The Cobb County School District’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget is tight and lean, reflecting increased costs, lower enrollment and modest tax digest growth.
District officials on Thursday presented a nearly $1.9 billion spending packages that doesn’t include employee raises, but will have across-the-board one-time bonuses for most employees thanks to the Georgia legislature.
The budget—which would go into effect on July 1—is based on holding the property tax rate at 18.7 mills and four percent growth in the Cobb tax digest.
The Cobb Board of Education tentatively adopted the budget 7-0 at a voting meeting Thursday night, meaning that the proposal can be legally advertised.
A final budget public forum and formal adoption are scheduled for May 14.
In order to balance the budget, the district is recommending using more than $7 million in general fund reserves to help pay for those $2,000 bonuses. The total cost is around $30 million, with the state providing $22 million.
More general fund money will be needed to shore up proposed expenditures against anticipated revenues in the overall budget.
At a work session before school board Thursday afternoon, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale admitted that the budget proposal isn’t ideal. But compared to other large districts in metro Atlanta, some of which are proposing to close schools to cut costs, Cobb is in relatively good shape—for now.
“We’re not in a confetti-dropping, champagne-popping situation. But we’re not the alternative either,” he added, calling this a “catch-up” budget following employee raises last year.
Holding the line without raises also is an effort to replenish the district’s general fund balance, which is around $200 million.
Here are links to budget proposal details:
- FY2027 Tentative Budget Overview
- FY2027 Overview General Fund
- FY2027 Overview Other Funds
- FY2027 Notebook General Fund
The board agreed to complete the funding to the bonuses, which will go to full-time employees. A state-passed bonus doesn’t include all the employment categories Ragsdale said he wanted to honor.
Employees eligible for “STEP” increases as part of their employment contracts will still get those, to the tune of $16 million.
Another line item of $3.5 million will go to hire literacy coaches across the district, but it’s unclear now how that money will be used pending state guidance.
Board members did have questions about some of the line items that were presented Thursday.
They include a reduction of 185 teaching allotment positions due to reduced enrollment. Ragsdale said no teaching layoffs would occur—the cuts would be made through attrition and reassignments.
Losing those allotments will result in a budget decrease of nearly $22 million.
Another line item caught the eye of board member Brad Wheeler—a $275,000 increase in the rent the district pays Kennesaw State University for graduations.
Additional fees and increased staffing charges are the primary reasons for that jump, as well as additional charges when graduations are held on weekends.
Ragsdale had wanted to build a $50 million special events center for graduations and other events, but public pressure prompted the board to cancel that project.
The increased KSU funding, board member John Cristadoro said, “is not sustainable.”
The budget proposal also includes spending $725,000 to hold a referendum in 2027 to extend the current Cobb Education Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax, which is used to fund school construction and maintenance.
The current Cobb Ed-SPLOST VI will be collected through the end of 2029.
The district also announced that the “rollback” millage rate—what the property tax rate would be if the budget dollar amount was the same as fiscal year 2026—would be 17.69 mills.
But Ragsdale said given the legislature’s appetite for putting a cap on property tax rates, “I won’t be recommending a rollback of the millage rate.
“I have great concern over the funding of public education.”
Cobb homeowners aged 65 and older can file for exemption from school property taxes, but he also said that changes at the state level “could make that exemption go away.”
Related:
- 3 East Cobb elementary schools to get new principals
- East Cobb students earn corporate National Merit Scholarships
- Cobb school district proposes FY 2027 budget nearing $1.9 billion
- 3 Wheeler Robotics teams advance to FIRST World Championships
- Walton Robotics qualifies for FIRST World Championships
- Wheeler students take part in ‘Civic Chats with the Wildcats’
- East Cobb high school students named 2026 Georgia Scholars
- Walton winter guard team wins championships to end season
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