Local Control, Career-Track Diploma Among School Board's Priorities

WOODSTOCK, GA -- At its Thursday, Nov. 3 meeting, the Cherokee County School Board adopted its annual Legislative Partnership Priorities.

These positions outline the board's stance on major education-related issues likely to be considered by the Georgia General Assembly in the upcoming legislative session.

The majority of the priorities are largely unchanged from those set last year, with the addition of a request for the General Assembly to consider bringing back a career-track diploma with course requirements that better prepare students for technical college and/or directly entering the workforce.

The board's requests for the Cherokee County legislative delegation to consider are:

1. Partner with K-12 public school districts by requiring any changes to the state’s education funding formula to fully restore austerity budget cuts or provide for the equivalent in new state revenue, thereby empowering local school boards to: address continued student population growth in Georgia; maintain a 180-day school calendar for students; reduce class sizes to State-funded maximums; and, replenish annual reserve fund balances.

2. Partner with K-12 public school districts and their employees by addressing cost-prohibitive premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for participation in the State Health Benefit Plan, thereby empowering local boards to provide competitive, affordable and responsible health and benefit packages to their employees.

3. Partner with K-12 public school districts by ensuring proposed legislative initiatives strengthen provisions for the local control and management of schools, thereby empowering local school boards to fulfill their constitutional authority and responsibility to involve their local constituency, develop locally derived educational policy and oversee continued performance improvements among their students.

4. Partner with K-12 public school districts by developing statutory provisions to further insure workforce readiness skills and preparation by high school graduates for transitions directly into careers or secondary-level career educational opportunities by providing students in Georgia with an alternative diploma option in the area of technical/career preparation.

5. Partner with K-12 public school districts by implementing statutory provisions designed to address continued erosion of the state’s tax base through exemptions from the sales and use tax, income tax and other state taxes.

6. Partner with K-12 public school districts by opposing the continuation and/or expansion of existing programs that directly or indirectly use public funds to pay private school tuition for students or provide tax incentives for their parents.

7. Partner with K-12 public school districts by insuring timely, state and local access to all federal funding allocations.

Board members say they hope to meet with the county's legislative delegation in December to review the priorities.

“I want us to be proactive in this process,” School Board Chair Kyla Cromer added.

Before its regular meeting, board members also held a public hearing to gather input on 2016-17 school boundaries. No one came forward to speak on the topic.

A formal boundary redrawing process was not needed this year, as the only attendance zone adjustments planned are for neighborhoods not yet under construction that will be assigned to Ball Ground Elementary School STEM Academy.

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