Cobb County School District

Cobb County School District
Address
514 Glover Street SE Marietta, Georgia , 30060-2750 United States
Coordinates	33°56′19″N 84°32′16″W / 33.938658°N 84.537803°W / 33.938658; -84.537803[1][failed verification]
District information
Motto	"One Team, One Goal, Student Success"
Grades	Pre-kindergarten – 12
Superintendent	Chris Ragsdale
Accreditation(s)	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Georgia Accrediting Commission
Schools	110[2]
Budget	US$1.8 billion (2024–25)[2]
NCES District ID	1301290[2]
Students and staff
Students	106,970 Minority Enrollment 70% 34% White 30% Black 24% Latino/Hispanic 5.8% Asian 4.8% 2 or more ethnicities [3]
Teachers	7,408.10 (FTE) (2022–23)[2]
Staff	6,187.60 (FTE) (2022–23)[2]
Student–teacher ratio	14.40 (2022–23)[2]
Other information
Website	cobbk12.org

The Cobb County School District (CCSD) is the school district which operates public schools in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. The school district includes all of Cobb County except for the Marietta City Schools, though a number of schools in unincorporated parts of the county have Marietta addresses.^[4] It is the second-largest school system in Georgia (behind only Gwinnett County Public Schools) and 23rd largest in the United States.^[5] The district is the county's largest employer^[6] and one of the largest in the US (at least in school systems). All Cobb County schools are accredited by Cognia (education), and the district is among the first to have earned district-wide accreditation.^[7] The superintendent of the school district is Chris Ragsdale.^[8]

As a body created under provisions of the Georgia's constitution, the Cobb County Board of Education has full authority to control and manage the public schools within the county, excluding any independent school system. This means that like other school systems in the state, it is directly under the Georgia Department of Education and not subject to city or county government control. This also means that it has separate funding through its own property tax (except on senior citizens) outside of Marietta city limits, and 1% county-wide sales tax which it splits with Marietta City Schools based on which jurisdiction it was collected in.

As of August 2024, the elected board members of the Cobb County Board of Education of the Cobb County School District are:^[9]

• Randy Scamihorn (Post 1, Chair)
• Becky Sayler (Post 2)
• Leroy Tre' Hutchins (Post 3)
• David Chastain (Post 4)
• David Banks (Post 5)
• Nichelle Davis (Post 6)
• Brad Wheeler (Post 7, Vice Chair)

The board gave management of fiscal year 2025 general-fund operating budget of approximately $1.8 billion to Superintendent Ragsdale for most transactions under $200,000.^[10]

In recent years, the Superintendent has been granted authority to manage most of the district outside of the board's purview or approval.^[11]

On August 16, 2024, Ragsdale banned 13 more books.^[12]

On July 19, 2024, Ragsdale revealed a list of books banned since August 2023. It was also reported that he lashed out at The Marietta Daily-Journal for publishing information about his bans. The list focuses heavily on race, LGTBQIA+ topics and authors, and other topics Ragsdale deems "divisive" based on his interpretation of HB 1084 and SB 226.^[13]

June 14, 2024 students and alumni announce joining the federal discrimination lawsuit against Cobb County School District, et al.[1]

On May 14, 2024, the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) filed two complaints against the Cobb County School District for violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ragsdale has previously responded that his bans are simply removals to protect children.^[14]

On February 13, 2024, Katie Rinderle and other educators file a lawsuit against the Cobb County School District for discrimination.^[15]

The original Clarkdale Elementary School was a Cobb County school that opened in the 1960s and closed on September 21, 2009, due to the massive flooding in Georgia that day, which submerged the school to the ceiling in the waters of nearby Noses Creek. Despite being built outside the 100-year flood plain, water rose ankle-deep on the grounds as the children were being evacuated.

The school housed about 450 students. For three school years, these students attended Compton Elementary (K-2) and Austell Intermediate (3–5). The new Clarkdale Elementary opened in mid-August 2012 near Cooper Middle School (although the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared the original site acceptable^[17]), while the previous building awaited demolition, a delay which the local neighborhood complained about.

State funding (a bond for 20% of the cost of replacement) was vetoed by Governor Sonny Perdue on procedural grounds in early June 2010.^[18] Most of the remainder will be covered by insurance and leftover SPLOST funds.^[19]

At least one other school has been demolished. The original Blackwell Elementary School in the Blackwells community was built in the 1920s on Canton Road (old Georgia 5), as the county's first consolidated school. The historic schoolhouse, and all of its later additions, were destroyed in summer 1997 and closed for a year while a new replacement was built on the same site, in an institutional style much like the plain architecture of an office park rather than a historic school.

The original Mountain View Elementary was rebuilt farther down Sandy Plains Road; the original was demolished in 2018 for a new shopping center. Also located in a busy business district, Brumby Elementary on Powers Ferry Road was set to be replaced by a mixed-use development in 2020 with a Kroger superstore by 2022. Both Brumby and East Cobb Middle School opened new schools next to each other on Terrell Mill Road in August 2018, although local residents objected to the expected traffic and noise. The old East Cobb Middle School, located directly across Holt Road from Wheeler HS, will be home to a relocated Eastvalley Elementary School.

Walton High School made a run to the GHSA State Championship for American football in 2023, looking to bring home their first-ever state championship, but would ultimately fall to Milton High School heartbreakingly after conceding a field goal with a minute left in the game, going down 24-21, and returning the subsequent kickoff to Milton's 28 yard line, only to throw a pick six on the very next play, and the game would end 31-21 in Milton's favor.

In 2002, Cobb County School District voted to put stickers on textbooks with a message including the admonition cautioning students that "evolution is only a theory." Plaintiffs brought suit on separation of church and state grounds, with the initial trial finding for the plaintiffs. Cobb County School District appealed and the verdict was overturned and remanded for a new trial, at which time plaintiffs and Cobb County School District reached an out-of-court settlement, with the district agreeing to remove the stickers.^[20]

A Cobb County teacher was discovered to have had sex with a 17-year-old student. When brought to trial, the teacher pleaded that the student had consented. This defense was allowed by the Superior Court judge and upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2009. This led the Georgia legislature to pass a statute in 2010 making it a crime for a teacher to have sexual relations with a student.^[21]

As of August 2024, these board posts are up for general election in 2024:^[22]

• Post 1 Dr. Vickie Benson(D) challenging incumbent Randy Scamihorn(R)
• Post 3 Leroy Tre' Hutchins(D) unchallenged incumbent
• Post 5 Laura Judge(D) running against John H. Cristadoro(R)
• Post 7 Andrew Cole(D) challenging incumbent Brad Wheeler(R)

• Official website
• Report of the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools Accreditation (2011 archive)