School Board, Legislators Discuss Education Funding

CANTON, GA -- Members of the Cherokee County School Board on Friday sat down with a few members of the local legislative delegation to hash out issues directly impacting the 40,000 students they are tasked with serving.

The board met with State Reps. Mandi Ballinger (R-Canton), Michael Caldwell (R-Woodstock) and Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs) and State Sen. Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) for an informal discussion over a light breakfast at the board's Historic Canton High School/School Board Auditorium.

Superintendent Dr. Brian Hightower kicked off the meeting by providing legislators with an update on what's happening within the district. One of those initiatives is the Instructional Framework approved last week by the board at its Dec. 1 meeting.

The framework outlines a set of expectations to guide how district teachers design instruction and assess student learning.

"That will be one of the pieces that will take us from good to great," the superintendent said.

Hightower also said the district is working with the Cherokee Office of Economic Development to come up with ways to get students the skills they need to be ready for college. He also said the board is eyeing ways to implement career, technical or agricultural education programs at the former Dean Rusk Middle School in Hickory Flat.

If all goes to plan, the intiaitive would be available to students in the Sequoyah feeder zone, but could expand to include students from surrounding areas, Hightower said.

Unsurprisingly, the topic soon turned to funding, specifically addressing the state's Quality Basic Education, or QBE, funding formula.

Since 2002, the district has lost $205 million in QBE funding due to austerity budget cuts implemented at the state level, the system contends.

This drop in funding, the district argues, comes at a time when the system has seen a more than 53 percent increase in student enrollment.

Board Chair Kyla Cromer said there has been talk about possibly changing the formula, which determines the amount of money each local school district receives based on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students each district has enrolled.

This promoted Mike McGowan, director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Board Relations, to suggest legislator consider fully funding QBE before taking up any proposals to change the mechanism.

"If you funded QBE, we'd be fine," he said. "It works when it's funded."

Turner then produced a chart that indicates state legislators have steadily increased QBE funding between fiscal year 2013 and 2017. He then said the state could soon be approaching the moment when QBE funding will be fully restored to local school systems.

Another subject district leaders are watching closely is the State Health Benefit Plan, and the increasing premiums and out-of-pocket expenses local systems are having to bear.

These costs, said Assistant Superintendent of Financial Management Ken Owen, are going through the roof each fiscal year.

"Something needs to be done to address that," he said.

The board also informed the delegation that it could formally request local legislation to increase the compensation paid to elected official serving the district's students. School board members are paid $600 a month for their service.

Turner also said he planned to tackle an issue that recently came to light when the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a former Cherokee County School District paraprofessional who had a sexual relationship with a student.

In an opinion handed down Nov. 21, the court argued that prosecutors "failed to prove" that Robert Leslie Morrow was a “teacher, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator of any school,” ruling that his conviction under O.C.G.A. 16-6-5.1 was invalid.

Morrow as arrested in August 2011 by Woodstock police after the agency learned the former River Ridge High School coach and paraprofessional had sex with a student in 2010.

A trial jury convicted him of one count of sexual assault by a person with supervisory and disciplinary authority, and he was sentenced to a total of 10 years on probation.

Morrow appealed the ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which overturned the conviction on the grounds that the law under which he was tried and convicted requires proof that he had “specific supervisory or disciplinary authority" over the student in question.

Turner said he's been in contact with Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace and other pertinent parties on draft legislation that could be introduced during the 2017 legislative session.

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