Cherokee County superintendent briefs Woodstock council on achievement, budgets and new classrooms

Dr. Mary Elizabeth Davis, superintendent of Cherokee County School District, updated the Woodstock City mayor and council on Oct. 27 about student achievement, district finances and planned capital projects serving Woodstock residents.

"Kids learning more in our classrooms than they could anywhere else is our top priority," Dr. Davis said, describing board actions that set district goals in English language arts and math and a publicly posted superintendent evaluation instrument.

Davis told the council the district serves students in 40 schools and centers and employs about 6,000 people. She said per‑pupil expenditure is about $14,000 and the district's operating budget is approximately $604,000,000 with a millage rate of 16.45. She described a gap between transportation costs and state support — "it costs us $32,000,000 to do that, but we only receive almost $11,000,000 in state funds" — and said local tax dollars account for much of the district's additional services such as nurses in every school.

Davis said the board has sought internal and external validation of its revenue projections. The district commissioned a third‑party CPA review that, she said, confirmed the district was "pretty on target" in a three‑year outlook and showed increasing uncertainty in five‑ and six‑year projections tied to choices such as the floating homestead exemption, which the board previously declined to adopt.

On student outcomes, Davis said the district has outperformed the state on tested areas for the tenth consecutive year and reported growth in Algebra I and eighth‑grade math. She said the high‑school graduation rate has been 92% or higher for four consecutive years and that 700 more students took Advanced Placement courses this year, with 82 students scoring 3 or higher on AP exams.

Davis described capital work that will affect Woodstock: a 22‑classroom addition at Woodstock High School expected to open in August 2026 and an auxiliary gym at River Ridge High School to add capacity and parking. She said the board remains "household conscious" about tax impact while making investments to retain and recruit teachers; she noted the district increased the starting teacher salary to about $57,000 this year.

Councilman Usher pressed for policy context about why a larger share of property tax revenues goes to schools compared with a decade ago. Davis said the board is weighing legislative priorities and a potential stabilizing approach to tax‑digest growth that would balance homeowner predictability and district operations.

The presentation closed with the superintendent offering to answer questions and the mayor and council thanking her for the update.