EDUCATION
SPLOST V expected to bring $797 million
to Cobb schools, $62.5 million to Marietta
Education SPLOST
FACTBOOK 2020 111
By Thomas Hartwell
thartwell@mdjonline.com
MARIETTA - A penny out of every dollar spent in Cobb
County goes directly to the Cobb and Marietta school
districts to pay for construction projects needed to educate
their nearly 121,000 students combined.
Cobb voters in March 2017 passed the fifth iteration
of the 1% Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for
education, or Ed-SPLOST V. Collection on the tax began
in January 2019, and it is expected to bring in roughly
$797 million for the Cobb
County School District
and about $62.5 million for
Marietta through 2023.
Cobb voters first
approved the county’s
education SPLOST in 1998.
Since 1998, the Cobb
school district has seen the
construction of about 30
new schools and thousands
of new classrooms and
other facilities.
Since January 2014,
SPLOST IV has provided
the district more than $96.8
million in curriculum,
instruction and technology
initiatives; $50 million in safety improvements and
$133 million for replacement schools and maintenance,
according to the school district.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the first project
planned for 2019 was the construction of a Harmony-
Leland Elementary replacement school in Mableton, and
the district held a groundbreaking ceremony for the facility
under construction in July 2019.
Ragsdale thanked the ceremony’s attendees for passing
the SPLOST in 2017, saying projects like the new school
wouldn’t be possible without the help of Cobb voters.
The new, 186,930-square-foot Clay Harmony Leland
Elementary School is slated for completion in May 2020 and
will welcome about 1,000 students that fall.
The new Clay Harmony Leland Elementary School,
at 6326 Factory Shoals Road near the intersection of
Factory Shoals Road and Mableton Parkway, will include
76 classrooms and combine the 600-student population
at Harmony Leland and 380-student population at Clay
Elementary, according to Nan Kiel, a spokeswoman for the
Cobb County School District. Clay covers 55,412 square feet,
and Harmony Leland covers 65,127 square feet.
Kiel said Harmony Leland Elementary has served Cobb
students for nearly 70 years, and Clay Elementary served
students for about 60.
Additional projects planned for the latest five-year SPLOST
include replacements for Eastvalley and King Springs
elementary schools, as well as a new middle school in Smyrna
and a career academy planned for Osborne High’s campus.
With its cut, Marietta City Schools is building its $13 million
college and career academy
on the high school campus as
well as a replacement school
for Park Street Elementary,
which was built in the 1940s.
Marietta City Schools
earmarked nearly $37 million
in 2016 for construction
and renovation projects;
another $17.5 million for
technology improvements,
both in infrastructure and
curriculum; just over $4
million for transportation
projects; and another $2.85
million for instructional
materials, according to the
school district.
Remaining money was allocated to copiers and legal costs, as
well as safety and security costs.
Follow Thomas Hartwell on Twitter at twitter.com/
MDJThomas.
FACTBOX
Since the first Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax was approved by Cobb
voters in 1998 until 2017, the Cobb County School District has seen:
- 28 new schools
- 2,732 new classrooms
- Hundreds of maintenance
improvements
- Safety improvements, including
lighting, fencing, video surveillance
cameras
- Access control systems for
elementary and middle schools
- Reduction of the dependency on
portable classrooms
- Technology brought into the
classroom
- All bond debt paid off
- More than 5,600 total projects
completed
Source: Cobb County School District website
Marietta High School’s college and career academy is about 50%
complete, according to district officials. The 55,000-square-foot addition
to the high school will provide students working space for courses and
labs in engineering, game design and entrepreneurship, among others.
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