The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Board of Education expressed frustration with state control over local education at its first meeting of 2025 on Tuesday night.
The BOE held a public hearing to discuss its decision to opt out of HB 581 and then went into its meeting. Four residents were in attendance.
“In order to maintain the level of educational services, we would continue to raise the millage rate,” Superintendent Beverley Levine said. “We do not want folks in Atlanta determining what is best for Oglethorpe County.”
HB 581 provides a statewide “floating” homestead exemption that will limit annual assessment increases on a homesteaded property to the rate of inflation. It does not impact current homestead exemptions.
Oglethorpe County is one of 86 school districts that have decided to opt out of HB 581, according to a survey by the Georgia School Superintendent Association and Georgia School Boards Association. Not all of Georgia’s 180 districts responded to the survey.
Two more hearings will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 21 and Jan. 28 at the Oglethorpe County School System office to answer questions about the bill.
Kanya Cornish, assistant superintendent, presented an update on teaching and learning for the school system. Scores in content mastery, progress, closing gaps and readiness were calculated by the Department of Education based on the annual Georgia Milestones Assessment.
“The high school had very low progress,” Cornish said. “But we took a hit here, and it was very hard to take that hit, and unfortunately, it went as far back as COVID.”
Progress scores are calculated individually. It compares a student to their previous scores on other Georgia Milestones assessments.
OCHS scored 38.0 in this category, compared to the state average of 82.7
Students at OCHS didn’t have Georgia Milestones scores from 2020 to compare with current scores. The board said this gap in test scores contributes to the margin between OCHS and the state average.
While overall content mastery and progress scores were below the state average at OCHS, educational subgroups saw improvements.
Students with disabilities met their improvement targets on American literature, biology and U.S. history tests.
Oglethorpe County Elementary School scored above the state average in both content mastery and progress. English learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students met the content mastery goals on English language arts tests.
“We have a great number of students who do not need remedial education when they go to college,” Cornish said. “We’ve found that our students are leaving us prepared.”
The BOE remains confident in the well-rounded educational opportunities available at OCHS, emphasizing school success is not solely determined by test scores. Many students are involved with work-based learning, dual enrollment classes and extracurricular activities.
The graduation rate remains well above the state average, as well as the post-secondary readiness rate.
“I think we understand it’s a misrepresentation of what our school is doing,” BOE member Jake Willcox said. “It’s a representation of what the test is saying.”