Bibb school board postpones $914K budget change

Amid scrutiny of public school spending, the Bibb County Board of Education, during its Oct. 16 meeting, postponed a vote to amend the school system’s 2026 budget.

In a unanimous vote, the board moved to delay voting on the amendment, which would add an additional $914,315 in income to the budget.

The amendment would have updated the budget approved in June, accounting for a $3.8 million property tax increase, grant transfers and an additional $467,543 expense for Renaissance, a digital assessment platform. It would have also added new positions, including a K-5 English Language Arts coordinator.

“I’m really uncomfortable moving forward with the vote on this tonight because I got so many questions about the special education part of this and everything else,” board member Daryl Morton said before his motion to postpone the vote.

District officials want to transfer money from the budget to the district’s special education grant funds — which fall under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Supports — to cover a deficit officials said they didn’t know existed when they formed the original budget.

Board member Henry Ficklin asked the district’s chief financial officer, Eric Bush, if it was a good idea to spend money the district had just received from a property tax increase approved in August.

Bush said the district is using the newly collected funds — which amount to a roughly 5% raise in property taxes for Bibb County landowners — to meet gaps in certain special education salaries that weren’t being funded at the same level.

The budget amendment makes the services and salary components of those two grant funds part of the district’s general fund — and the transfer of funds is necessary to provide these supplemental services, Bush said.

“We need to cover the deficit and wait until after the audit is done to see if we see anything from that,” Ficklin told The Melody.

The board’s apprehension regarding spending and budget reallocation comes on the heels of the $13 million budget shortfall faced by Dublin City School District. After the district’s cash flow shortage came to light, State School Superintendent Richard Woods called for transparency and new state guidelines, including firmer financial reporting deadlines, mandated financial training and monthly financial reports being posted online.

The Bibb County Board of Education has kept up with audits through 2024 and has a financial report at every one of its monthly meetings. Board member Kristin Hanlon thanked the district’s team for taking “good care” of its finances. 

“The public’s expecting us to do more due diligence — particularly now. It’s important to demonstrate we are comfortable making decisions about finances,” Morton added.

The K-5 English Language Arts position was nixed from the district’s budget before being reintroduced as part of a personnel package back in June. The position was a “point of concern” during the budget process, Morton said, particularly as the board was scrutinizing any new spending.

Morton said the board decided to add the coordinator role to align with similar roles in science and math and to better invest in literacy development services.

Board meets with mayor

The board also met with Mayor Lester Miller in a closed-door session prior to their 4 p.m. meeting.

Board members declined to comment on the nature of the meeting with Miller.

The school district recently joined with Miller and the Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners on an increased blight tax, an additional property tax imposed by local governments on neglected, vacant or blighted properties to incentivize owners to improve them.

The district might also participate in a property tax relief measure for senior citizens. The proposal, suggested by Miller in late August, includes a total property tax exemption for residents who are 85 or older. It also includes a graduating scale of property tax exemptions for residents ages 65-75 and 75-84.

The proposal will first go to local legislators, who can then put a resolution before the Georgia General Assembly. If approved in the state legislature, the matter would then go to the ballot box for voter review.

The county recently contributed — from funds raised by speeding tickets issued through cameras in school zones — $300,000 for crossing guards and $345,000 over three years for the district’s truancy specialist. 

County officials added the cameras starting in 2021 but had “no anticipation for getting funds” from ticket revenue, CFO Bush told The Melody.

Ficklin, Sims talk about graduation, achievement

The board also continued to review scores from the Georgia Milestones Assessment System and heard an update on the graduation rate, which drew questions from Ficklin over the relationship between graduation and student performance. He also questioned how many students were lost from graduating cohorts.

The district recently touted a 88.97% graduation rate, a record high since the district switched to an adjusted cohort calculation, which accounts for students who leave the county’s public school system.

Ficklin said he wondered how the graduation rate increased while content mastery scores remained the same.

Bibb County Schools Superintendent Dan Sims said state content mastery scores are measured by one end of grade test, which is not the same as the graduation rate.

The graduation rate measures four years of credit accumulation.

“We want to make sure that we delineate how they’re calculated,” Sims told board members. “While one is lower than the other, it does not take away from the hard work that we spoke to.”