Cobb school board to hold retreat, adopt FY ’25 millage rate

The Cobb Board of Education will discuss some academic subjects on Thursday as part of a long day and night of public meetings.Campbell High School lockdown

According to an agenda item, the board will meet for a retreat Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to receive presentations on literacy, dyslexia and prisms math.

The agenda also calls for a board policy process update, if time allows, but the agenda item wasn’t more specific.

That meeting takes place in the board room of the Cobb County School District’s central office (514 Glover St., Marietta).

The retreat will be followed by a work session at 2:30, an executive session and a final public hearing on the millage rate for the fiscal year 2025 budget.

That public hearing starts at 6:30, and a voting session with millage rate adoption scheduled for 7 p.m. (agenda for all public meetings here).

The board in May adopted a fiscal year 2025 budget of $1.8 billion, but must adopt a millage rate after the Cobb Tax Digest is revealed in July.

An agenda item notes that the board will be asked to “adjust” the adopted budget figure because the final tax digest was less than anticipated.

“Specifically, the total revenue is decreasing and budgeted expenditures are unchanged,” the agenda item states. “The difference will be funded from the district’s fund balance.”

That budget was based on a proposed property tax rate of 18.7 mills, the same as last year. But because the budget is an 8.73 percent increase from fiscal year 2024, that constitutes a tax increase under state law, and the board is required to hold public hearings.

Only two speakers turned out for last week’s public hearings, with one of them noting that the Republican board members are not paying school taxes. They are eligible for the senior tax exemption from Cobb school taxes.

The rollback millage rate to match FY 2024 spending would be 17.199 mills.

The work session agenda includes a review of a report by Cognia, the school district’s accrediting agency, but an agenda item didn’t disclose any details.

The open meetings also will be live-streamed on the Cobb County School District’s BoxCast channel and on CobbEdTV, Comcast Channel 24.

The executive session, which is limited to land, legal, personnel and student discipline matters, is closed to the public.

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