The reduction of funding in the Oconee County Schools Fiscal Year 2027 Budget to allow for 14 School Resource Officers rather than 16 does not reflect a “cut” to the School Research Officer (SRO) program, Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams said on Thursday.
The withholding of funding for two positions that were requested by Oconee County Sheriff James Hale still allows for one officer in each of the system’s 12 schools and two supervisors, Adams said in the second and final of two hearings on the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget. (SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM.)
Adams called the “reduction” of $436,074 from the budget for the SRO program a “refinement” of the funding rather than a “cut.”
School Board Member Adam Hammond said he had received some comments about the “cuts” but what he has heard is “only half the story without a lot of context.”
No citizens spoke at the public hearing, and the Board is scheduled to give final approval to the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget at its final scheduled meeting for the school year on June 15.
That meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Instructional Support Center, 71 North Main Street in Watkinsville. The hearing on Thursday was at 4 p.m. in that same room.
Sheriff Hale has said he wants the SRO program to have one deputy in each school, two supervisors, a captain and a lieutenant, and two roving sergeants to serve as backups to the deputies in the schools.
Budget Hearing Delayed
When the Board began its meeting on Thursday (May 28), it asked Tony McCullers, Chief Technology Officer for Oconee County Schools, to give a presentation on implementation of the newly purchased interactive panels in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classrooms. The item had not been listed on the electronic agenda on the school system SIMBLI/eBoard website. (SEE NOTE 2 AT BOTTOM.)
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| Slide From Budget Presentation |
Board members watched a demonstration of use of a panel and then played a game with a panel before returning to the front of the room to call Adams forward to review the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget.
Adams repeated much of his presentation from the last regular Board meeting on May 11 and again at the first Budget Hearing on May 21.
Included in all three presentations was a slide titled “Significant Reductions to OCS FY27 Budget” that showed, in red, “ -$436,074 SRO Program.”
“The SRO program is not being cut, and current school safety support is not being reduced,” Adams said on Thursday. “Rather, the Fiscal Year 27 plan reflects a thoughtful refinement of the program and budget based on actual staffing levels, current needs, and our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
“The Fiscal Year 27 Budget funds 14 SRO positions, which is three more SROs than Oconee County Schools had in place at any point during this past school year," Adams said.
“This plan allows us to maintain strong safety support across our schools while aligning the budget with realistic staffing and operational needs,” he continued.
“The SRO program continues to be an important partnership among Oconee County Schools, the Sheriff's Office, and the Board of Commissioners,” Adams said, “and this refinement reflects ongoing collaboration among all three groups to ensure the program remains effective, sustainable, and responsible for the needs of our schools, students, and staff.”
“Again, we appreciate the continued partnership with the Sheriff's Office and the county commissioners in working collaboratively to manage these costs,” Adams said.
Hammond Responds
“Does anybody have any questions about the SRO program?” Adams asked as he paused his presentation.
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| Adams 5/28/2026 Awaiting Start Of Budget Hearing |
“I've heard that a little over the past week about cuts to the SRO program,” Hammond responded. “But really, that's only half the story without a lot of context.”
“When we were there about a year and a half ago, when this Board as the Board that approved the SROs to come to the school, because we prioritized that and think it is such an important move, it was up to 16,” he said, referring to the Jan. 29, 2025, joint meeting on the SRO program.
“So can you talk a little bit about how these savings were made as we collaborated with our county partners?” Hammond asked of Adams. “And also, what has that staffing looked like over the past year, and then in the coming year, will every school have an SRO?”
“Yes. Thank you. So, a good question,” Adams responded.
“So when we originally did the MOU, it was for 16, and this past year, we never had more than 11 at the schools,” Adams said.
“So this next year, we will have an SRO in every school. We'll have 14 positions. But basically, what it did was it looked at, we're not going to do 14 instead of 16, we're going to do 14,” he said.
“So the savings is realized on the positions, their benefits that go associated with them, their supply costs that go with them,” Adams said. “So those are the things that associate that brought that cost down.”
“So again, we're not cutting positions,” Adams continued. “It's just a realistic look at the appropriate budget dollars for what we realize, we think realize will be the funds needed for that position to cover it for next year.”
More Back And Forth
“Well from the get-go, we've been very intentional about we're not law enforcement experts,” Hammond said. “We trust the feedback from our partners for that. And it seems like with this overall program, we can meet the need where it is.”
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| Hammond And Communications Director Steven Colquitt Before Budget Hearing 5/28/2026 |
“Right now, the need is for those 14 SROs as we move into the next year,” Hammond added.
“Right,” Adams said. “And you'll have one SRO in every school and two supervisory positions to go along with those 12. So that'll be your 14.”
“And is there room in the future if a need did arise to go on to 16 or 15 or whatever?” Hammond asked.
“Potentially, we can go back and we'll revisit that with you all,” Adams said, “and then at that point, if there's realistically the need that would drive that to go back up, yes.”
Sheriff And County Commission Responses
In a public meeting with the Oconee County Democratic Party on May 7, Hale had outlined his plans for full implementation of the SRO Program. These were the plans as stated in the MOU approved by the Board of Education in 2025.
Hale, a Republican, said he had hired 13 officers at present, but two are still in training, and one of the officers has been serving two schools.
When informed on May 11 via an email message of the reduction in funding in the School Board Fiscal Year 2027 Budget to cover only 14 officers, Sheriff Hale first said he did not know the details of the Budget and then subsequently said said the Memorandum of Understanding between his office, the Board of Commissioners, and the Board of Education “is still 16 positions but since we haven’t filled those positions yet we will hold two positions open for right now.”
“That still has all 12 schools with an SRO and two supervisors,” he added.
Although the Sheriff is an elected Constitutional Officer, almost all of his funding comes from the county and is approved by the Board of Commissioners.
The Memorandum of Understanding stipulates that the SRO program will consist of “up to” 16 position and that the Board of Education will reimburse the county for 90 percent of the costs of the SRO program.
“The Sheriff agreed to not fund two SRO positions for FY2027,” Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell said on May 21.“The positions have not gone away, but are unlikely to be filled in FY 27 since it is difficult to find the right people and get them trained.”
NOTE:
Sheriff Hale sent me this email message at 10:40 a.m. on 6/1/2026:
I would first like to thank you for clarifying the budget cuts of the school system for the SRO program. I would also ask that there be an adjustment to your article that reads that it was done at my request. This is not factual and in fact was a request of the school system.
I have rewritten the second paragraph above to remove the grammatical ambiguity that Sheriff Hale references in this note. I thank him for pointing this out to me.
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NOTE 2
Communications Director Colquitt sent me this email message at 11:11 a.m. on 6/1/2026"
Good morning. In your blog dated Sunday, May 31, 2026, regarding Mr. McCullers' presentation on interactive panels, you wrote that "(t)he item had not been listed on the agenda." Please note that the technology presentation did appear on the published agenda. I just wanted to make sure you were aware. Thank you.
I have inserted the word "electronic" into the post above. I had checked the agenda on the school system SIMBLI/eBoard website at the time I wrote the post.
I did not attend the meeting and did not see any published agenda. I should have used the word "electronic" in the original.
Video
I was out of town and unable to attend the meeting on Thursday.
Harold Thompson did attend and, using a camera and tripod I had lent him, recorded the video below.
The budget hearing begins at 14:11 in the video.
Adams discussed the reduction in funding for the SRO program at 18:09 in the video.
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