The Cobb County school board’s tentative budget includes a 7.5% raise for all non-temporary employees, a reduced tax rate, more school resource officers and more money to pay for employees’ advanced degrees, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday.
The district is expecting increased revenue from property taxes, thanks to rising property values, and the state budget restores previous austerity cuts.
The board unanimously approved the tentative budget on Thursday. It will vote on the final budget in May, and the millage rate in July. The fiscal year 2024 budget totals about $1.5 billion.
“This budget is good, from what I can see,” said board member Leroy “Tre’” Hutchins.
The district’s millage rate has been 18.9 mills since 2007, Chief Financial Officer Brad Johnson said last year. But this year’s budget is based on a 0.2 mill reduction in the millage rate, bringing it to 18.7 mills. The district’s budget is balanced with $87 million from the district’s reserves, which Johnson said is not unusual.
“I would have never thought that I would be supporting, let alone recommending as part of my budget proposal, a millage rate reduction,” Ragsdale said, adding that he feels the district has been fiscally conservative and could meet board members’ requests to reduce the rate.
The raises will range from 7.5% to 12.1% for full-time, permanent employees, Ragsdale said. Last year, employees received raises starting at 8.5%, which district officials billed as a “historic” figure.
For substitute teachers, the tentative budget includes a pay cut. During the pandemic, subs in Cobb were being paid $189 per day, Ragsdale said. The rate would become $150 per day. That’s still much higher than before the pandemic, Ragsdale said, when subs were paid $89 per day.
Additionally, the board previously approved a $500,000 investment in the Georgia’s BEST program, which allows 500 Cobb educators to obtain advanced degrees at no cost to them. Some teachers will begin the program in the summer. The estimated cost will be $1,000 per teacher per semester, Ragsdale said. The tentative budget allocates an additional $1 million for the program.
The budget also includes an additional 11 school resource officers and $339,000 for the annual renewal of its crisis alert system.
“Having armed officers on-site is absolutely a preventative measure,” Ragsdale said, noting the recent school shooting in Nashville.
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