Cobb school district proposes FY 2027 budget nearing $1.9B

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The Cobb Board of Education will hold the first of its required public forums on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget on Thursday.Campbell High School lockdown

But there isn’t a budget proposal for the public to peruse just yet.

That’s because the Cobb County School District waits until the day of that first forum—typically only a few hours ahead of time—to lay out the budget proposal to the school board and the public.

On Tuesday, the district released its agendas for Thursday’s public meetings—a work session at 2 p.m., followed by the budget forum at 6:30 p.m. and a voting meeting at 7 p.m.—but with no budget details (you can read them here).

According to an agenda item, the district is proposing a budget of $ 1.881 billion, a slight increase from the approved FY 2026 budget of $1.8 billion.

Anticipated revenues would come to $ 1.869 billion, leaving a projected deficit of nearly $12 million.

The board will be asked Thursday for “tentative approval” of the budget, which is required for the district to publicly advertise it during the budget process; formal adoption is scheduled for May.

The fiscal year budget begins on July 1. Last month, the Cobb chief tax appraiser predicted the county’s tax digest to grow by 4 percent, a figure that is not finalized until July.

The agenda for Thursday’s meetings also indicate that the board will be asked to approve “an estimated rollback millage rate,” but there is no figure indicated about the property tax rate that will be sought for the school district.

The FY 2026 budget was adopted along with a millage rate of 18.7 mills and is typically the largest portion of a property tax bill.

The district has set up a landing page for the FY 2027 budget process that can be found at this link; budget details will be added there after they are presented at the work session Thursday.

The board also will be asked to amend the current budget to factor in $2,000 one-time bonuses for non-temporary employees that were approved by the Georgia General Assembly. According to an agenda item, the cost for the Cobb school district bonuses will come to $30 million, with $22.7 million coming from state funds.

In another agenda item, the board will be asked to provide a $50,000 loan for band uniforms for Sprayberry High School. and that would be repaid over five years.

The district also is asking for $308,798 in funding for the purchase of seven vehicles for the district’s police department.

At the evening voting meeting, recognitions will include the Wheeler High School boys basketball state championship team.

All meetings take place in the board room of the Cobb County School District Central Office, at 514 Glover St. in Marietta. An executive session will follow the work session.

The public meetings will be streamed live and you can watch on Comcast Cable or on a livestream on the district’s Boxcast Channel.

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1 thought on “Cobb school district proposes FY 2027 budget nearing $1.9B”

  1. It’s interesting that the district only releases the full budget proposal just hours before the first public forum—it doesn’t leave much time for meaningful community feedback. The projected $12 million deficit, even with a nearly $1.9B budget, really highlights how tight school finances can be despite large overall numbers. I did find the $2,000 one-time bonuses for employees a positive note, though—those kinds of gestures can make a real difference for staff morale. I came across a similar breakdown of budget discussions on https://patchesanswer.com./
    , and it made me think more about how transparency affects public trust—should districts share drafts earlier in the process?

    Reply

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