MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County Board of Education approved plans to upgrade and modernize the Career Technology Labs equipment at C.A. Gray Junior High in their August meeting Monday night.

The upgrade plans are going to be funded by the Federal Perkins V Program Improvement Grant. 

“70% of the Perkins funds will be used to upgrade and modernize the Career Technology Labs equipment,” Colquitt County Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Jones said in his presentation to the board during the work session. “This year the plan is to update two Business Ed Labs at C.A. Gray Junior High, purchase equipment for the Construction Lab at C.A. Gray and upgrade equipment in the two Ag Labs.”

The grant will also pay for employee/teacher travel and registration for clubs participating in local, state and national competitions; covering for CTAE substitute teachers and supplies “supporting special population students,” according to the document provided by Jones to the board, which is available publicly on the board’s website.

Other CTAE budget issues were tackled in the presentation from Jones including salary funding and End of Pathway Assessment tests and their administration fees. The proposed budget allocations were accepted unanimously by the board during the regular session.

Three CTAE teachers were saluted by the board at the beginning of the regular session. Misty Moon, Wendy Murphy and Will Burt were recognized for their award wins during the summer. Moon had received the 2021 Teacher of the Year award by the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education, Murphy was awarded the 2021 New Teacher of Year by the GACTE and Burt had received the 2021 Outstanding Agriculture Mechanics Teacher award presented by the Georgia Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association, according to Lou Ann Lardy, Colquitt County community relations coordinator.

Jones also presented the proposed property tax rate for the coming school year during the work session. The rate is proposed to decrease from 9.26 to 9.09 mills, “which is the third lowest in the state,” said Jones. The board plans to take action on the tax rate change in its September meeting.

In other actions taken by the board, The Benefits Committee of Colquitt County recommended to the board that Totem Solutions should take over as the Welfare Benefits consultant. Totem Solutions is based out of Alpharetta and has 25 years of service with school districts in Georgia, according to the request presented by Jones.

Along with that, the committee recommended that the board approve Hartmann Astor as retirement consultant. Hartmann Astor is based out of Suwanee. 

Both were accepted in a single action taken by the board.

The board also accepted the FY22 updated salary schedules, which include the raises to hourly wage employees such as paraprofessionals, bus drivers and custodians and an increase to the local teacher salary schedule that was originally presented in the June meeting.

“To attract people to this district we have to be competitive,” said District 1 Board Member Trudie Hill during the meeting. 

The updated schedule was accepted unanimously by the board.

Other items on the agenda included the transfer of bank accounts for Funston Elementary School, the creation of the Early Learning Imagination Library bank account, the Board Policy Revision Project, field trip requests for Funston Elementary fifth graders to go to Washington D.C. and Stringfellow Elementary fifth graders to go to Orlando, Florida, and the Charter System Local Board Resolution. All of those were accepted unanimously by the board in separate actions. 

The board will be hosting its first Georgia School Board Association S.W.O.T. Analysis Meeting on Sept. 14 at 5:30 p.m. The next regularly scheduled board meeting is set for Sept. 27 at 6:30 p.m.