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MAY 18, 2023
Madison County Journal
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumaITODAY.com
Vol. 40 No. 15 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements
$1.00
Football
team holds
spring
scrimmage
— Page 2B
Honors
Night held
at MCHS
— Page 8A
COUNTY GOV’T EDUCATION
Economic
study to be
presented
Monday
By Alison Smith
A nearly six-month
process of assessing a
path toward planning the
county's future economic
growth is completed.
Last October the
Madison County Board
of Commissioners voted
to establish an Economic
Development Study
Committee composed of
11 county partners and
stakeholders who plan to
present its report at the
next Board meeting on
Monday. May 22.
Committee members
began deliberation with
the goal of looking to pro
vide feedback on how to
most efficiently and suc
cessfully encourage eco
nomic development in the
future.
The BOC had asked
for input in the structure
for government and qua
si-government agencies
like the Madison County
Board of Commissioners,
Industrial Development
and Building Authority,
Chamber of Commerce
and Board of Education.
The committee addressed
missions and responsibil
ities for those entities as
well. A large portion of
See ‘Eco’ on 2A
Index:
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4-5A
Crime — 6A
Social — 7 A
School — 8A
Features — 1B
Sports — 2B
Church — 3B
Obituaries — 4B
Legals — 5-7B
Classifieds — 8B
Foothills
keeps its feet
Alternative high school weathers deep budget cuts;
officials say student experience won’t change much
By Zach Mitcham
zach @ mainstreetnews.com
Foothills is still standing. That’s one of
the big, local takeaways from the 2023
Georgia legislative session. Students who
attend the evening high school on the
Madison County High School campus
shouldn’t see much change in the services
they receive.
Foothills Education Charter High
School has been touted by local educators
for years for reducing the teen dropout
rate and providing youth with an alter
native environment to traditional high
school, where students can work at their
own pace toward a high school diploma
while developing job skills.
But state funding for Foothills and other
similar charter systems drew scrutiny
from the Georgia General Assembly this
past legislative session.
Those systems were overfunded, they
said. And Foothills leaders concurred,
actually raising the funding issue to state
leaders, noting that surpluses in the pro
gram’s budget had gotten to be too much.
That’s because Foothills can operate at a
much lower cost than traditional schools.
“We deliver education at a much cheap
er rate than a traditional school can, and
it’s because of our business model,’’ said
Dr. Sherrie Gibney-Sherman, Foothills
Education Charter High School Superin
tendent. “Most of our employees are part
time, so we don’t have the expense of
benefits, that kind of thing for employees,
not to mention their salaries. We borrow
buildings, such as in Madison County we
use the old high school.”
Cuts were coming. All agreed they were
needed.
But how aggressive would legislators be
with the saw? Would they be overzealous
and gut Foothills, leaving it unable to
continue?
That was a real fear.
And indeed, the cuts were deep. HB87,
passed by the Georgia General Assembly
The changes:
•Class sizes will be slightly larger as the
school moves from 12 students per teacher to
15 students per teacher.
•The hours of operation will move from 4 p.m.
to 9 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This change
will not begin until Aug. 14.
•For students under 18 years of age who
attend Foothills, their official enrollment will
remain with their resident high school and
district.
•For those students under 18, academic and
financial accountability measures — including
student performance and graduation rates —
will be assigned to a student’s former school.
•The tuition for transfer credit courses will
increase from $150 to $500 per credit starting
July 1,2023.
•The official school name will change to
Foothills Regional High School.
and recently signed into law by the Gov
ernor, led to a 48-percent cut in revenues
for Foothills, which has 16 north Georgia
locations, including one in Danielsville.
Revenues will drop from $27.4 million
this year to $14.6 million next year.
So, can Foothills survive this major axe
chop to the budget?
Gibney-Sherman says the answer is a
resounding, “Yes!”
“Direct service to students is barely
touched,” she said. "Students won’t see
anything much different.”
Despite the cuts, the Foothills super
intendent says she’s grateful to legis
lators for keeping the program intact.
She said the bill also extends access to
evening-school learning to students in the
state who didn’t previously have access.
“The good news about HB87 is every
student in the state of Georgia has the
potential to have access to this alternative
way of learning in high school,” said
Gibney-Sherman. “So we’re very pleased
with that. Just very grateful to our legis-
See ‘Foothills’ on 2A
Taste of MC!
Eli Jablonski, 19 months, son of Nathan and
Annie Jablonski of Comer, gets a cold treat from
his mom at the annual Taste of Madison County
event Saturday. See Page IB for more photos and
a gallery at MadisonJoumalTODAY.com. Photo by
Zach Mitcham
TAXES
Sticker
shock, 2.0
Inflated housing values lead
to increased assessments again in 2023
By Zach Mitcham
zach @ mainstreetnews.com
The sticker shock last week was a bit of deja vu for many
Madison County property owners.
Local property assessments skyrocketed in 2022 due to
inflated values in the housing market and, well, the same
is true in 2023.
Madison County Chief Appraiser Robin Baker said this
year’s county digest (overall property value) is up approxi
mately 18 percent over last year.
But that doesn’t mean tax bills will increase by 18 percent
for property owners. Individual property assessments vary,
and the assessed value is just one part of the taxing formula.
Last year, both the county commissioners and the county
school board significantly reduced their mill rates to offset
the increase in values and ease the taxing burden on prop
erty owners. Local officials will now have to consider the
2023 value increases as they contemplate mill rates for this
year.
Baker will appear before county commissioners Monday
at 6 p.m. to offer a Powerpoint presentation on valuations
and the taxing process.
“We do have a Powerpoint, and we’re going to do the best
we can to explain the process,” he said.
Baker said most property owners he’s talked to under
stand that values are high across the board right now due to
the housing market.
“They’re agreeing that yeah, that probably is what my
value is, because I could get that for it,’’ he said. “But they
couldn’t replace it for that. It’s the nature of the market
right now.’’
County commission chairman Todd Higdon said the
meeting will be moved from the regular meeting room to
the Superior Courtroom to allow for a bigger crowd than
usual.
“We’re urging citizens who want to hear about their taxes
to come out,” he said.
The bridge is back!
Contact:
Phone: 706-367-5233
Web: MadisonJournal
TODAY.com
News submissions:
zach@
mainstreetnews.com
Career Signing Day
A “Career Signing Day” was held at the Broad River College and Career Academy
(BRCCA) Monday morning for three Madison County seniors who have secured
jobs after graduation. Luke Brunson (seated, left) will work for CW Mathews Con
struction. Blake Wyatt (center) will work for Georgia Metals, and Jeremiah Weav
er (right) has signed on with Caterpillar. Pictured standing is Paul “Bo” Boykin,
BRCCA CEO. The three will start their careers with work boots paid for by local
nonprofit HireSmart Cares.
y BRIDGE^
ICES BEFORE
\ ROAD A
After months of motorists facing a lengthy detour,
the new Hwy. 281 bridge is now complete. The road
was officially reopened at 4 p.m. Friday, bringing
to close a $4.78 million project to replace the old
bridge with a wider structure that runs 430 feet in
length, is 40 feet wide and 10 feet higher than the
old structure. The bridge, which has an estimated
700-to-800 vehicles a day, is similar in design to
other bridges the Georgia Department of Trans
portation has replaced in the past five years. It’s
designed to last 80-to-100 years. Photo by Alison Smith