Members of the Bulloch County Board of Education met on Friday, September 8, 2023, for a special session to vote on the millage rate increase for 2023. After six public hearings, which drew very few citizens, each of the elected board members shared their struggle with this vote. Two citizens attended the meeting.
When BOE Chairman Glenn Womack opened the floor for discussion among the board members, Dr. Stuart Tedders went first. Dr. Tedders shared how much he has appreciated the citizens' feedback and shared that each of the board members individually have really struggled with this decision. He also said that this is not a pre-determined vote. He has no idea how other board members plan to vote. He then asked Superintendent Charles Wilson to explain what the impact would be to the school system if they voted down the increase.
Superintendent Wilson said a vote against approval would put the $7.4 million of the State's equalization grant funding in jeopardy. He explained again that when the State Legislature implemented these grants in 2012, they wanted to make sure the shool systems had some skin in the game. The way the law is written, school systems are required to levy 14 mills to qualify for the grant. When you back out the 5.522 mills equivalent of funding generated by the Local Option Sales Tax, the millage rate would need to be set at 8.478 mills.
Wilson compared the cuts to make up for the lost grant would be significant. He said it would be worse than the austerity cuts educators faced in the 2008 budget year. With 85% of the BOE budget going to salaries, the teachers and staff could very possibly tote the burden of the loss of revenue. Each furlow day would cost educators on average around $265 per day.
Board Member Glennera Martin said she had appreciated the opportunity to listen to suggestions and input from citizens and asked Wilson if there was any other way to make this work without raising the rate or cutting staff pay or positions.
Superintendent Wilson said it could be done by cutting things like bus routes, computers for teachers, and not putting in mobile classrooms to handle the projected growth.
Board Member Elizabeth Williams asked how a no vote would impact programs like the Career Pathways they are implementing that will prepare students to be more successful as they enter the workforce. He said it would have a significant impact on these pathways.
Board Member Donna Clifton said nothing saddens her more than to see all of us struggle with this. We have heard the citizens input and feel your pain. I hope that whatever we decide, what we do will be in the best interest of the kids. We are here to serve the kids. We owe it to them to give them the best education they can get. We must also stop losing great teachers to other counties who pay more.
Board Member Heather Mims said she has been on the fence. It has been hard to consider raising taxes. It is a struggle. But not doing this is not the direction we need to go in for our kids. This has been a very emotional struggle for me. This will require every property owner to pay around $100 more per year. If we don't pass this, then the impact to the teachers will be much greater than $100. It is not right to allow them to shoulder this burden.
Chairman Glenn Womack closed the discussion saying that he feels real regret for having to make this hard decision. We are all doing this because 11,000 students need us. We all share a passion to make our education family the best it can be. Our teachers, staff and students work so hard for all of us. We can't gamble their future by taking a chance on the $7 million grant. History will judge us today and this decision, but I am supporting this to ensure the best education possible for our children.
Chairman Womack then called for the vote which was 7 to 1 in support of the millage rate increase. Board Member Glennera Martin was the sole dissenting vote.
CLICK HERE to view the live stream of the meetings.
Bulloch County Board of Commissioners Vote
The Bulloch County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting at 3:00 PM on Friday for a procedural vote to adopt a resolution to approve the BOE millage rate. The four-meeting minute saw a unanimous vote of the Commissioners in attendance. One citizen attended the meeting.
Leslie Akins, Bulloch County Tax Commissioner, now has to send the rates to the state to complete the process. Once the millage rates are approved by the State, her office will send out tax bills. By Georgia Law the tax bills have to be mailed by October 1st to meet Bulloch County's due date of December 1st. The law states citizens must be given 60 days to pay their bill.
