Category Archives: Stephen Green

DeKalb Schools – Not a Fan of the TAD

Posted on December 16, 2015 by | 8 comments

Stan Jester
DeKalb County
Board Of Education

The City of Doraville has embarked upon a major redevelopment opportunity to create a regional mixed-use employment and activity center at the site of the old General Motors plant. The Doraville TAD Bleakly Report outlines the rationale, boundaries, fiscal data and potential projects for the City of Doraville Tax Allocation District (TAD).
A Tax-Allocation District (TAD) is a defined area where real estate property taxes gathered above a certain threshold for a certain period of time (typically 25 years) is used for a specified project improvement. These improvements are typically for revitalization, especially to build the public infrastructure necessary for the development – roads, water and sewer lines, bridges, etc.
Once any TAD obligations of the district are retired, the City, County and Schools will receive the full property tax increment from the accelerated pace of new development created. Throughout the TAD period, the proposed redevelopment will generate additional retail sales with increased sales tax and ESPLOST revenues.
The city, county and school district are each taxing authorities over that property.  In July, the Doraville City Council voted to approve and adopt the Redevelopment Plan and TAD.  Yesterday, the DeKalb County Commissioners unanimously passed the TAD .
.pdf link icon   Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Doraville and DeKalb County
.pdf link icon  Doraville TAD Bleakly Report (outlines the rationale, boundaries, fiscal data and potential projects for the TAD)
Potential benefits to DeKalb County Schools
•  The TAD will accelerate future growth in DeKalb County Schools’ Tax Digest.
•  DeKalb County Schools will continue to receive the estimated $936,000 in property tax revenue currently generated in the TAD Redevelopment Area over the term of the TAD.
•  The proposed redevelopment will have the potential to generate an additional $18 million in new DeKalb County Schools property tax revenue, which will revert to DeKalb County Schools upon the termination of the TAD.
•  If DeKalb County Schools participates in the TAD, DeKalb County Schools would receive $113 million more (over the first 25 years) from ESPLOST revenue and in personal property taxes from participating in the TAD, than it would receive if it did not participate in the TAD.
News Release
STATEMENT REGARDING PARTICIPATION OF THE DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE DORAVILLE TAX ALLOCATION DISTRICT (TAD)

Superintendent Stephen Green

Dr. Stephen Green
CEO & Superintendent, DeKalb County School District

“The DeKalb County School District has been asked to consider partnering with the DeKalb County Government and the City of Doraville to create a Tax Allocation District (TAD) that includes the former GM assembly plant and portions of the City of Doraville. The TAD would produce approximately $247 million in tax revenues that would be used to fund infrastructure improvements such as roads, a tunnel, and other public projects. The debt including debt service of approximately $600 million for these improvements would be paid for with tax revenue above what is collected currently in the area.
I have several serious reservations about committing school resources over the course of the 25 years of the TAD for this project.

  1. Our core business is teaching and learning, not speculative, unpredictable real estate projects.
  2. Two of the three current TADs in DeKalb County have not succeeded in meeting their tax revenue projections. The Kensington and Briarcliff TADs have decreased in tax digest value since their inception with Kensington showing a decrease in excess of 20 percent.
  3. After several years, the ongoing inability of the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Public Schools to fulfill their intergovernmental agreement based on a TAD for the financing of the Beltline project demonstrates how unforeseen pitfalls can be costly to the local school system.
  4. The school tax digest for the Doraville TAD would be fixed for 25 years with a best case scenario of nine more additional years before the School District would recoup taxes that had been given up.

We are expected to be good stewards of our resources and I think making a 25-year commitment to freezing the school tax digest does not fulfill that commitment.”
— Dr. Stephen Green, Superintendent DeKalb Schools

 

  Superintendent: DeKalb Schools won’t be part of Doraville TAD
By Marlon A. Walker – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jan 10, 2016 – Superintendent Steve Green said DeKalb County Schools would not contribute financially to what could be one of Atlanta’s most significant mixed-use developments since Atlantic Station, saying he would not gamble with millions in tax dollars meant to educate children.
  DeKalb adds safeguards to public investment in GM site
By Mark Niesse – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dec 24, 2015 – DeKalb won’t contribute any tax money to $247 million worth of infrastructure upgrades unless the county school system signs on. DeKalb also added a clause to the deal that ends its participation in the redevelopment plan after 10 years — on Dec. 31, 2025 — unless the county votes to continue its investment.
  DeKalb backs development of GM factory site, awaits schools’ support
By Mark Niesse – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dec 15, 2015 – Ambitious plans to rejuvenate a closed-down General Motors factory site cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when the DeKalb County Commission unanimously agreed to invest in the redevelopment effort.
DeKalb school district voices concerns over Doraville-backed project
By Brent Barron – NeighborNewspapers.com
Dec 23, 2015 – “We are expected to be good stewards of our resources and I think making a 25-year commitment to freezing the school tax digest does not fulfill that commitment,” DeKalb County School Superintendent Stephen Green said.
“I have seen the statement from the superintendent, but that is not necessarily a reflection of the entire board — we have not been given an opportunity to make a proper case,” Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman said. “The facts are compelling, so we feel confident if given an opportunity to make the case.”

Commissioner Nancy Jester

Doraville Tax Allocation District
By Nancy Jester
Dec 22, 2015 – Every dime of property taxes for this property must be paid. The TAD does not change that. The business community and investors have expressed their concerns about DeKalb’s business climate. The GM site redevelopment is one of the largest projects in the Southeast. Successfully redeveloping this area will improve DeKalb’s reputation, bring thousands of jobs to the area, and improve land value; resulting in a larger commercial tax base for everyone.

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Posted in Stephen Green

DeKalb Schools Central Office ReOrganization Phase I

Posted on December 12, 2015 by | 27 comments
Superintendent Stephen Green

At the board meeting on Monday, the Board of Education approved Dr. Green’s latest reorganization plan.

“The DeKalb County School District reorganization enables the District to operationalize the Strategic Plan and supports the realignment of the core business of improving the teaching and learning experience for increased student achievement. The proposed design is a means to that end. Central to this restructured design is the reallocation of resources, one that flattens the layers of bureaucracy through decentralization, placing critical human capital and other services in the field.”
— Dr. Stephen Green, Superintendent DCSD


ReOrganizations To Date
  Phase I – (DEC 2015)
  Phase II – (MAR 2016)
  Phase III – (APR 2016)
Appointment of Personnel for Senior Level Positions
Leo Brown –  .pdf link icon Dr. Leo Brown (resume) was the Assistant Director of Human Resources for Emory University from 2005 – 2011. He was also the Chief Human Capital Officer for Kansas City Public Schools from 2011 – 2012 where he met Superintendent Green. Dr. Brown will start as DeKalb Schools’ Chief Human Capital Officer in January 2016.
Vasanne Tinsley –  .pdf link icon Dr. Vasanne Tinsley (resume) started with DeKalb Schools as a School Counselor in 1994. She was most recently the Director of Support Services and is now being promoted to Deputy Superintendent of Student Support & Intervention.
Reclassification of Existing Positions

  • Chief Academic & Accountability Officer
    (formerly Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum &Instruction)
  • Chief Human Capital Officer
    (formerly Chief Human Resources Officer)
  • Executive Director, Exceptional Education
    (formerly Director, Exceptional Education)
  • Exec Director, Professional Learning & Leadership Development
    (formerly Director, Professional Learning)

Creation of New Positions

  • Chief Communications & Community Relations Officer
  • Deputy Superintendent, Student Support & Intervention
  • Executive Director, Student Advancement
  • Director, Charters, School Governance, & Flexibility

Realignment of Existing Positions

  • Direct report of (5) Regional Superintendents to the Superintendent
  • Decentralization and local autonomy to Regional Superintendents to include wraparound support of human capital, curriculum, technology, facilities/transportation management, and finance management.

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Posted in Reorganization ReOrg, Stephen Green