East Cobb News

After hearing public criticism for months, the Cobb Board of Education on Tuesday voted to cancel plans for a $50 million special events facility for the Cobb County School District.

During a special-called meeting, the board voted 6-0 to halt the project, less than a month after blueprints and other details were publicly revealed by a watchdog group opposed to it.

The decision also comes two days before the school board conducts legally required hearings on the millage rate for the fiscal year 2025 budget.

While the millage rate is projected to hold at 18.7 mills, the new $1.8 billion budget technically includes a tax increase because the spending total is 8.73 percent higher than last year. The board will formally adopt the millage rate next week, following a third public hearing.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale cited economic concerns for pulling the plug on the special events center, including inflationary costs and the possibility of a recession.

“For the last five years, as we have been planning for the multipurpose center, the economy across the country was growing,” Ragsdale said. “Fast forward to the middle of 2024, and the economy has slowed to a crawl.”

He said “this recommendation does not negate the dire need for this facility, but a facility can never take priority over our employees.”

There was little discussion during the brief meeting, which was announced Monday afternoon, ostensibly “to discuss strengthening fund balance.”

But that turned out not to be the case. The meeting was not live-streamed and there was not a public comment session, as is usual at school board public meetings.

While the funding for the center would not have come from the district’s general fund budget—the sources were from special-purpose local-option sales tax revenues and the sale of other school properties—financial critics were vocal from the start.

A citizens watchdog group, Watching the Funds-Cobb, last month obtained and released details of the project that the district had not disclosed.

Members of that group and others had spoken at board meetings for several months, claiming that the special events center wasn’t needed, and that the $50 million represented skewed priorities.

The board voted last fall to approve what was to have been a 190,000-square-foot building housing an 8,000-seat arena for graduations and other major events, as well as conference and banquet space and 1,500 parking spaces.

In March, the board approved the hiring of a construction manager for the facility, which was to have been located adjacent to the Cobb school district headquarters on Glover Street in Marietta.

There was very little public discussion among board members during those meetings, except from Post 2 Democrat Becky Sayler, who said she wasn’t getting many details about the project.

Following Tuesday’s meeting, Heather Tolley-Bauer, a leader of Watching the Funds-Cobb and an East Cobb resident, issued a brief video response delighted with the reversal from the school board.

“This is a good day,” she said. “This is a good day for taxpayers in Cobb County.

“We don’t care what their motivation is. We have our ideas, we have our theories, but we are going to take this win.”

East Cobb resident Stacy Efrat was a founding member of Watching the Funds-Cobb founding member and is now a member of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, appointed by the Cobb Democratic Party.

She said in response to a Facebook post on Tuesday’s school board decision that “they figured out that raising the millage rate and planning an unnecessary $50 million event center while ignoring the public outcry is a bad look going into elections.”

In a release issued by the district after the meeting Tuesday, board member Brad Wheeler echoed Ragsdale’s remarks about the economy.

“The real cost of buying groceries, paying for gasoline, and paying for necessary living items made this decision a wise one for all Cobb families,” Wheeler said.

He is one of two Republican incumbents up for re-election in November, and who have Democratic challengers. The GOP holds a 4-3 majority and three of its four currently held seats expire at the end of the year.

Another is in Post 5 in East Cobb, where four-term Republican vice chairman David Banks is retiring.

Republican John Cristadoro, who is seeking the open Post 5 seat, also referenced economic issues in response to a request for comment from East Cobb News about Tuesday’s board decision.

“The fact is that inflation has increased, our purchasing power has gone down and and our students families and teachers are struggling more to put food on the table,” he said.

“We need to be willing to make choices that are in the district’s best interest and not lock into a decision made in better economic times.”

Cristadoro’s Democratic opponent, Laura Judge, said on her social media platforms that “this decision highlights the importance of community involvement and transparency.

“Thank you to everyone who spoke up and shared their views—this victory is yours. Let’s keep this momentum going. Stay engaged and informed about the decisions affecting our district.”

Before launching her candidacy, Judge was a member of Watching the Funds-Cobb, which formed in 2021 (our profile of the group here) over concerns about COVID-related spending.

Watching the Funds-Cobb has been critical of the district’s purchase of hand-washing machines and UV lights that malfunctioned, leading the district to cancel a vendor contract in 2021.

Watching the Funds-Cobb also questioned the district’s purchase of AlertPoint, an emergency alert system, that was accidentally set off at all schools in the spring of 2021 and prompted a brief lockdown.

The special events center dispute emerged after the board initially voted to remove the project from the SPLOST VI list, citing more pressing priorities.

Ragsdale brought the project back before the board last year, declining to provide Sayler with details she asked about feasibility, cost savings, budget impact, maintenance and staffing costs, saying that “all that information was covered.”

He said the need for an expanded, dedicated venue for graduation was a high priority that would ultimately save money.

The Cobb school district pays Kennesaw State University to hold graduations at its Convocation Center, which has a capacity of 4,500.

That’s not enough for extended family to attend graduations, Ragsdale has said.

“For far too long, we have had families that cannot have grandparents on both sides attend a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said in March 2023.

“I think it’s very pressing. Literally, we owe this to the parents. We have tried to find a solution for this for years.”

An open-records request by a citizen revealed that Cobb spent $45,000 to rent out the KSU facility last year.

Tolley-Bauer claimed at a board meeting last month that the special events facility the Cobb school district was planning could be a money-loser.

“Are you here to educate our kids or run an events management business? Because one has a high return on our investment and the other will cost us and our children millions in tax dollars for years to come.”

In the district’s release after Tuesday’s meeting, Ragsdale said that “I will always present a budget that prioritizes our people over facilities. Nothing is more important.”

Related:

• Sprayberry HS senior excluded from graduation gets apology
• Cobb school spending critics reveal special event center details
• Former Walton HS principal moves to Hightower Trail MS
• Wheeler student selected for summer NASA internship
• Pope salutatorian among National Merit Scholarship winners

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