WHITE COUNTY, Ga.- The agreement between the White County Board of Education and the White County Sheriff’s Office has been amended to include two additional school resource officers.

Finance Director Julie Dorsey also presented the board with a millage rate rollback for their consideration. The board also took Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett’s recommendation for the contract with a power company for the new Performing Arts Center. They also approved the school nutrition bids that Director of School Nutrition Abby Rowland submitted.

At the Jun. 30 Board of Education meeting, the school board renewed the annual contract with the Sheriff’s Office for the use of the four school resource officers. This contract had an officer at the High school, the Middle school, and then two elementary schools shared one officer. To review that meeting visit https://white.fetchyournews.com/2022/07/01/board-of-education-approves-next-fiscal-year-budget/.

The amendment to the contract is to allow for two additional officers. This will allow for each school to have its one officer. The contract also gives the officers $45 an hour whereas before they were given $35 an hour. The officers will also be in charge of doing regular perimeter checks to ensure that all doors into the school are locked.

Heard in the clip above is Burkett explaining the new contract to the board members.

After receiving the tax digest Dorsey presented the board with the option for a millage rate rollback. A millage rate is the tax rate based on local property taxes, to learn more about millage rates visit https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/millagerate.asp.

The five-year data for the millage rate and it is shown in decimal form.

The 2021 millage rate for the school was 16.060 and the rollback rate presented is 14.222. If the board accepts the rollback there will be no tax increase for the citizens and the board will still collect $16,488,245 in revenue.

In the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, they only budget receiving $15.7 million. With the rollback, they shouldn’t have to dip into fund balance to balance the budget.

This will be voted on at the Aug. 23 meeting starting at 8:00 a.m. This is the lowest rollback the board of education has seen since 2008 which was 14.65, the lowest that Dorsey was able to find was in 2007 and that was a rate of 13 something.

“I think this is fantastic news for our citizens here in White County because that is a very nice rollback,” explained Dorsey.

Burkett’s recommendation for the power company contract for the Performing Arts Center Lighting is HEMC because they are offering the security of a five-year guaranteed rate of $5.1 million. Her recommendation also includes selecting option two for the outdoor lighting which has an upfront cost that will be paid out of SPLOST and then allow for a lower monthly payment. This is the option that the board approved.

At the May 24 board work session, Rowland provided an update on the struggles to find bids for the school system’s food. To review that meeting visit https://white.fetchyournews.com/2022/05/24/rowland-provides-nutrition-update/.

Rowland has now presented the board with a company for the food, bread, milk, paper and disposals, sanitation and chemical, produce, and processing of USDA items. With some of these, there are significant price increases and the possibility of continued supply chain problems.

The expected first delivery from the new provider will be later this month in time for school to start back on Aug. 5. To review these disturbers visit https://www.white.k12.ga.us/board-of-education/board-of-education-meetings/board-highlights, it is exhibit 1. The free lunches for all students have also come to an end, to parents will again need to fill out the form located at https://secure.ezmealapp.com/ApplicationScreen.aspx to see if their child qualifies for free or reduced lunches for the upcoming school year.

The board also approved the new IKBB policy for the school system. This was put on the table for 30 days at the June board meeting. The policy is in response to House Bill 1084 and all school districts are required to pass a policy for handling divisive concepts and the reporting of complaints in regard to the concepts. The policy can be viewed in full at https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Policy/PolicyListing.aspx?S=4176.

The Open House Information

Remainder school starts Aug. 5. There will be open houses starting on Tuesday, Aug. 2 for the schools.