BOE "Excited" About Kemp's Proposed Pay Raises, Security Funding

CANTON, GA — The Cherokee County School Board appears to be optimistic about the education-related declarations made by Georgia's new governor during his first few days in office.

During a strategic work session held before the Thursday, Jan. 17 regular meeting, school board members were treated to a rundown of issues that could come up during the 2019 legislative session, which started Jan. 14.

This work session also included a review of Governor Brian Kemp’s inaugural State of the State address during which he announced plans to include a $3,000 raise for all teachers in the 2020 budget, as a “down payment” on his campaign promise to give $5,000 raises.

Kemp also proposed 2-percent raise for school bus drivers, school nurses, and school nutrition workers, and announced he would amend the current budget to send $30,000 to every public school in Georgia to improve safety and security.

Cherokee County School Board Chair Kyla Cromer added school board members are "excited and encouraged" by Gov. Kemp's announcements.

"It appears there’s a lot of support for K-12 schools," she added.

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While the school board likes what it has heard so far from Kemp, it hasn't moved away from the issues it believes are important for 2019. Board members unanimously adopted the Georgia Educational Coalition 2019 Legislative Priorities, which are quite similar to the board's policies it approved in December.

The priorities include promoting local control of issues, such as school calendars, revising the state's Quality Basic Education formula to cover the costs of maintaining school buses and employing nurses and counselors and opposing plans to use state funds to set up vouchers for private schools.

“It’s no accident that the coalition’s legislative priorities closely mirror our priorities,” Cromer said, noting that schools statewide are struggling with the same issues and are concerned about the same potential state overreaches. “There’s a difference between fully funding QBE and fully funding education - just look at our transportation budget, and you’ll see [the state’s under-funding].”

School board remains opposed to private school vouchers and any proposals that would take away local control on issues, such as mandating a statewide school calendar, Cromer added. Board members are also lobbying the state to stop the practice of using schools as election polling places due to safety concerns.

CCSD staff members are also keeping a close eye on how the federal government shut down could impact its operations. Chief Financial Officer Ken Owen said the district continues to receive money to fund programs such as free and reduced-price lunch, Head Start and other federally-mandated initiatives, but staff members are closely watching the situation.

School district spokesperson Barbara Jacoby said money from the feds support different CCSD programs. Some programs, such as those in schools have a higher population of low-income students, have already received the money it will spend for the current school year. Other programs, such as free and reduced lunch and Head Start, are funded monthly, and these are the ones CCSD are "watching very closely," Jacoby added.

For free and reduced-price meals, CCSD gets about $694,000 a month in federal funds, which Jacoby said is a reimbursement for money Cherokee County has already spent. For Head Start, the district receive roughly $33,500 a month from Ninth District Opportunity, the fiscal agent for the federal funds. That's also a reimbursement for teacher and paraprofessional salaries CCSD already paid.

Owen also presented a first for the district: a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, which is considered the gold standard in government financial reporting. The report presents financial records already created by government entities, such as budgets, audits and management reports, but in one consolidated report.

School Board Member Clark Menard, who is a CPA, praised Owen and his staff for successfully undertaking what he described as a “monumental effort.”

"It’s as transparent as you can get… and that’s a good thing," Menard added. "It’s not required, but it really is the highest level of financial reporting."

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