The Cobb Board of Education will hold a final public hearing Thursday before being asked to adopt the fiscal year 2026 budget.
The Cobb County School District has proposed a budget of $1.8 billion that holds the line on the property tax rate and provides modest pay raises.
The budget public hearing starts at 6:30 p.m., and the board’s monthly voting meeting, which includes tentative budget adoption, starts at 7 p.m.
(The budget proposal can be found at this link that includes general fund and other funding source breakdowns.)
The board also will hold a work session starting at 2 p.m. Thursday.
All meetings take place in the board room of the CCSD Central Office, at 514 Glover St. in Marietta. An executive session will follow the work session.
You can read through the agenda details for the meetings at this link; and you can watch the public meetings on a livestream on the district’s Boxcast Channel.
Last month the school board tentatively adopted the budget proposal that includes raises up to 4.6 percent for eligible employees and maintains a propery tax rate of 18.7 mills.
The budget proposal includes using $43 million in reserve funding to help balance the budget, with the property tax rate holding steady at 18.7 mills for the third year in a row. The district has a fund balance of $198 million.
“It’s not a great budget, but it’s far from gloom and doom,” Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said.
But he said there are “storm clouds” possible beyond the coming academic year.
The Cobb property tax digest is projected to grow only by two percent in 2025, lower than in recent years.
Among the personnel changes in the proposed budget is shifting 57 school-leaving interventionist positions to fill classroom vacancies.
The interventionists help detect possible learning issues, but Ragsdale said their work will continue, just in different fashion.
Another 68 teachers who had been on special assignment will be also redirected to classroom teaching positions.
The Cobb school district’s fiscal year runs from July 1-June 30.
Also on Thursday, the school board will get and update at the work session on county demographics that affect long-term enrollment planning.
Related:
- Mt. Bethel Christian Academy names new lower school head
- More East Cobb students earn National Merit Scholarships
- Cobb Schools Foundation receives $5K from PeachSkinsSheets
- New Walton HS stadium video scoreboard gets Cobb approval
- Proposed Cobb FY 2026 budget ‘far from gloom and doom’
- Cobb school district removes ‘American Psycho’ novel
- East Cobb students receive National Merit corporate scholarships
- East Cobb robotics team shines at FIRST world championships
- Editor’s Note: A golden anniversary for Walton—and East Cobb
- Cobb schools postpone safety sessions—for safety reasons
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