Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Board of Education heard early forecasts for projected fiscal year 2014 numbers Wednesday.
The early budget forecast for the Cobb County School District for fiscal year 2014 was as gloomy as the weather Wednesday during a Cobb Board of Education work session. Cobb schools chief financial officer Brad Johnson told board members that his preliminary indications are for a $79.5 million deficit for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. While the figure is preliminary -- state funding from the Georgia legislature and the 2013 Cobb tax digest are yet to be determined -- the long-term projections are even more grim, reaching an estimated $105 million deficit for fiscal year 2017. After struggling to close a $62.4 million gap for the current fiscal year last May, the school board faces a more daunting challenge, and not just in terms …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The newly-installed Board of Education has finalized the dates and times of its official meetings in 2013.
The following is the 2013 meeting schedule for the Cobb Board of Education, which approved the measure by a 6-1 vote on Wednesday. Voting in favor were Scott Sweeney, Brad Wheeler, David Morgan, Randy Scamihorn, Tim Stultz and Kathleen Angelucci. David Banks voted against. Public comment sessions begin at the start of each meeting, with a 30-minute time limit. Executive sessions may be called an hour before the evening meetings. Keep up with all the news you care about by subscribing to our free email newsletter, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.
Randy Scamihorn was elected chairman and Brad Wheeler vice chairman of the Cobb Board of Education on Wednesday.
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Thursday, January 10
On the same day that they became Cobb Board of Education members for the first time, Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler were elected to lead it. During Wednesday's organizational meeting, the board elected Scamihorn to serve as chairman for the 2013 calendar year and chose Wheeler vice chairman. They assumed their new posts shortly after receiving the oath of office, along with incumbents David Banks and David Morgan, who began their second terms. The board also voted to set its 2013 official meeting calendar, with minor changes to the dates recommended by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. The leadership results were a bit of a surprise, given previous public interest expressed in the chairman post by Morgan, last year's vice chairman but who…
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Two incumbents and two newly elected representatives will be sworn in on Wednesday.
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Tuesday, January 8
Four of the seven members of the Cobb Board of Education will be sworn in during a special meeting on Wednesday. The swearing-in ceremony takes place at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Cobb County School District Central Office board room, 514 Glover Street, Marietta. That meeting will be followed by an organizational meeting at 5 p.m. Incumbents David Morgan, a South Cobb Democrat, and David Banks, an East Cobb Republican, will be sworn in to serve second terms. Also taking the oath of office on Wednesday is Brad Wheeler, a Republican who defeated incumbent Alison Bartlett in a West Cobb-area election. Randy Scamihorn was unopposed in his race for a North Cobb-area seat. He is also a Republican and succeeds fellow GOP member Lynnda Eagle, who …
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Cobb Board of Education approved a resolution Wednesday, but heard a strong dose of anti-tax sentiment.
As expected, the Cobb Board of Education on Wednesday adopted a resolution to call for a March 2013 referendum to extend the Education SPLOST. But the job of selling voters on a $717 million school construction and maintenance project list figures to be a challenging one, given Cobb's recent SPLOST track record. The one-cent sales tax, if approved by voters, would begin in January 2014 and would be collected through December 2018. But before the vote, representatives of a local taxpayers group and the Georgia Tea Party spoke out against a March referendum. And the chairwoman of the school board's SPLOST citizen oversight panel predicted that the finalized SPLOST IV "notebook" (see attached PDF) will fail at the polls. The board voted only…
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Wednesday's work session agenda includes a resolution for a March 2013 referendum.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
After an accelerated process to put together and revise a $717 million project list of school construction and maintenance projects, the Cobb Board of Education is expected to vote Wednesday to call for a referendum to pay for them. A resolution calling for a March 19, 2013 referendum that would extend the current Cobb Education SPLOST highlights the board's Wednesday work session agenda (see attached PDF). The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta. After two board members expressed a desire to postpone a referendum to November 2013, Wednesday's agenda item includes a recommendation from Superintendent Michael Hinojosa for a March vote. The current …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
About 60 percent of voters sided with Republican and political novice Brad Wheeler Tuesday over incumbent Democrat Alison Bartlett. Post 7 includes Osborne High; however, it will drop Osborne while picking up Harrison, Hillgrove and McEachern in January.
In a clear victory Tuesday, political newcomer and 20-year Powder Springs resident Brad Wheeler will take over as the West Cobb representative on the county Board of Education. “The schools are the heart of your community,” the 57-year-old Republican and retired teacher and coach told Patch by phone shortly before midnight, “and I care a lot about it.” With all 26 of the seat’s precincts reporting, roughly 60 percent of voters sided with Wheeler over incumbent Democrat Alison Bartlett, who, at 50, is wrapping up her first four-year term. Bartlett’s 40 percent equaled 15,931 votes, while Wheeler grabbed 24,145. “There are some great things that happened (while I was on the board), and I hope they keep moving forward,” said Bartlett, a …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Tim Stultz and Kathleen Angelucci have asked that the proposed March 2013 Cobb school sales tax referendum be pushed back to November of next year.
Two members of the Cobb Board of Education said Monday they would prefer that a referendum to extend the Cobb Education SPLOST be delayed until November of next year. The school board met Monday morning to continue discussions over a proposed $717 million "notebook" of school construction and maintenance projects (see attached PDF). The extended project list includes a total of $2 billion in identified needs. A tentative March 19, 2013, referendum date has been targeted should the board vote at its monthly business meeting next Wednesday to call for a special election. That would enable the Cobb County School District to continue collecting the one-penny sales tax without interruption when the current SPLOST III period expires at the end …
Friday, November 2, 2012
The revised project list will be discussed at a special called meeting on Monday.
The Cobb Board of Education has called a special meeting for next week to discuss the proposed SPLOST IV construction and maintenance project list. The meeting is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta. The board met last week to go over a revised "notebook" (see attached PDF) totalling $717 million in proposed projects that Cobb voters may be voting on early next year. At the end of that meeting, board member Alison Bartlett asked for another public meeting to continue finalizing the project list. The board is expected to vote later this month on whether to call for a referendum, which is likely for March 2013. Among the major revisions is a…
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Alison Bartlett, along with a member of Georgia's PTA, debated Tuesday with Ed Setzler over issues of school choice, regulation, accountability, funding and more.
State Rep. Ed Setzler’s main argument Tuesday night in favor of the proposed charter school amendment was choice—allowing parents to pull their children out of failing traditional public schools to attend charter ones. “Southwest Atlanta, rural Georgia—is there any school in the state that you wouldn’t want to send your kid to?” he asked the dozen-plus forum attendees at Hillgrove High School. “If there is any school you wouldn’t want to send your kid to, you’ve got to support choice.” But the forum’s other two panelist—West Cobb school board member Alison Bartlett and Karen Hallacy, the legislative chair of Georgia’s PTA—voiced their unyielding opposition to the amendment, with Bartlett calling charter school agencies “for-profit groups …
Pam J
9:44 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013
It occurred to me that the baby boomers are really causing some problems. I am toward the tail-end of the boom, but when you reach 62, you don't pay school tax any more on your property tax. That's a big part of your property tax. I can see where that may cause a problem for the schools. Not to mention the drop in property values. more ›