Dublin school board fills financial staff positions

Two state consultants who had been assigned to help Dublin City Schools navigate its severe money crisis have been hired by the district to lead its finance department.

At a called meeting Tuesday night, the City Board of Education approved Betty Corbitt as chief financial officer and contracted with Joyce Davis to continue providing “professional financial and administrative support services.” Both contracts are part-time and run through June 30. In the meantime, the school board will continue to look for a permanent finance director, a position five months vacant.

The school district has relied heavily on assistance in both money and manpower from Georgia Department of Education since state officials discovered the system’s cashflow troubles last August, and the hirings are seen as a big step back toward self-reliance. 

“They are state employees who have been in our office, helping us, so they are familiar with our situation,” school board Chairwoman Amanda Smith said Wednesday.  “We’re trying our best to formulate an exit plan soon. We’re showing so much progress, and they can help us build up our finance department.”

Corbitt is a former finance director at Jeff Davis County schools. Davis also lives in Jeff Davis County. The contracts call for Corbitt to work no more than 30 hours each week and Davis no more than 20. Both will be paid $75 an hour and be reimbursed for mileage traveled to work for up to 12 days each month.

Corbitt will be a part-time employee and will have oversight of the district’s financial operations, budgeting and accounting processes. Davis will work part-time as a contractor. In addition to her financial responsibilities, which include “ensuring the accuracy, integrity and cleanliness of district data,” Davis’ contract also calls for her to provide human resources support, as requested.

Also Tuesday, the school board approved the hiring of a former employee, Carolyn Rozier, as bookkeeper at Dublin Middle School.

On Monday, Smith traveled to Atlanta to meet and share the school district’s progress with State School Superintendent Richard Woods and with local lawmakers, state Rep. Matt Hatchett and Sen. Larry Walker. What had been projected as a $13.4 million deficit by fiscal year’s end has since been cut in at least half – mostly through staff reductions. However, the schools now must rely on local property taxes to fund the final four months of the school term after borrowing its remaining monthly allotments of state QBE funding as advances to make ends meet since September. Also, starting this month, the district must begin paying off about $6 million it owes in unpaid contributions.

“The state is excited. They were very pleased with the progression from us,” said Smith. “They have been so good to us, but it is time for us to take this back and not depend on the state so much.”

Corbitt steps into a post that has been vacant since former finance director Chad McDaniel resigned in late August. The school board is also searching for a new superintendent to fill the vacancy created by the early retirement of Fred Williams on Sept. 30. Curriculum director Marcee Pool has been serving as interim superintendent and, Smith said, has been “working really hard on internal controls” to correct some of the financial missteps that contributed to the massive budget deficit.

“We have to make sure we’re never in this situation again,” Smith said. “We’ve just got to keep this going on until we find the right people. We don’t want to depend on the state anymore.”