Board Business Briefs: Budget Development, Board Member Change

The Cherokee County School Board on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, continued preparations for approving its budget for next school year, including hearing a state funding update, and accepted the resignation of a longtime board member.

The meeting was the first regular meeting led by newly installed School Board Chair Janet Read Welch and continued the structure adopted last year of a work session at 5:15 p.m. and a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. 

ACADEMICS & ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT
In her Summative Analysis and 2024-25 Key Priorities Report, published in May and based on her significant community outreach over her first months in the role, Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis outlined next steps for responding to the call for a re-calibration of the autonomy between the classroom teacher, the school, and the district. 

Fast-forward from May to Thursday’s work session, Superintendent Davis and staff provided reports on the work to respond to this community feedback and the School Board’s new expectations for a cohesive system of teaching and learning and ambitious student achievement goals.

For the past nine months, the board has worked together to develop shared core beliefs, clear student performance goals and a first-of-its-kind governance policy.  The policy, called Policy BAB School Board Governance, which is online here, calls for a Cohesive System of Teaching and Learning.

This new cohesive system was outlined on Thursday by Chief Academic Officer Dr. Josh Heath.  

He explained that, in order to achieve consistency in teaching and learning, along with comprehensive resources, we need to define each of the board’s components.

The board’s Policy BAB’s Cohesive System of Teaching and Learning description begins by stating: “The School Board collectively asserts that the individuals best positioned to ensure high quality instruction for students are classroom teachers.  The School Board values clarity and consistency across the School District specifically about what teachers are to teach in each grade level and content area.  The School Board equally values the creativity, skill, and professional expertise every teacher brings to the collaborative development of how to plan instruction, incorporate appropriate resources, and the strategies of how to teach that lead to improved student learning.”

The policy then outlines three key elements that are to be strengthened in support of all teachers: 

1. Standards, which are customized state standards repackaged for all teachers as the CCSD Teaching & Learning Standards.  This is what teachers teach and students learn and are aligned to state-required standards.  Standards are organized into Teaching and Learning Maps, which provides the pace and sequence to teach the standards;

2. Instructional Materials, which is a “toolbox” of resources for teachers including tightly aligned core and supplemental resources, as well as teacher-developed exemplar instruction plans and examples for teachers in CCSD; and,

3. Monitor Student Learning, which includes aligned screeners, formative and summative assessment tools, and intervention and extension resources.

Dr. Heath and his Academics & Accountability team are working toward sharing the proposed English language arts component of this cohesive system at the February board meeting, to be followed by math, other core academic subjects, and then other areas including career education, fine arts, and more.  He emphasized that teachers’ professional expertise will continue to be key to the development of this system and all its components.

Continuing its important role in this academics and accountability work, the board heard the first reading Thursday of a revised Instructional Resources Selection and Acquisition Policy, which is online here. This policy, derived from board member priorities coupled with input from teachers and principals, defines the instructional resources and how they will be selected, with increased involvement of teachers, parents, and community members.

School Board member Rick Steiner spoke of his support for the new policy.  “We’re trying to get resources to the teachers.”

Concurrent to this work, the district has conducted an external independent audit of all current instructional resources used for teaching and assessment to determine redundancies and usage, as well as alignment to teaching and learning standards.

The results of the audit’s analysis of spending and inventory revealed significant gaps in core resources leaving teachers to commit copious amounts of time to curating from an abundance of supplemental resources and leaving parents with limited resources to use when helping at home.

Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Owen reviewed a report, which is online here, of the audit’s findings, which highlights that, while CCSD has invested in resources, they are primarily supplemental rather than core and not comprehensively aligned enough with assessed standards.  The audit also indicated an imbalance in print and digital resources, which the board intends to address.  

The audit’s finding of low investment in print resources mirrors concerns raised by parents through a series of listening sessions Superintendent Davis held across the district in the fall.  They consistently asked for greater access to instructional resources, both printed and digital, to better support student learning at home.  

The board’s laser focus on setting clear achievement goals, coupled with developing a policy that calls for a Cohesive System of Teaching & Learning, and a commitment to update out instructional materials landscape is a reflection of their belief that all students can learn at high levels, and both students and teachers should be equipped with the most effective and aligned resources to accomplish that.  The staff will now be in the process of identifying resources to discontinue and redirecting those funds to improve the core resources.

School Board members shared their strong support for putting the core resources that teachers need into their hands as quickly as possible and the necessity of including teacher voice in the process.

“This is critical to the basics of education.  Teachers should have core materials in their classroom – period,” School Board member Erin Ragsdale said, noting she is also “excited” about increasing printed resources for teachers and students.  “They need to be able to have a book in their hand.”

School Board member Kelly Poole also spoke to the importance of engaging teachers in the selection process.  School Board member Patsy Jordan asked if new core resources and associated training would be provided to teachers in advance of the new school year, which Mr. Owen responded is the goal for English language arts and possibly math resources and would be reflected in the upcoming proposed budget.

School Board Chair Janet Read Welch thanked staff for investing time in this research and planning.  “I’m excited to see where it takes us.”

BUDGET DEVELOPMENT
The School Board, during its work session on Thursday, heard an update on budget development including the impact of the proposed state budget announced this week.

The focus for preparing next year’s budget is based on three priorities: refocusing and aligning general fund expenditures more efficiently than ever, ensuring employment stability across all job families, and directing resources as close to the classroom and students as possible.

This is essential as the district mitigates anticipated revenue constraints including: a $14 million revenue decrease due to the passage of the senior tax exemption; the proposed floating homestead exemption property tax cap that will cost the district $50 million over the next three years should the board not opt-out; and newly announced $4.6 million in increased costs for state-mandated health benefits for employees.

School Board member Kelly Poole emphasized that school districts do not have the option of choosing healthcare plans that may offer lower costs.

“We’re required to participate,” she said of the State Health Benefit Plan system.  “We don’t have any options.”

The board has repeatedly included in its Legislative Partnership Priorities report, which is online here, a call for the State Legislature to contain costs, both those paid by employees and those paid by school districts, for the healthcare program.

Despite new constraints and unanticipated required costs, Superintendent Davis said she and her senior staff are committed to refocusing and realigning the general fund to meet the board’s priorities with greater efficiency and investing more resources closer to the classroom, including through competitive compensation for teachers and improvement of resources for teachers and students. 

The school district’s budget adoption timeline has moved to the spring to better align with preparations for the next school year, and to better recruit and retain high-quality professionals so that students in CCSD have the best teachers and support staff impacting their education.

In order to deliver on the quality the community expects and to improve resources for teachers and students, the next steps in budget development for next school year are to hold opt-out public hearings in February, consider a board resolution on Feb. 13 to opt out of the floating homestead exemption property tax cap, review the tentative budget in March, and hold millage rate public hearings and consider budget adoption in April.  A budget development webpage has been added to CCSD’s website online here.  

In other financial news, the School Board on Thursday approved a resolution for bond issuance to defease the 2015 Bond Series.  This refinancing will reduce CCSD’s debt payments on this borrowing by $4.4 million, or 5.21%.

RECOGNITION OF BOARD MEMBER SERVICE
The School Board on Thursday recognized and thanked School Board member John Harmon for his 10 years of service.  

Mr. Harmon in December informed the board he was moving to a home outside of his post boundaries, requiring his resignation; his resignation letter is posted online here.  As he was recognized on Thursday, the audience rose to give a standing ovation in his honor.

During his tenure, the board achieved numerous accolades including twice earning international re-accreditation and winning the Georgia School Boards Association’s 2021 Governance Team of the Year award. 

“It’s been such an honor and privilege to serve the students of Cherokee County for the last 10 years,” Mr. Harmon said.  

The board, after officially accepting Mr. Harmon’s resignation, reviewed next steps for filling his District 3 seat for the remainder of his term, which ends Dec. 31, 2026.

An application was posted today online here, with a submission deadline of 5 p.m. Jan. 31.  At its February meeting, the board will consider selecting an appointee from the eligible applicants.

The School Board on Thursday also:
•    Heard School Board member announcements including School Board member Kelly Poole thanking support services, police, and school operations staff for their response to the recent inclement weather.  School Board Chair Janet Read Welch thanked staff for their communications to stakeholders about the inclement weather; she also thanked R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy for hosting the most recent monthly School Board school visit and lunch.  
•    Heard the monthly financial report, which is online here;
•    Heard the monthly capital outlay report, which is online here.  All projects, including construction of the new replacement Cherokee HS campus and Free Home ES campus, are on schedule and within budget;  
•    Recognized CCSD Elementary School Math Competition Winners.  Learn more here;
•    Recognized the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District Essay Contest Winner for Cherokee County, Arcadian Freund of E.T. Booth MS.  Learn more here;
•    Recognized Ashley Rivers of Etowah HS as winner of the National Association of Agricultural Educators’ Outstanding Agricultural Education Teacher Award.  Learn more here;
•    Recognized Dr. Lisa Spence of Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy as winner of the National Art Education Association’s Southeastern Region Elementary Art Educator Award.  Learn more here;
•    Recognized Karina Dean of Hickory Flat ES and Cat Klingbeil of Freedom MS as winners of the Georgia Youth Science & Technology Centers’ 2025 Don Cargill STEM Scholar Awards.  Learn more here;
•    Recognized CCSD’s GHSA State and Regional Champions: Flag Football, Cherokee HS, and Cross Country, Creekview HS.  Learn more here; and,
•    Renewed Partnership Agreements with the Cherokee Tennis Association and Georgia Power.