This story has been updated. 

Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur School Board will meet on Tuesday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m. for a regular meeting. The meeting will be held in person at the Wilson School Support Center, 125 Electric Ave. in Decatur.

The board will also hold a public hearing on the fiscal year 2023 budget at 6:15 p.m. at the Wilson Center and via Zoom.

During the meeting, the school board will consider formally adopting the fiscal year 2023 budget, tentatively adopting the millage rate, and approving the name change for Renfroe Middle School. The school board will also discuss the Spanish program evaluation.

Here are the meeting access instructions:

The board will continue the practice of streaming meetings via Zoom and available at the following link.

Join the Board Meeting: https://csdecatur.zoom.us/j/95614159391

Join by Phone:

Dial: 1 (646) 558-8656 or +1 (301) 715-8592

Webinar ID: 956 1415 9391

To view the public hearing agenda, click here.

To view the meeting agenda, click here.

The school board tentatively approved the FY23 budget at its April 12 meeting. CSD’s current fiscal year, 2022, ends on June 30 and fiscal year 2023 begins on July 1. The next budget will need to be approved by July 1.

The district has proposed to keep the millage rate at 21 mills. The rate will be approved in June, following three public hearings.

The FY23 budget reflects $3.8 million in operational budget cuts, which Chief Financial Officer Lonita Broome and Superintendent Maggie Fehrman presented at the March 8 school board meeting.

The school system’s budget breaks down into four categories — the school nutrition revenue budget, the special revenue budget, the capital projects budget and the general fund budget.

In previous years, the general fund has supplemented the school nutrition program by about $900,000 a year. To reduce the amount of money that comes out of the general fund, the board increased meal prices by 50 cents, so about $226,000 will go into the school nutrition fund.

The preliminary FY23 general fund budget anticipates receiving about $85.6 million in revenue and spending the same amount, reflecting a balanced budget. Some highlights of the general fund include:

During the meeting, the school board will consider approving changing the name of Renfroe Middle School. The school board, at its work session, favored Beacon Hill Middle School. Other options include Beacon Middle School and Trinity Middle School.

The board invited the community to submit name suggestions in March, and the submission form closed on April 15.

In October 2021, the school board revised the district’s policy related to naming and renaming schools. The policy now requires that “school buildings where students attend will be given names of local communities, neighborhoods, streets and landmarks.”

The name recommended cannot be a duplicate, cause confusion, or otherwise conflict with the names of existing facilities within City Schools of Decatur.

“Therefore, in accordance with our policy, we are embarking on a process to rename Renfroe Middle School, and we are inviting the entire CSD community to participate in the process,” a previous Dr. Fehrman’s Friday Follow Up newsletter stated.

If you appreciate our work on this story, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about your community. To become a supporter, click here. 

Want Decaturish delivered to your inbox every day? Sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.