State calls hearing on future of Dublin BOE

The Georgia Board of Education has announced a hearing to decide the fate of the Dublin City school board. 

A suspension hearing is set for Tuesday, June 9 at 1 p.m. and will be held at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, 2 West Bay St. in Savannah. The meeting will also be livestreamed at youtube.com/gadoemedia. The hearing was announced late Monday, just a week after the end of a tumultuous school year for the embattled district, which saw teacher layoffs, among other cuts, as local officials seek to claw the system out of a financial quagmire. 

Dublin City Schools has faced financial uncertainty for the better part of the last decade, juggling debt and budget deficits. The situation became dire last August after State School Superintendent Richard Woods disclosed that the system failed to make payments to the state health benefit plan and that spending and poor budget practices had the district on a path to insolvency. 

The district’s accreditation remains at risk after the Cognia Global Commission voted in April to downgrade Dublin City to “accredited with conditions” – the agency’s lowest status and a required step toward dropping accreditation altogether. The district had 60 days to file a response defending its accreditation. 

Loss of accreditation would be detrimental for students, meaning colleges and universities would not recognize Dublin’s diplomas and transcripts and could open the system to further state intervention. 

This is just the latest blow to the city’s school system. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues its investigation into spending, while several lawsuits from fired teachers remain unsettled. 

Financial reports released at the last school board meeting showed the school system has about $725,000 in the bank. Spending has been reduced by $2.4 million over the past fiscal year, though reports indicate the system has more than $6 million in liabilities.