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The Commerce News
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Elections
Qualifying
coming
up across
Jackson
County
Qualifying is coming
up in municipalities across
Jackson County for the
Nov. 7 General Election.
While most of the munic
ipalities will hold quali
fying later in the month,
Hoschton will hold quali
fying next week.
Details from each town
include:
ARCADE
Arcade will hold quali
fying on Aug. 21 through
Aug. 23 from 8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. at Arcade City
Hall.
Three at-large Arcade
City Council seats are on
the ballot.
Qualifying fees are $54.
BRASELTON
Braselton will hold qual
ifying on Aug. 23-25 from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at
Braselton Town Hall.
Seats on the ballot in
clude Braselton Town
Council District 1 (cur
rently held by Becky
Richardson) and District 3
(currently held by Jim Joe-
decke Jr.).
Qualifying fees are
$180.
COMMERCE
Commerce will hold
qualifying for city coun
cil and board of education
seats from Monday, Aug.
21, through Wednesday,
Aug. 23, from 8:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. at Commerce
City Hall.
Offices up for election
are mayor, councilman
ward III, councilman ward
IV and councilman ward
V. The qualifying fee for
mayor will be $126 and the
qualifying fee for the coun
cil seats will be $81.
The Commerce School
Board districts to be filled
are school board district
III, school board district
IV and school board dis
trict V. A special election
for school board district I
will also be held (the spe
cial election is required
because Nathan Anderson
previously stepped down
from the position. He has
since been reappointed
to the seat, but the initial
See Qualifying, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
Education
Most schools top state on Milestones, but some struggle
Most schools in Jackson
County topped the state
average in third, fifth and
eighth grade Georgia Mile
stones scores.
The Georgia Depart
ment of Education released
the 2022-23 End of Grade
Milestones results last
week. Reading is scored
based on percentage at
grade level. The remain
ing subjects are scored in
four categories (in order
from lowest: Beginning,
developing, proficient and
distinguished learners).
The Jackson Herald bas
es scores on the percent
age of students in those
top three categories
(developing, proficient
and distinguished).
The only schools to fall
below the state average
were South Jackson El
ementary (in third grade
reading and English lan
guage arts and fifth grade
reading); Maysville El
ementary (in fifth grade
reading and English lan
guage arts); East Jackson
Elementary (in fifth grade
science); and East Jack-
son Comprehensive High
School, which straggled on
eighth grade scores. EJCHS
eighth graders were below
the state average in reading,
language arts, math and so
cial studies.
See EOG,page 2A
High schools fare
well on Milestones
Most Jackson County
high schools topped the
state average on Geor
gia Milestones End of
Coruse tests. The only
exception was Algebra
1, on which East Jack-
son Comprehensive and
Jackson County high
See EOC, page 2A
Back to School
Photo by Amy Flint
Commerce City School System students returned to the hallways on Friday,
July 28, for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
School bells are ringing again in the Jefferson City School System as the
district’s first day of the 2023-24 school year began on Friday (July 28). See
more photos of Commerce and Jefferson’s first day of school on page 8A.
First day enrollment up at
Commerce, down at Jefferson
Commerce and Jefferson
both returned for the 2023-
24 school year on Friday,
July 28. Commerce saw an
increase in first day enroll
ment over last year, while
Jefferson’s enrollment
dropped.
The Commerce City
School System had an en
rollment of 1,887 students
on the first day of the 2023-
24 school year. That’s up
from last year, when en
rollment totaled 1,803 on
the first day of school.
Details for each school
include:
• Commerce Primary —
491 (up from 482 last year)
• Commerce Elementary
— 293 (up from 277)
• Commerce Middle —
562 (up from 544)
• Commerce High — 541
(up from 500)
Meanwhile, first day
enrollment in the Jeffer
son City School System
dropped to 3,968 students,
down from 4,198 on the
first day of last year. En
rollment divided by the
schools was not available
by press time.
The first day for Jackson
County School System
students is Thursday, Aug.
3.
Public safety
Photo from Janis Mangum Facebook
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum has
been named “Sheriff of the Year” by the Geor
gia Sheriff’s Association.
Sheriff Mangum
named state’s
Sheriff of the Year
Jackson County Sher
iff Janis Mangum has
been named “Sheriff of
the Year” by the Georgia
Sheriff’s Association.
Mangum was recog
nized for this achievement
at the Sheriff’s Associ
ation’s annual banquet,
held at Jekyll Island on
Wednesday, July 26.
Mangum thanked her
family, friends and col
leagues on social media
after the announcement.
“How humbled and
blessed I am to receive
this honor, Sheriff of
the Year, for the State of
Georgia. Unbelievable,”
she said.
“...Thank you to all the
people that have support
ed me and have stood by
me for the last 11 years as
I have served as the Sher
iff and 35 years total at the
Jackson County Sheriff’s
Office. It’s been some
more journey.”
Mangum previously an
nounced that she will not
be seeking re-election in
2024.
Pendergrass
Pendergrass to keep
same millage rate
Hearings set for
budget, millage
rate in the city
The Pendergrass City
Council has set three pub
lic hearings on its 2024
budget and millage rate.
The city is keeping its
millage rate the same at 3
mills, but due to growth in
the tax digest, that will net
the city a 48.5% increase
in taxes. The city expects
to get $642,000 in proper
ty taxes with that rate. The
millage rate has remained
at 3 mills since the city
first began levying prop
erty taxes in 2018.
Public hearings on the
millage rate and city bud
get are set for Aug. 11 at
11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and
Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m. The
council will take final
action on the budget and
millage rate at 7 p.m. fol
lowing the final hearing.
All of the meetings will
be at city hall.
The hearings are man
dated by state law since
the city isn’t rolling its
millage rate back to the
“rollback rage” which
would be .443 mills lower.
The city will net $210,000
more in taxes this year
than last year by keeping
the rate at 3 mills.
OTHER BUSINESS
At its July 25 meeting,
the council:
See Pendergrass, page 2A
piggly wiggly
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