New State Homestead Exemption Would Negatively Impact Dade County School’s Revenue
By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor
The November meeting of the Dade County Board of Education was moved up to Nov. 18 due to Thanksgiving. The board recognized this year’s Dade Middle School Georgia REACH scholarship winners, discussed the impact of a new state-wide floating homestead exemption, and heard an update on curriculum and assessment update.
Josh Ingle (superintendent) noted that the REACH students, Charlotte Jones and Ashlyn Simmons, went through a rigorous application and interview process, and as part of the scholarship program, they each selected a mentor at Dade County High School. Jones selected Gabrielle Haston (chorus teacher, coordinator of fine arts), while Simmons selected Andi Curtis (English/language arts teacher).
Jayne Griffin (At-Large representative) asked the students why, knowing that the selection process was challenging, they chose to apply. Simmons laughed, saying that they didn’t know about the interviews beforehand. She applied “because I felt like if I didn’t get a scholarship I probably wouldn’t be able to go to college.”
Ingle assured her that there are plenty of scholarships available for college-bound students. He added, “You’re very smart, intelligent students…You’re taking challenging classes.”
Jennifer Hartline (Sand Mountain representative) asked if the girls would’ve chosen not to apply if they knew there were interviews, encouraging them, “Don’t ever let fear keep you from doing something because the possibilities are endless. It’s all what you set in your mind that you’re capable of doing.”
Ingle then explained the impact of Georgia House Bill 581 which established a floating homestead exemption. If in place, it would negatively impact the school district’s revenue, meaning the school board would almost certainly increase the millage rate. This is not true for every school district—it all depends on property values and the total digest value.
Each of the board members asked important questions that led to a thorough examination of the topic.
Per the bill, each governing authority (in Dade, that’s city, county, and school board) chooses to opt in or opt out of the exemption, and they don’t all have to align, (e.g., the City of Trenton could opt in while the school board could opt out). The school board has the first two months of 2025 to hold hearings and reach a decision, and they only get to make this decision once. Ingle noted that most other northwest Georgia school districts are opting out.
The exemption is not in addition to existing local exemptions. Rather, the tax assessor’s office applies whichever exemption (local or state) offers the most benefit to each property owner.
Ingle presented calculations based on the millage rates from 2018-2024. If the state exemption had been in place, the cumulative revenue loss over these years would have been $3,587,875.83. For the 2024 budget alone, the loss would have been $793,387.45. This would leave the school board with two options: Cut items from the budget, or increase the millage rate.
Carolyn Bradford (Lookout Mountain representative) asked how the exemption would impact local fair share (the amount automatically taken by the state). Ingle explained that local fair share will still be calculated on the total digest number, the number before exemptions are taken into account.
Hartline referenced the lack of clarity from the state and the desire to maintain local control as reasons to consider opting out. “In my mind, that’s giving control back to the state…I want it all in writing.”
The board did not reach a decision at this meeting, but if the conversation and questions are any indicator, they will opt out.
Chris Davis (coordinator of academics) then gave an in-depth presentation about curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
He noted that the schools implemented Amira, a literacy screener. This fall, Amira found that 16 percent of Kindergarten-third grade Dade students aren’t on track with the fundamentals of reading. Teachers are implementing individual reading plans for these students.
One requirement from the state is that all Kindergarten-third grade teachers are trained in the science of reading by July 1, 2025. As covered in the January school board meeting, the board approved the Orton-Gillingham (OG) method for this training. (See the Jan. 31 Sentinel.) However, thanks to a grant, Dade County Schools are going a step further to train all K-12 teachers and paraprofessionals in the OG method.
Davis listed professional learning methods, noting that professional learning is planned around needs expressed by teachers.
He touched on one adjustment to the principals’ work loads this school year. Last year, the principals spent about five percent of their day in the classrooms. This year, it’s closer to 15 percent. They (and the district administrators) are spending more time walking through classrooms to observe teachers and students. Davis called it “inspecting what you expect.”
Next, Davis reported that Georgia’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) focuses on three pillars: academics, behavior, and well-being. Dade County is the first district in the entire state that can be Georgia MTSS accredited. This is because Dade included the high school in all of the recent training, instead of starting only with elementary and middle school levels. Ingle added, “My expectation was, we’re not going to have three schools in it and one not. If we’re going to do it, we’re all going to do it.”
Next, Davis highlighted the importance of attendance. As the principals talked about in their back-to-school interview with the Sentinel (see the Aug. 7 issue), education cannot happen when students aren’t consistently in school. As Davis said, “We can do all that other Georgia MTSS stuff. It doesn’t matter if they’re not here.”
Davis reported that last school year, Dade schools averaged 92.3 percent attendance. This is above the state’s average. However, chronic absenteeism (defined as missing ten percent of the total school days) is a problem. Last year, across the district, 26.8 percent of students were chronically absent. In 2018, this number was only 15.5 percent.
Davis said, “You have to ask yourself, how many days can a student miss and still be successful?” He noted that this problem really can only be solved by parents, saying, “We’ve got to push our kids to be at school. Parents are the driving force.”
Ingle said, “When a child’s out for three, four, five, six days, now the teacher has to keep the class moving but figure out how to catch that child up.”
Griffin asked if there is any data that shows the correlation between chronic absenteeism and student achievement. Davis said that there is data in some areas, but grade inflation is happening in Dade and skewing the data. He said, “How can I miss 30 days of school and still end up with an A, but only make a two on my end-of-course test?…Principals are having discussions in their schools now about grading, about what constitutes a grade.”
Hartline asked what factors might be causing absenteeism. Davis said, “Getting parents to buy back in after COVID, that’s the reality…We’ve got to have parents in the driver’s seat saying, ‘You’re going to school. Attendance matters.’”
Davis also discussed Dade’s College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI) which is calculated based on content mastery, progress, readiness, closing gaps, and high school graduation rates.
Additionally, the Milestones common assessments will be happening more often so that the administration has more data points to look at and can better see immediate trends.
Lastly, the school system is pursuing a new teacher observation model called Georgia Leads which was developed from a report on teacher burnout. Davis said that this model is more teacher-focused than the current model.
The personnel report is as follows:
- Resignation: Heather Warnock, Lucas Vasquez
- Hire: Tammy Davenport
