Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Dividing line reappears during SPLOST vote

When I moved back to the Chattahoochee Valley in 2001, the first person to mention Macon Road was my Realtor.

You know where this is going. She suggested we look at homes north of Macon Road.

We did, and in the end, I think she was right. We found a comfortable home in a nice, safe neighborhood with solid schools and a lot of good people. It happened to be closer to the Harris County line than to Macon Road.

Like most people who've moved into any Columbus home or apartment, I wasn't trying to choose a side or make a statement. I just live where I live.

But a night like Tuesday makes you think.

That's when the votes were tallied for and against the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to fund $192 million for school projects. Of course, we knew before Tuesday night that Columbus is a different place above Macon Road than it is below it, and the people are different. At least, the people face very different challenges and opportunities.

Above Macon Road, less than 10 percent of people are unemployed, the median income is more than $50,000, and the median home value is about $190,000.

Below Macon Road, more than 15 percent of people are unemployed, the median income is less than $30,000, and the median home value is less than $120,000. This is according to statistics provided to the Ledger-Enquirer in 2014 by the Columbus Planning Department.

Did we forget something?

Yeah, test scores.

This election was a referendum to renew a tax funding school projects. Speaking of schools, every one of the 15 elementary schools that averaged a score of 80 or higher on the 2014 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests -- across all subjects and grades -- was located above Macon Road.

And all but one of the 13 elementary schools that averaged a score below 75 on the CRCT was below Macon Road.

Overall, the north schools had an average CRCT score of 86, while the south schools made a 67.

Oh, and we forgot to mention another thing: race. More than 65 percent of the people above Macon Road are white. More than 70 percent of the people below Macon Road are black.

But we already knew all that. What we didn't know for sure was how each side was going to vote. Now we know.

All but one of the 13 precincts below Macon Road voted for the SPLOST. At the one that didn't, the majority-white Edgewood Baptist Church precinct, less than 2 percentage points separated the "yes" and "no" votes.

All but three of the 14 precincts above Macon Road voted against the SPLOST. The ones that didn't were St. Paul United Methodist Church and Wynnbrook Baptist, two of the city's whitest and wealthiest precincts, and the majority-black Gallops/Hannan precinct.

So voters below Macon Road overwhelmingly wanted the SPLOST to pass.

Advanced voting results show that south Columbus voters staked a big lead and then built on it at the polls. Most impressive was the St. John/Belvedere precinct, which had a voter turnout of about 58 percent -- the only precinct in the city with more than a 30-percent turnout. Advance voters there favored the tax by 69 percent, and election-day voters boosted the final to 71 percent.

And voters above Macon Road ultimately rejected the SPLOST.

Advanced voters in more than half of the north Columbus precincts favored the SPLOST, but far more people went to the polls on election day, and Tuesday voters turned five of the precincts from "yes" to "no." For example, Psalmond/Mathews and St. Andrews/Midland favored the tax in advanced voting, but election-day voters squeaked out a narrow defeat.

The most dramatic turnaround was at Fox Recreation Center, where 78 percent of advance voters chose "yes," but only 29 percent of the precinct's election-day voters agreed -- dropping the final "yes" vote to about 39 percent.

So what does it all mean? Theories abound.

Here's mine: People below Macon Road voted "yes" because they're desperate. The schools are failing, and residents are ready to try anything to stop the vicious cycle of poverty.

And above Macon Road, the majority voted "no" because they're skeptical of the ability of the school system's leadership, at least historically, to improve schools and wisely spend money. And maybe, just maybe, they wonder if the schools below Macon Road will ever achieve a passing grade, and whether it's worth a try.

What about all those voters from Green Island and Wildwood who favored the tax? Many believe in the Muscogee County School District Superintendent, David Lewis, who came to town talking about abolishing the Macon-Dixon line, has a 10-year plan to improve the schools, and has said he plans to keep Columbus High School a total magnet school.

What's your theory?

Dimon Kendrick-Holmes, executive editor, dkholmes@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Dividing line reappears during SPLOST vote."