Cobb Schools cancel-50-million-event center

At the request of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, the Cobb County Board of Education has unanimously voted to cancel the $50 million event center project initially approved last year. Ragsdale, who originally championed the multipurpose facility, cited significant economic concerns, including high inflation and a potential recession, as reasons for the project’s cancellation. The school board initially approved the project, billed as a place to host graduations and other school district events, in March 2023.

The decision came during a special meeting on Tuesday morning, which was not recorded for public viewing. This about face comes after months of criticism and scrutiny from community groups and parents. While the exact influence of public opinion and the political climate remains uncertain, many Cobb taxpayers view the cancellation as a positive outcome.

In his remarks, Ragsdale highlighted the importance of maintaining a strong fund balance to prevent future financial crises and protect employee compensation.

Ragsdale’s comments to the board include the following:

“Over the last few months, I’ve been having some very serious conversations with my chief financial officer, Mr. Brad Johnson, about a litany of things, but primarily focused on our budget and the economic conditions that we’re seeing. Regardless of what politicians are saying or not saying, admitting to or not admitting to, we are seeing extremely concerning levels of inflation. And so, when we talk about the economic indicators, we’re looking at economic indicators that were present prior to the 2008 recession. Those same indicators are once again present today. During the 2008 recession, furlough days and a pattern of teacher and staff pay reductions became commonplace in standard operating procedure, unfortunately, in education. And in education, as an industry, those are two things that literally we had not seen ever in education, and they became commonplace. These reductions were so cumulative, significant, that when I became superintendent, Cobb’s compensation had fallen to the lower-half of metro Atlanta school districts. A vastly different place than where we are today. When I was appointed superintendent, I pledged to all our team members and the board that I would not balance the budget on the backs of our employees. I also pledged that I would not recommend a pay cut. It was a very difficult time for our district, during the 2008 recession and a couple years after that, and I believe we have the ability and, more importantly, the responsibility, to utilize our fund balance to ensure these two situations never occur again. Although I was not superintendent during those decisions, I did have responsibility to restore the pay cut as soon as possible, which we did. I consistently say that each budget I bring to the board will be an ‘employee-centric budget,’ and I will continue to do that. I also say the most important conversation I have with our CFO Mr. Johnson is regarding the sustainability of any budget I bring to the board. Being employee-centric usually means there are raises, or a raise contained within. Obviously, this year, with the governor’s injection of additional money for raises helped and we went above and beyond to carry that to each and every employee, like we always do. But sustainability is paramount to the budget. Along with extreme inflation, we are seeing higher unemployment and slower growth throughout not only our country, but our state as well. Bringing the concern closer to home, the last few years, our county’s digest growth has seen double digit increases. However, this past year’s forecast was targeted at half the previous levels of growth. So no longer double digit, but single digit, and literally cut in half. The most concerning is the actual digest growth came in lower than the forecast. This was literally the straw that broke the camel’s back for me and why we’re having this conversation today. While we have a very strong fund balance today, all of the factors which I just discussed have a potential to negatively impact our budget moving forward. As you know, we always use a portion of fund balance to ensure a balanced budget each year, as the law requires me to present. This is a standard operating procedure for our district, it may not be for others, but for our district, that is a standard operating procedure. While we do not have the crystal ball, the warning signs are there for us to exercise caution. Not pulling the big red switch by any stretch, but we do need to exercise caution to ensure our top priority of protecting each of our team members remains an attainable and reachable goal. For all of the reasons I have just discussed, I must rescind my recommendation from the March 23, 2023 board meeting to construct a multi-purpose educational facility. This recommendation does not negate the dire need for this facility, but a facility can never take priority over our employees. I will reiterate my pledge to always put our team members first, and prioritize the sustainability of our budget moving forward. This recommendation will help to ensure a strong fund balance in order to realize both goals. Mr. Chair, I would request the board make a motion, based on this recommendation and a second, and vote on the recommendation, obviously with any additional discussion as needed. Thank you.”

 — Chris Ragsdale