At its Thursday, May 8 meeting, the Clarke County Board of Education gave tentative approval to a fiscal year 2026 General Fund budget of $254,625,235 based on maintaining the current school district millage rate of 18.8 mills for a fourth consecutive year.
The proposed budget represents a roughly $12.9 million increase over the current fiscal year and includes additional investments highlighting the district’s three arching priorities in its 2024-2029 Strategic Plan – Thriving Students, Optimized Talent, and Connected Culture. Further, it provides funding for other district initiatives and state mandates, including:
$1.1 million for 17 additional school resource officer positions
Annual step increases that will be given to all eligible employees
increases in the amount of employee state health insurance costs covered by the district (from $1,760 to $1,885 per member per month for certified employees and from $1,580 to $1,885 per member per month for classified employees) as well as an increase in the amount the district contributes to each eligible employee’s teacher retirement system benefits.
More information on the proposed FY2026 budget is available here.
Public Hearings
As required by state law, the school board will conduct three public hearings, starting June 2, due to the proposed millage rate being higher than the “rollback” rate — the rate that would be used to produce the same amount of taxes collected in FY2025. There is an expected increase of 6.46% for property taxes levied in 2025, and while the millage rate would remain the same under the tentative budget, that would in effect increase overall property-tax collections by 1.141 mills.
Each year, the assessed value for taxable property in Athens-Clarke County is recalculated, and the Board of Tax Assessors is required by law to reassess values based on fair market value. The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $375,000 is approximately $159.74, and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $475,000 is approximately $216.79.
All public presentations and hearings will be held in the Vernon Payne Meeting Hall at the Clarke County School District administrative offices building, located at 595 Prince Ave., Athens. Anyone who wishes to speak may sign up in the meeting room before the meeting begins. The meeting schedule for the budget hearings and millage rate hearings is as follows:
6 p.m. Monday, June 2 – budget presentation and millage rate hearing
6 p.m. Tuesday, June 3 – budget presentation and millage rate hearing
6 p.m. Wednesday, June 11 – budget presentation and millage rate hearing.
All three hearings will be live streamed and available for on-demand viewing on the CCSD YouTube channel. The board is scheduled to give final budget approval and set the millage rate at its next scheduled regular meeting on Thursday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in the Vernon Payne Meeting Hall.