The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday passed a revised Fiscal Year 2027 Budget that adds $1.2 million to the Fund Balance and is based on a slight increase in the millage rate from the budget the Board tentatively approved in May.
Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams told the Board that the new budget is based on an increase of nearly $3 million in revenue over what he estimated when he put together the budget he presented to the Board last month.
Included is a $1 million increase in projected state funding and a nearly $2 million increase in projected local property tax revenue.
Adams said the increased property tax revenue projection is based on a Tax Digest of $4.1 billion, rather than the $3.9 billion he used in preparing the budget in May.
The new revenue offsets the deficit of $1.8 million in the budget tentatively approved in May.
In preparing the revised budget, Adams said, he used a millage rate of 13.836, rather than the 13.813 he used in May
The new millage rate will the rollback rate, Adams said, as was true of the smaller millage rate he used in May, meaning the Department of Revenue will not consider the millage rate to be a tax increase and will not require the Board to hold hearings before it officially adopts the millage rate in August.
At its meeting on Monday, the Board also received an update from Superintendent Melissa Butler on plans for the Board to assume responsibility from the county for the Oconee County Civic Center and put on the table for public input and discussion a major revision of the school’s bullying policy,
Budget Revisions
When Adams turned to the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget at the end of his regular financial reports on Monday, he said “I'd like to update the Board on the revenue numbers before we get started.”
Adams noted that the original budget was “net deficit” since it was balanced by drawing $1.8 million from General Fund reserves.
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| Adams 6/15/2026 |
Adams said the new budget shows an increase of just more than $1 million in state revenue
This includes $579,307 in Qualify Basic Education Funding to cover the cost of literacy coaches for the six elementary and one primary school in the system.
The amount of money the state withholds as part of the Local Fair Share decreased by $37,074, he said,
“And then transportation got a big bump of $385,000,” he said. “And that's in our categorical grants. Basically, that relates to fuel and expenses in that area that they gave us adjustments for, for this fiscal year coming up.” (The precise figure Adams listed in his presentation was $385,585.)
Local funding comes largely from property taxes, Adams said, and “you're looking at net budget collection increase of $1.95 million overall.”
“Overall, these adjustments provide greater revenue stability in Fiscal Year 27,” he said, "helping offset expenditure pressures while maintaining alignment with the district's conservative budgeting approach that we used for this fiscal year.”
Adams noted that he had increased expenditures in the new budget by $31,999 to pick up an expense at the high schools he had not included in the May budget. Total expenditures increased by that amount to $122.5 million.
The estimated unassigned Fund Balance on June 30 of this year increased from $32.8 million in the May budget to $34.8 million in the revised budget, and the estimated unassigned fund balance on June 30, 2027, increased from $31.0 million to $36.0 million.
Board Reaction
“I've been very encouraged that we're going to have a full rollback rate,” Board Member Adam Hammond said when Adams had finished. “So just to confirm, the new number of 13.836 still represents a full rollback? That still represents a full rollback rate.”
“That's correct,” Adams responded.
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| Hammond 6/15/2026 |
“And we throw that term around a lot,” Hammond said, “So if somebody's listening to this or they're reading about this and they're not as familiar, explain more about the full rollback. What does that mean?”
“So basically, that means your revenue's equal to what you would've gotten last year,” Adams said. “That offsets your dollars that you get. That's the net for that figure that you get. So it's basically you're collecting the same amount of money that you're operating off of that you're supposed to. And they call that a full millage or a full rollback.”
The Georgia Department of Revenue explains the rollback rate this way: “When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires a rollback millage rate be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessment occurred.”
Oconee County Tax Commissioner Jennifer Riddle, in computing the Tax Digest, distinguishes between property that has changed in value during the year because of change in the property, such as construction of a home or an addition to a home, and property that has changed in value solely because of reassessment.
The rollback rate allows for growth in the Tax Digest attributable to real change in the property value but reduces the millage rate to offset growth in the Tax Digest solely as a result of the inflationary or market growth in the assessments.
If a governing body does not reduce its millage rate to the rollback rate, the millage rate is labeled a tax increase, and the governing body must hold three public hearing before adopting what amounts to a tax increase.
Other Financial Reports
Adams told the Board, in his monthly financial reports, that the Operating Account General Fund Balance as of May 31 was $71.9 million and the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) Fund Balance was $13.8 million.
On April 30, those figures were $74.9 million and $13.9 million respectively.
In May, Oconee County Schools received $1.1 million in ESPLOST revenue, Adams told the Board, up 4.4 percent from May of 2025.
In March and April, collections had been down from those months in 2025.
“We're back up on a positive note there,” Adams said. “And we're still on target to meet our goal, probably by October, of finalizing collections for this ESPLOST.”
Adams reported that the current ESPLOST has generated $42.4 million to date, with a cap in collections of $48.5 million.
Voters last November approved a renewal of the 1 percent sales tax as soon as the current tax reaches that cap, which Adams is now saying likely will be in October.
Superintendent’s Report
In her Superintendent’s Report, Butler said “I want to encourage our community to participate in the joint public meeting with the Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners on July the 6th.”
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| Butler 6/15/2026 |
Butler said the purpose of the meeting, which will begin at 4 p.m. at the Instructional Support Center, 71 North Main Street in Watkinsville, is to discuss the transfer of ownership of 42.7 acres of undeveloped land on U.S. 441 north of Bishop owned by the Board of Education to the county.
In exchange, Oconee County Schools would receive ownership of the Civic Center, located at 2661 Hog Mountain Road, and the 3.6 acres on which it sits.
“This proposal has the potential to create meaningful benefits for our students, schools, and broader community by making use of public resources and expanding opportunities for student programs, community events, and long-term collaboration,” Butler said.
“It would also allow Oconee County Schools to utilize ESPLOST pennies, which come from anyone who spends a penny at a gas station while they go to a UGA game.”
“Anybody that spends money in our county would contribute to that rather than just relying on our local property tax dollars,” she said.
At present, Oconee County Schools contributes half of the costs of repairs and upgrades to the Civic Center, but it cannot use ESPLOST monies for those costs because it does not own the property. Those expenses must come from the General Fund, which is dependent on local property taxes and state funds.
“This meeting will be an important opportunity for citizens to learn more, ask questions, and share feedback as both Boards continue to consider the best path forward,” Butler said.
Bullying Policy
Kevin Yancey, Director of Student Services, told the Board on Monday that he was recommending that the Board put on the table for public review and comment a required revision to the Board’s policy on bullying.
State Senate Bill 351, the Protecting Georgia's Children on Social Media Act, passed by the General Assembly in 2024, required both a revision to the Board’s Social Media Policy and to its Bullying Policy, Yancey said.
The Board modified its Internet Acceptable Use Policy in March to be compliant with Senate Bill 351.
Senate Bill 351 instructed the Georgia Department of Education to draft a model policy on bullying.
The Document placed on the table by the Board draws from that policy but is not identical to it.
The Oconee County Schools policy defines three types of bullying.
First, is “Any willful attempt or threat to inflict injury on another person, when accompanied by an apparent present ability to do so.”
Second is “Any intentional display of force such as would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.”
And third is, “Any intentional written, verbal, or physical act, which a reasonable person would perceive as being intended to threaten, harass, or intimidate.”
“The term applies to acts which occur on school property, on school vehicles, at designated school bus stops, or at school-related functions or activities, including, but not limited to, extracurricular activities, or by use of data or software that is accessed through a computer, computer system, computer network, or other electronic technology of a local school system,” the policy document states.
“Upon a finding by a school administrator that a student has committed an act of bullying or is a target or suspected victim of bullying, the administrator or designee shall notify the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student by telephone call or through written notice, which may be done electronically,” the document states.
The Board is scheduled to take action on the bullying policy at its next meeting on July 6.
Other Action
In other action on Monday, the Board adopted a meeting schedule for the upcoming year, eliminating six work sessions that it had listed in the meeting schedule approved on June 9 of last year.
The new schedule has the Board meeting only one time each month.
During the public comment section of the meeting, Vickie Hammond, Secretary of the Oconee County Schools Alumni Association thanked the Board and school administrators for their support during the year.
The Board recognized girls and boys track and field individuals and teams from Oconee County High School, the girls soccer team from Oconee County High School, and the girls tennis team from Oconee County High School.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County Observations Vimeo site.
Oconee County Schools also recorded the meeting and uploaded that recording to its YouTube channel.
The microphones at the front of the room were not working as the meeting got underway, and the first 70 seconds of the meeting is missing from the YouTube video, as is the brief session once the Board returned from its executive session.
My recording picked up part of the first 70 seconds and includes the brief part of the meeting following the executive session.
Butler began her Superintendent’s Report at 12:51 in the video below.
Adams began his report at 28:19 in the video.
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