Clayton County school board elects Benjamin Straker chair, approves SPLOST 8 referendum and land-bank tax extinguishment

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Clayton County Board of Education on Jan. 13 elected Benjamin Straker as board chair and Mary Baker as vice chair, voted to place a proposed SPLOST 8 sales-tax referendum before voters and approved a request from the Clayton County Land Bank Authority to extinguish taxes on a Forest Park property intended for affordable housing for teachers and public servants.

The board elected Benjamin Straker to serve as chair after a board nominating and roll-call vote. Board member Jessie Goree nominated Straker; six members cast votes for him. Mary Baker was elected vice chair in a separate vote, 5–4, after nominations from the floor.

The board moved quickly through several personnel and administrative items. Superintendent Anthony W. Smith’s recommendations to appoint Dr. Jurita Barriere as principal of Lake Ridge Elementary School and Keith Evans as assistant principal at Eddie White Middle School Academy were approved unanimously. The board also approved a series of routine items, including easements and an employee hearing tribunal recommendation, and accepted financial reports and budget amendments included on the consent agenda.

Why it matters: The SPLOST 8 referendum would ask voters to reimpose a 1% education sales and use tax and authorize the issuance of general-obligation bonds tied to that revenue. The district’s presentation said the proposed referendum would call a special election for March 18, 2025, with a maximum project and bond amount of $495 million. The sales tax is proposed for a five-year period; the related bond issuance was described as having a term of up to 25 years with an interest rate “not to exceed 6%,” according to district staff.

On the SPLOST question, board members discussed how the sales tax and the proposed bond interact with property-tax policy. A district staff member explained that House Bill 581 (mentioned during the meeting) is a floating homestead exemption linked to inflation that affects the maintenance-and-operations…