A student walks through one of the halls on the lower classmen floor at the Coahulla Creek High School Wednesday morning in Dalton, Ga. Students, staff, supporters, and officials celebrated the opening with a ribbon cutting and a tour around the school. The school offers facilities for students interested in academics, athletics and the arts.Whitfield County Schools will host a series of public meetings to discuss funding challenges, money from taxes, student needs and how funding issues affect the community.
Officials said they’ll discuss the general fund budget and the capital improvements program and the $30 million in combined funding cuts and increased costs for the next school year.
The school system saw a $10.5 million austerity cut from the state, and its education special purpose local option sales tax, which provided about $12 million a year in revenue, expired in December.
A referendum on restarting the ESPLOST is on the July 31 ballot.
Each session will include a brief lesson in school finance, increasing costs, decreasing local revenue and a summary of physical plant needs found during a recent facilities study by architectural firm Buckley and Associates.
Officials will present what options are available to the school system to weather the financial storm coming next year and provide time to answer questions from the community.
Meetings are scheduled at 6 p.m. on the following dates:
• Today at Westside Middle School, 580 LaFayette Highway, Rocky Face
• Thursday at Valley Point Middle School, 3796 South Dixie Highway, Dalton
• May 8 at North Whitfield Middle School, 3264 Cleveland Road, Dalton
• May 10 at New Hope Middle School, 1111 New Hope Road, Dalton
• May 17 at Eastbrook Middle School, 700 Hill Road, Dalton