The Bulloch County Board of Education discussed the proposed budget for the 2026 school year and heard from Sallie Zetterower Elementary School (SZES), their school spotlight, at their work session on March 27th, 2025.
From SZES, second-grader Peyton Stokes opened the meeting by leading the room in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The chair of the board, Elizabeth Williams, moved to amend or adopt the agenda, which the superintendent recommended to be approved. The agenda was approved by the board unanimously.
There was no public participation.
Superintendent's Report
Next, Superintendent Charles Wilson welcomed Sallie Zetterower Elementary School for its school spotlight presentation. SZES Principal Marlin Baker introduced the staff who had come for the presentation.
Teachers presented the English Language Arts GMAS data and the math GMAS data.
The iReady data from the Winter diagnostic shows a 21% increase in students above or on grade level.
In the phonics domain, there have been significant gains in kindergarten and second grade. UFly is a program that is being used in kindergarten through fifth grade as an intervention to address phonics skills.
Instead of having a special education teacher pull kids out of the classroom, they have a special education teacher who is pushed into the general education classroom, which has allowed for more small groups to be led and keep all of the classmates together.
Fiscal Year 2026 Budget
Next, the board discussed the budget for the 2026 fiscal year (FY).
Bulloch County Schools CFO Alison Boatright opened the discussion with a presentation that broke down the amount each department is proposed to receive this year compared to last year.
The budget has to be approved by June 30th, 2025. Discussions should be completed by May 29th, 2025, to allow the month of June for tentatively adopting, advertising, and adopting the final budget.
The presentation had slides that described each department and the cost of the changes. There are 29 departments total, and some had either an increase or decrease in the projected budget from last year.
The student discipline department, state and federal programs, professional learning department, and hospital homebound department budgets from the 2025 FY and 2026 FY stayed the same.
The total amount for the Capital Resources Budget (ESPLOST) is $7.52M.
After the presentation, Superintendent Wilson then recommended that the board go into an Executive Session to discuss personnel recommendations before returning to open session and adjourning.
