Department of Energy reports 57.1 percent of crude oil production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico is offline. This is a slight improvement from Monday, when 57.4 percent of capacity was out.

Refineries – Only one refinery remains completely shut down, and only three refineries are considered "restarting". This is significant progress as almost all refineries are either back to normal or seeing reduced production.

These figures above come from the Department of Energy's daily situation report. The complete report is available at: http://www.oe.netl.doe.gov/docs/2008_SitRep_21_Ike_100108_12PM.pdf .

Labels: crude oil, Feds, Georgia, governor sonny perdue, strategic petroleum reserve

Eight Fulton County Schools administrators have been recognized as "High Performance Principals," by Governor Sonny Perdue and State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox.

A total of 112 principals statewide were acknowledged for overseeing dramatic improvement in student achievement in their schools last year.

To make the list, principals must be the catalyst for improvement at a low-performing school or take a high-performing school to an even higher level; have been at the school for three consecutive years and be recommended by their school system.

The High Performance program started in 2006 to identify excellence in school leadership. Since its inception 19 Fulton County principals have been recognized. Four of the eight 2008 honorees, Sonia Terry, Steven Curry, Elizabeth Fogartie and Ed Spurka, have been recognized each year since the program began.


2008 Georgia High Performance Principals

• Steven Curry — Findley Oaks Elementary School

• Susan Dorenkamp — Heards Ferry Elementary School

• Elizabeth Fogartie — Webb Bridge Middle School

• Trey Martin — State Bridge Crossing Elementary School

• Dawn Melin — River Trail Middle School

• Ed Spurka — Roswell High School

• Sonia Terry — Crabapple Crossing Elementary School

• Peter Zervakos — Northview High School

Labels: fulton county schools, governor sonny perdue, high performance principals, principals