written by: the Carroll County Schools District
Ratings released this spring by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement rank Carroll County Schools among the best in Georgia for financial efficiency.
Carroll County Schools received a four-star rating out of a possible five stars. Out of the state’s 180 school districts, only 14 scored higher.
“Good stewardship of taxpayer resources is always on our mind, and we are very proud that these efforts to do more with less have been recognized by the state,” Superintendent Scott Cowart said. “When you compare us with surrounding districts, you won’t find anyone who stretches the funding as far as we do to maximize performance with dollars spent.”
GOSA, in coordination with the Georgia Department of Education, is required by law to release a financial efficiency rating for each district annually measuring district spending per student against overall student performance.
Systems with low spending per student and high College and Career Ready Performance Index scores receive the highest ratings.
“When you look objectively at the data across the state, it’s undeniable that our financial efficiency is among the very best,” Carroll County Board of Education Chairman Kerry Miller said. “At the end of the day, our board strives to create the strongest academic performance possible with the lowest cost per learner because that is what our citizens expect and it’s what our children deserve.”
On a spending per learner basis, Carroll County Schools spends less than 82 percent of Georgia districts despite having more than twice as many schools as the average district.
Of districts with lower state and local spending per student, only one district in the state has more schools to fund.
“Student performance is key to the financial efficiency metric,” Associate Superintendent of School Performance Dr. Jessica Ainsworth said. “Our high student performance on CCRPI is what shows the state we are spending taxpayer dollars in a way that does the most good and makes the greatest impact.”
Financial data available publicly on the Georgia Department of Education financial dashboard shows that Carroll County Schools receives 49.7 percent of its funding from the state, 39 percent from local tax revenues and 11.3 percent from federal sources.
Additionally, Assistant Superintendent of Business & Finance Delene Wolfe announced April 14 that the district received a clean audit with no adjustments or findings for Fiscal Year 2024. The audit was performed by Mauldin & Jenkins, a Top 100 Accounting Firm located in Atlanta.
“The audit results are a reflection of the dedication of our #24STRONG team,” Wolfe said. “It is more than managing numbers — doing things right is at the heart of our work every day. This clean audit provides assurance that we are fulfilling our commitments responsibly for our students, our staff and our community.”
The complete audit report is available at www.carrollcountyschools.com/FY24AuditReport.
