Cobb school board adopts FY 2026 budget; CFO retiring

The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved a $1.8 billion fiscal year 2026 budget that provides modest staff raises and maintains a propery tax rate of 18.7 mills.

The budget (which can be found at this link) includes borrowing $43 million from reserves and is based on projected 2.1 percent growth in the Cobb tax digest.

The raises, which are based on STEP increases, go up to 4.6 percent. The tax digest growth, which is less than recent years, wouldn’t fund those increases, Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said.

Board member Becky Sayler asked him if he’s “confident” the budget includes enough funding and resources to address staffing and equipment issues presented last week by the district’s fleet maintenance staff.

Among their complaints were that many school buses are old and pose safety hazards, and that they can’t fill open positions due to low pay.

“Yes, absolutely,” Ragsdale responded, adding that that those concerns have prompted an investigation that he said is “pretty restricted as to what can be discussed publicly.

“The transportation and our buses are in safe operating condition.”

Another line item in the budget involves funding an additional $950,000 for the district’s marketing and communications staff.

The matter came up during a board work session on Thursday afternoon when board member John Cristadoro of Post 5 in East Cobb, who owns a digital media company, asked how Cobb’s marketing dollars can best be used to promote the district to prospective new families.

“It’s my experience that you have to reach consumers where they’re at,” he said. “There’s so many different ways to consume content. There’s a lot of questions about where’s a million dollars going to go.”

John Floresta, the district’s chief strategy and accountability officer who oversees that unit, said that some of the additional money will allow Cobb to target and customize content down even to the school level.

“More content, about your kid’s school, delivered to parents’ inboxes and social media feeds,” Floresta said.

The communications operation has come under fire by some district critics, especially following a public comment scuffle before a September 2023 meeting that has led to a federal lawsuit.

At a public budget forum before Thursday night’s meeting, East Cobb resident Heather Tolley-Bauer of the Watching the Funds-Cobb watchdog group, asked why the extra money is needed, if “our quality speaks for itself and 98 percent of our teachers renewed their contracts?

“What story are we spending nearly $1 million more to tell? In a tight budget, where can that money be better spent?”

Thursday’s meetings were the last for Brad Johnson, the district’s chief financial officer, who is retiring next month.

He has been with the district since 1988, except for a brief stint with Atlanta schools before returning to Cobb.

As he presented the budget to the board for voting Thursday, the reserved Johnson was asked to make some final remarks by Ragsdale.

“I can honestly say I’ve never dreaded coming to work,” Johnson said. “I’m a little bit apprehensive about the future but I think it’s going to be good.”

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