Cobb school board to delay June meeting for budget reasons

Cobb school board June meeting delayed — *Cobb school board members and district officials met via Zoom on Thursday.*

At the urging of Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale, the Cobb Board of Education voted Thursday to delay its June meeting by two weeks as the Georgia legislature resumes its session, including finalizing the state budget.

The school board work session and voting meeting that had been scheduled to take place June 11—the day the legislative session is expected to resume—have been rescheduled for June 25.

The Cobb school board typically adopts a new budget in May, since the fiscal year in the Cobb County School District begins on July 1. But the legislature hasn’t finished funding state operations.

The legislature had 10 working days remaining on its 40-day calendar when the session was suspended in mid-March due to COVID-19.

Nearly half of the current Cobb fiscal year 2020 budget of $1.2 billion is funded by the state, but district officials haven’t been able to formulate a proposal because they don’t know how much they’ll be getting.

By then, Ragsdale said during a board work session Thursday morning, it’s possible the district might get a better picture of what it can anticipate in funding, but there’s a good chance it won’t.

School board member Jaha Howard proposed keeping the June 11 meeting for non-budget topics and scheduling a special June 25 meeting for the latter, but his motion failed by a vote of 5-2.

Gov. Brian Kemp has been suggesting possible departmental budget cuts of 14 percent across the board to deal with steep revenue shortfalls due to the economic damage from government-mandated shutdowns.

Ragsdale said that if that number is applied to the Cobb school district, that would be a drop of $80 million, a devastating figure.

In the meantime, school district officials are preparing for the possibility of funding operations on a month-to-month basis. Ragsdale said that if that becomes necessary, he hopes it will be only one month.

The 2020-21 Cobb school academic year is scheduled to begin Aug. 3. At the work session, Ragsdale said it’s still “up in the air” when it might begin, and whether there will be in-person instruction or “distance learning” that’s been in place since March 16.

He said the guidance he’s been getting from state education officials and others continues to change.

Also at the work session, Ragsdale also said he’s hopeful that there can be in-person graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020. The district postponed commencement exercises that were to take place May 19-23.

“We are hopeful regarding plans for the fall, but final plans will be based on the guidance from the Department of Education, Georgia Department of Public Health, and CDC,” he said. “We are also still keeping our hopes alive for in-person graduation ceremonies, but those decisions will also depend on the guidance we receive.”

At their voting meeting—like the work session, it was conducted online, via Zoom—school board members approved demolition of the current Cobb Horizon School campus near Smyrna. That non-traditional school is relocating to land at Cobb Parkway and Terrell Mill Road.

The board also voted to approve plans to construct Pearson Middle School on the Cobb Horizon property. To be built at a cost of $37 million, it will relieve overcrowding at Griffin Middle School and Campbell Middle School and is slated to open in July 2021.

In another action, the board voted to spend $1 million on HVAC renovations at Addison Elementary School in East Cobb.

The board also extended the contracts of top Cobb County School District officials serving in Ragsdale’s cabinet. Their new contracts will start July 1 and end on June 30, 2021.

They include Kevin Daniel, Chief of Staff; John Floresta, Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer; Sherri Hill, Chief School Leadership Officer; Brad Johnson, Chief Financial Officer; Jennifer Lawson, Chief Academic Officer; Marc Smith, Chief Technology and Operations Officer; and several assistant superintendent positions.