Overview:
The new multipurpose facility is now canceled.
In March of last year, the Cobb County Board of Education approved
a proposal from Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to build a $50 million multi-purpose facility.
During the work session where the board approved the proposal, Ragsdale said the facility would mostly be used for academic purpouses. Still, he later cited graduations as “the most important reason” for bringing it forward.
“High school graduation has been described as the most unifying American experience,” said Ragsdale during the work session. “It is a rare life milestone shared across the diverse cultures and experiences of our county, state, and nation. It is a goal we as a district began emphasizing in pre-k and one shared by every student in every academic and career pathway.”
In December of last year, the board unanimously approved the purchase of approximately 1.31 acres of land next to Cobb’s central office for its location.
From the time the process of creating the facility began, it had a contentious atmosphere. Various groups have pushed back on the use of funds for this facility. The most notable group is Watching The Funds-Cobb, a grassroots organization with engaged stakeholders keeping track of the district’s finances. The organization’s Facebook Page has kept track of the development with Cobb County residents following and commenting on various update posts. A press release from the organization including a parking summary and floor plans for the facility it says was sent to them by a concerned citizen.
According to Heather Tolley-Bauer, one of Watching The Funds-Cobb’s leaders, the main reasons for the pushback on building the facility are a lack of transparency regarding the process, and the argument that Cobb County funds are better used working on the current buildings in the district instead of a potential new one.
“When we have elementary schools that are trying to crowdsource and fundraise from the community money to send all of their fifth graders on the end of the year field trip, you know when we have entire subjects that don’t have textbooks, there are needs that are not being met. That would directly improve the education and the academic success for many if not all of our students so why are we spending money on a you know, on a $50 million, you know, event center when you know, it only takes $45,000 in rental fees to rent KSU?” said Tolley-Bauer.
Tolley-Bauer also claims when the organization looked into plans for the facility, they largely found a basketball arena.
“In addition to taking care of the maintenance problems at schools, you know, all over the place across our district that need that need fixing, they had an opportunity and for whatever reason decided that this was that this was going to be a sports arena.” said Tolley-Bauer. “They had the opportunity to add an education component to it. Why not make it one of our pathway programs that offer sports management, sports training, hospitality, teaching, not all of our kids are going to go off to college. So why not use this multimillion-dollar facility and teach our kids a translatable skill?”
In July, the Cobb County Board voted unanimously to cancel the project at Ragsdale’s recommendation. According to Cobb’s website, this cancellation adds an extra safeguard to the budget during national economic uncertainty.
“Superintendent Ragsdale’s decision exemplifies his forward-thinking, fiscal management, and leadership.” said Board member Brad Wheeler.
In reaction to the cancellation, Watching the Funds-Cobb released the following words in a Facebook post.
“We are so proud that the work we did led to this wasteful project being halted, saving Cobb County taxpayers millions of dollars now and in the future. We spent more than a year researching this project and digging for information when the district refused to share plans, drawings, data, feasibility studies… all the things they clearly had since we now know the project had been in the works for at least 5 years.”
While the group expressed gratitude at the project’s cancellation, it expressed concern over how these plans were formulated and said they would continue keeping track of Cobb’s finances.