MARIETTA - Although SPLOST III was once expected to rake in nearly $800 million over five years for Cobb schools, such projections have been severely hampered by the down economy. KSU economists now estimate collections will total only $586 million, a 26 percent drop from the original estimate.

Doug Shepard, who heads the district's new SPLOST oversight department, introduced the revised forecast at Thursday night's board meeting.

Dr. Don Sabbarese and Flavia Burton, of the Econometrics Center at Kennesaw State University, delivered the gloomy report to the board.

The simple answer behind the $214 million drop-off in expected revenues?

"Jobs," Sabbarese said.

"As you know, the state revenue on sales tax is down 20 percent, most recently," he said. "So it's probably fairly indicative of what's happening in Cobb County."

"It is a sobering report," Shepard said. "But we are prepared to address it as we move forward, and we feel it is important that we have a firm understanding of where we stand as we proceed."

On Thursday night, the board voted 6-0, on a motion by Dr. John Crooks with Alison Bartlett abstaining, to award J&R Construction and Development, Inc. of Carrollton with a $15 million contract to construct a new replacement school for East Side Elementary. The district had budgeted $21.5 million for the project, and J&R was the low bidder.

The construction is one of the three such projects to be funded through SPLOST III. The other two projects will be ninth-grade centers at North Cobb and South Cobb high schools.

The board also approved hiring three employees for the district's SPLOST department on Thursday night, as noted on its personnel report.