Due to graduation ceremonies next week, the Cobb school board has moved up its May meeting by a week, and is scheduled to act on the fiscal year 2020 budget on Thursday.
There will be a work session starting at 2:30 p.m., a public hearing on the budget at 6:30 p.m. and a regular meeting starting at 7 p.m., in which the board is expected to vote on the budget.
The meetings will take place in the board room at the Cobb County School District Central office, 514 Glover St., in Marietta.
(You can view the agenda for the meetings here.)
Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale has proposed a $1.17 billion budget with raises for all CCSD, ranging between 8 and 12.6 percent.
He said the proposed raises were made possible by $3,000 raises for teachers that were included in the state education budget. The fiscal year 2020 budget begins on July 1.
Details of the budget proposal can be found in several ways:
- Main CCSD budget page
- Part 1 general fund overview
- Part 2 general fund overview
- General fund notebook
- Other funds overview
- Other funds Notebook
- Presentation PowerPoint
Senior tax exemption panel rejected
Earlier this month the school board held a retreat and spurned a proposal by board member Charisse Davis to create a special committee to examine possible changes to the Cobb schools property tax exemption for seniors.
Cobb is only one of two school districts in the metro Atlanta area to offer the exemption to homeowners 62 and older without any qualifications (such as income levels). School district officials estimate the exemption will amount to nearly $112 million this year.
Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, pointed to a recent vote in Forsyth County to eliminate a senior tax exemption for homeowners who have students living with them but who are not legal guardians. Forsyth schools will gain an additional $500,000 in annual revenue.
But Davis’ proposal just to form a committee was voted down 4-2 (with the board’s four Republicans all voting against), and came just a few days after board chairman David Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, adamantly said the senior exemption isn’t being taken away.
Davis, one of three Democrats on the Cobb school board, reiterated after the retreat that in Forsyth, “a Republican school board asked a Republican delegation to put a senior tax change up for a vote, the state legislature overwhelmingly approved it, and then the county’s voters approved it. Imagine that.”
She also drew up a map (bigger version on her website) showing the various school senior tax exemptions in metro Atlanta school systems.
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