Cobb school district superintendent Chris Ragsdale (third from Left) flanked by three of the board member supporting the approved event center

By Rebecca Gaunt

Though it has already been approved by the Cobb County school board, community opposition to the planned multi-use facility on 10 acres adjacent to the school district headquarters on Glover Street is intensifying.

Powder Springs resident Steven Lang is encouraging residents to wear white shirts to represent openness and transparency at Thursday’s board meeting.

The one intended use of the facility known for certain is high school graduations, but a lack of clarity about how the 8,000-seat facility will be used and staffed for the rest of the year has some unhappy with the estimated $50 million price tag. Critics say the absence of transparency around the project has them questioning whether it’s a good use of tax dollars when schools need repairs and updates.

“Our property taxes have gone through the roof because of pork barrel projects like this which benefit a small group of politically connected officials and their campaign contributors,” Lang wrote in a Facebook post.

On Wednesday, he put out a press release calling for concerned taxpayers to present a unified front at Thursday’s meeting to “express collective disappointment over the lack of transparency in the allocation of their hard-earned tax dollars.” 

The project was approved in May 2023. Post 2 board member Becky Sayler was the only no vote. Her requests for details at the board meetings have consistently been shut down. In March, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale told her to refer back to the May 2023 meeting for the answers to her questions, but the information she was seeking wasn’t covered then either.

The lack of answers is why Post 6 board member Nichelle Davis joined Sayler in opposing the project when the construction manager at risk contract was presented at the March 2024 meeting. It passed 5-2.

Last week, Watching the Funds-Cobb, a parent-led financial watchdog group, held an educational online session about the district’s $1.85 billion budget. Sayler and Davis were the only board members who accepted the group’s invitation to participate in the session that was heavy with participant questions about the millage rate and the event center.

Of the event center and her change of heart, Davis said, “Things sound great initially but it has to be backed up with the plan.”

The event center is not part of the budget that is expected to be approved Thursday night. Money from the sale of district property and capital outlay reimbursements from the state will be put toward construction costs. But the questions about the expense to staff and maintain such a facility remain.

A statement from Watching the Funds said, “It’s clear to us that taxpayers are concerned about how Cobb County School District plans to spend our money next year. We are particularly concerned about the need for a $50 million event center. More participants asked about that and the millage rate than any other topic.” 

Though Ragsdale has primarily highlighted the facility’s use for graduations, he has also listed science fairs, robotics competitions, staff training, and college and job fairs as other possible uses.

He also said that the center’s investment return is infinity, a statement that did not go over well with the people asking about a feasibility plan, staffing considerations, whether the district intends to rent it out, and the cost of operating such a facility.

Ragsdale initially proposed the idea in 2021 to be funded by SPLOST VI, but it was struck from the project list after board member Leroy Tre’ Hutchins and then-board members Jaha Howard and Charisse Davis said there were more pressing needs in the district. Board member Randy Scamihorn told media he was on the fence at the time, but satisfied that the idea could be revisited in the future.

In April, Ragsdale defended the event center during his superintendent remarks.

“I know most everyone will be overly excited to have additional seats for family members to attend. Those who are not excited, or even overly excited, well they probably did not have to pick and choose which parents, siblings, grandparents, and other families got to attend their graduation…from them I simply ask for empathy for those who do,” he said.

He also said that demolition and clearing of the property would begin “any day now,” though no site plans or architectural designs have been shared with the board or public.

Scamihorn backs the current plan to build the facility, calling it a “decision that sets our district apart.”

Board member Brad Wheeler told the Courier this week that the event center is part of offering a world-class education.

“We cannot be shy about investing long-term into our students, and thus our community,” he wrote.

Last month, Watching the Funds shared the results of an open records request the group put in at Kennesaw State University, when it was unable to get answers from the district.

According to the documents, it costs the district $44,000 to rent the facilities at KSU for nine days to hold the graduations. Group co-founder Heather Tolley-Bauer acknowledged that number is just for the space, not the full cost of holding multiple graduation ceremonies, but asked, “how much can that possibly be to justify a $50 million building that WE will now have to fund staffing, maintenance, upkeep, upgrades, insurance etc. in perpetuity?”

Parent Tina Engberg is also frustrated with the decision to build the event center.

“I cannot think of a bigger waste of taxpayer’s money,” she told the Courier. “Renting KSU is hardly an inconvenience relative to the massive, unquantified expense of this boondoggle project. Cobb County has a prime example in Mable House Amphitheater of a facility built with the intention of drawing off business from other small concert venues but having to be mothballed at times when it was too costly for the county to operate. This overdevelopment needs to stop.”