Struggling Dublin City district ‘in the black’ after March

The cash-strapped Dublin City Board of Education celebrated some good financial news at its most recent meeting after finishing the month of March with a general fund balance of $2.4 million.

Interim finance director Betty Corbitt presented the monthly financial report to the school board at its meeting Monday night, noting that the system started the fiscal year last July with a $3.8 million deficit. 

“It’s in the black, not in the red,” she said. When finished, Corbitt drew a rousing round of applause from an overflow crowd and members of the board.

“That’s the first time anybody in finance ever got an ovation,” quipped board member James Lanier.

For the year, the school system has received about $26.7 million in revenue while spending about $20.4 million, with total expenditures running $2.9 million less than at this same time last year.

The school district’s financial crisis came to light last August when state officials contacted the Dublin district in August after learning the system owed $5.6 million to the State Health Benefit Plan after not paying in contributions for the entire fiscal year 2025. After a closer look at the finances, state School Superintendent Richard Woods declared the district on a “path to insolvency” with a $13.4 million projected deficit.

The district has survived through job eliminations and other cuts, along with advances of its monthly allotments of state funding, until property tax collections began in February – about two months later than usual. The schools also began monthly repayment plan in February to make the overdue payments to the State Health Benefit Plan.

So far, the district has received $11 million in property taxes, and hopes to collect about $3 million more, Corbitt said.

The school board has been sending its monthly financial report to the state, which Corbitt said is not required. 

“We’ve been sending them to the state for years and years and years, and they never saw anything wrong,” said board member John Bell.

Also Monday, the school board approved a revised calendar for the next school year that eliminates all furlough days for teachers and staff. Interim Superintendent Marcee Pool said the salary schedule approved recently by the board, which is based on state pay levels, allows the district to do away with the furloughs.

In other business, the board:

• Approved new heating-and-air units at Susie Dasher Elementary, drawing applause from the meeting crowd who saw the decision as long overdue.

The board approved a bid from Middle Georgia Mechanical that includes a 20-ton unit for the school’s cafeteria and a 15-ton unit for the kitchen at a cost of about $133,000, maintenance supervisor Andy Wright told the board.

“The units are over 30 years old. We cannot repair them anymore, and I recommend we replace them,” Wright said.

• Approved the following resignations: Michelle Mitchell, teacher, Dublin Hihgl Zari Wadley, teacher, Dublin Middle; Katie Glover, teacher, Hillcrest Elementary; Audrey Hall, teacher, Irish Gifted Academy; Latoya Auston, administrative assistant, Central Office; Katherine Neal, teacher, Hillcrest Elementary.