Lawmakers urge state to take ‘prompt action’ after Dublin school board suspension hearing

Dublin’s state lawmakers have written the Georgia State Board of Education, urging “prompt action” after next week’s hearing on the Dublin City Schools’ accreditation status.

The formal hearing before the Georgia Board of Education is required by law after Cognia, the district’s accreditation agency, downgraded Dublin City to “accredited with conditions” – the agency’s lowest status and a required step toward dropping accreditation altogether.

The state school board must decide after the required hearing whether to recommend to the governor that the local board members be suspended and replaced. 

“Dublin’s students, parents and educators deserve stability and a school system fully focused on their success,” state Sen. Larry Walker, president pro tempore, wrote in a letter with Rep. Matt Hatchett. 

“Chairman Hatchett and I are asking the State Board to conduct a thorough hearing, consider the full record and take prompt action to ensure effective governance and restore public confidence. Dublin’s families, educators and taxpayers should not have to wait any longer for this process to move forward.”

An initial hearing was held in July when the Dublin school board asked for and received a continuance until Wednesday.

In their letter, Hatchett, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, and Walker asked that the hearing not be delayed again and that the state board “conduct a thorough review of Cognia’s decision and take action to restore effective governance, financial accountability and public confidence in Dublin City School System.”

“During this year’s legislative session, the General Assembly took meaningful steps to strengthen accountability in Georgia’s public schools by passing House Bill 1164 and providing additional funding in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget to expand the Department of Audits and Accounts’ ability to conduct public school audits,” Hatchett said. “Those actions reflect our commitment to identifying problems sooner and ensuring school systems have the oversight necessary to protect students and taxpayers. The situation in Dublin City Schools demonstrates why our actions were so important. 

“While we recognize that our current school board, under new leadership, is making progress to rectify this situation, there’s still much more work ahead. Through this letter, we are urging the State Board of Education to move forward with its review without further delay and carefully consider every available option to restore effective governance and public confidence in the Dublin City School System.”

The letter was also sent to Gov. Brian Kemp.

The Cognia Global Commission voted in April to downgrade the Dublin City’s accreditation status based on the report of a review team from the agency.

In the report, parents, teachers, even board members and high-ranking staff told interviewers they were left in the dark as the district burned through $4 million in federal COVID funds to cover payroll and other bills from 2021 to 2025 — when it employed more than twice as many staff members whose salaries were funded through local and federal funds as peer systems. Staffing decisions “lacked sufficient transparency,” with pay levels and positions often decided at the top with no input, the report said.

Dublin City officials have filed an official response with Cognia to make its case for keeping the district’s accreditation intact.

The school district has struggled financially for years, but the severity of its most recent cashflow problems were revealed last fall when state officials determined the district owed more than $6 million in overdue payments to the State Health Benefit Plan. State School Superintendent Richard Woods later said officials found widespread issues with budgeting and spending controls that had put the district on a “path to insolvency,” with a projected deficit of $13.4 million. 

A subsequent examination by the state Department of Audits and Accounts revealed a widespread lack of financial controls, patterns of overspending, over-hiring and lax bookkeeping and even personal usage of district credit card. Also, for at least eight months the district withheld insurance and benefit premiums from employees’ paychecks, but never paid that money to the state until it got caught.