Cobb Schools Calls Quits on $50 Million Event Center

MARIETTA — After more than a year of defending a proposed $50 million event center that has drawn criticism for its proposed cost and lack of details, Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale asked the Cobb Board of Education to pull the project.

At a special-called meeting Tuesday, the board voted 6-0, with member Nichelle Davis absent, to kill the center following a speech from Ragsdale about inflation and the importance of prioritizing employees.

“I cannot in good conscience and being fiscally responsible for the funds, recommend that we continue with it,” Ragsdale said. “... This recommendation does not negate the dire need for this facility, but a facility can never take priority over our employees.”

At Ragsdale’s request, the board approved the center in March 2023 in a 6-1 vote, with Democrat Becky Sayler issuing the lone “nay.”

The 8,000-seat facility was set to be built on Glover Street, next to the district’s headquarters. Ragsdale pitched the center to host graduations, science fairs, conferences and other district events.

“The return on investment is actually infinity,” Ragsdale said at the time.

But the superintendent changed his mind Tuesday, stating it was the fact that the county’s tax digest growth was cut in half since last year, from 15% to below 7.55%, that led him to believe going forward with the center could put the district’s fund balance in a precarious position.

“We’re looking at economic indicators that were present prior to the 2008 recession … While we do not have the crystal ball, the warning signs are there for us to exercise caution. Not pulling the big red switch by any stretch, but we do need to exercise caution to ensure our top priority of protecting each of our team members remains an attainable and reachable goal,” Ragsdale said.

Since its initial approval, the board has issued several votes pushing the project along, including the $3 million purchase of Glover Street land in December 2023 and the approval of a construction manager in March 2024 — both of which Sayler opposed.

“I think it’s a really great move for the school district, and I think it’s going to be something our community members will feel really, really relieved to hear,” she told the MDJ after the meeting.

Other critics have included Watching the Funds Cobb, a citizen group that calls for greater transparency in CCSD’s financials and often scrutinizes district spending practices.

In June, the group released alleged floor plans, a site survey and parking summary for the project that showed the center would have been roughly 190,000-square-feet, with just 1,582 parking spaces for the 7,860 seats.

The group also released open records requests that revealed the district pays less than $45,000 annually to host 15 of its 17 high school graduations in the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center — a number dwarfed by the $50 million price tag on the now-null center.

“We are proud to know our hard work has saved Cobb County taxpayers millions of dollars now and in the future. The public agreed that this was an unnecessary project. This is a win for taxpayers, students and our local schools,” the group’s co-founder, Heather Tolley-Bauer, wrote in a Tuesday text to the MDJ.

Ragsdale confirmed that the district will retain all land previously purchased for the center, including the former A1 Rental facility and 2.1 acres at 440 Glover Street.

He told the MDJ after the meeting that while he was disappointed to drop the center that has been in the works for more than a year, he would not put any building over his staff.

“I think the bottom line message is that I’m always gonna prioritize our employees over anything, facilities included,” Ragsdale said. “So, yes, the facility is needed, but our employees are more important than that.”