The Putnam County Board of Education hosted its monthly work session on July 10, to give updates on the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program, address draft three of the budget, and discuss public comments from last month’s meeting.
Putnam County BOE Superintendent Eric Arena began the meeting with a short update on the JROTC program. Arena said a faculty member visited Georgia Military College’s obstacle course to evaluate what Putnam County High School needs and may use for their work in progress.
As of now, the project is still in the planning and clearing phase. At next week’s board meeting, the board will be asked to approve a budget request to clear and cut a trail to where the course will be. This trail will be multi-functional to allow for cross-country use, public use, and access for emergency services to reach the course, if needed.
After this update, Arena briefly discussed draft three of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. Minor adjustments were made to draft three to cut expenses. Arena also discussed advertising the current tax digest and five-year levy. According to Arena, based on a very early preliminary tax digest, it appears no tax increases will occur. However, this may change depending on the final preliminary digest.
Based on what the BOE has levied, the millage rate has decreased from 16.269 to 10.624, according to the current 2023 Tax Digest Five-Year History.
“Ninety percent of school systems in the state of Georgia have a higher millage rate that is being levied for school taxes than 12.9 percent. There are only 18 school systems that levy less than 12.9 percent,” said Arena. “Some of those that levy less than us also have the caveat that they can levy one cent sales tax in lieu of property tax … I have asked that question of who those districts are so I can understand who those districts lower than us are.”
Another factor that Arena addressed during the discussion is senior taxes. For seniors 70 or above who are homestead and senior exempted, their evaluation is fixed and, therefore, will not pay taxes on the higher evaluation.
“For those senior homesteaders, they are looking at about a 16-17 percent tax reduction in school taxes,” said Steven Weiner, president of the Putnam County Board of Education.
According to the planned timeline, two public meetings will be held on Aug. 7 and Aug. 14, to discuss the tax digest. If there does end up being a tax increase, there also will be a public forum hosted at noon on Aug. 7.
The work session concluded with a discussion of the library partnership and driver’s education classes mentioned during public comments at last month’s public meeting. According to Arena, the school system is currently working with the library to evaluate the partnerships in place and what new partnerships can be introduced to better connect the library and the schools.
Regarding driver’s education classes, Arena stated that Assistant Superintendent Laura Melton had been researching the possibility, but it had been found to not be beneficial to the school or parents based on Georgia’s changes to the program and the cost.
The Department of Education no longer recognizes driver’s education as a course that may count as credit. In addition, due to state changes, a normal driver’s education course can no longer reduce insurance costs.
Instead, the school would be required to teach a defensive driver’s education course to provide that benefit to students and parents, but the class would be at a higher cost. Melton also found that the most cost-efficient option currently open to parents is taking online modules training. The cost is drastically cheaper than it would be to pay the school for a hired driver to teach the course.
Arena also discussed the vehicle previously used for the driver’s education course. According to him, the vehicle has been in use for school business and has not been sitting.
For driver’s education, the state implements a 10-year threshold for a vehicle used for the course and, according to Arena, the vehicle is nearing that threshold. If the school system were to offer the course again, a new vehicle would have to be purchased soon. If the vehicle is continued to be used for school business, then the threshold does not apply and the car will have a longer lifespan of use.
After thorough discussion and questions from the board, it ultimately was decided that, at this time, offering driver’s education would not be beneficial or cost-efficient. However, the board did discuss the potential of offering other forms of assistance for students who may be struggling to learn the laws and modules for driver’s education requirements.
The July public BOE meeting will be on July 17, at 6 p.m. The board is expected to review draft three of the budget and vote on funding for the clearing phase of the JROTC obstacle course.