State BOE recommends suspension of entire Dublin school board

Which is what led to the Wednesday hearing.

“How in the world could you trust this board?” asked David Younker, the attorney for the Georgia Department of Education. “Accountability comes today.”

Younker walked state board members through almost two decades of budget deficits in Dublin City Schools. He said the district’s board — the members of which varied over the years — knew about the deficits, made plans to solve them, then told taxpayers and staff things were fine even when the plans did not work out.

Attorneys for the school system said the problem is not the board’s oversight, but the work of Chad McDaniel, the district’s chief financial officer, who resigned last year. He could be facing criminal charges in connection with the district’s finances, said Brian Smith, the district’s attorney.

“If (the board members) had not been lied to, if they had not had a fraud committed upon them — multimillion-dollar fraud — this would not have happened,” Smith said. “You would not have heard about Dublin’s financial struggles.”

On Wednesday, the state board heard roughly nine hours of testimony, then privately debated for about an hour before returning to the public meeting. The board’s 10 members unanimously voted to recommend the entire board be suspended. They did not discuss their reasoning.

Credit: abcutrer@gmail.com

Credit: abcutrer@gmail.com

Under Georgia law, Gov. Brian Kemp will now decide whether to suspend the board members. Kemp will appoint replacement members if he agrees to the suspension.

Each board member would have a chance to appeal their suspension. If they do not appeal — or the appeal fails — the suspensions and replacements will become permanent.

Jeff Davis, one of the newest board members, who was elected in 2025, testified it’s been hard to see his kids, who attend Dublin schools, ask why their teachers lost their jobs.

In an effort to get things back on track, the Dublin school board cut more than 50 positions, the Courier Herald reported.

“I’ve prayed a lot about this,” he said. “If y’all think me being gone will be better for these kids, then get rid of me.”

‘Path to insolvency’

Dublin City Schools was “on a direct path to insolvency and financial crisis,” state Superintendent Richard Woods said in a letter to district leaders in September.

State officials realized the district owed close to $7 million in unpaid state health benefits, and by the end of the school year was likely to have a budget deficit of $13 million.

The state intervened, agreeing to give the district a rare advance in funding and assigning staff to oversee the implementation of a financial improvement plan.

The district’s chief financial officer resigned and its superintendent retired early.

Cognia conducted a review in February and downgraded the district’s accreditation status. The review team found that “long-standing system-level leadership practices … contributed to conditions of instability and fragmentation.”

The district is now only one level from losing its accreditation entirely — but interim Superintendent Marcee Pool said they are making progress.

“The district continues to provide quality educational opportunities for more than 2,300 students, actively engages stakeholders in the improvement process, and has established systems to ensure accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility,” she wrote in a June report to the agency.

Dublin City Schools is still searching for a new superintendent, and began the school year owing the state more than $5 million in unpaid health benefits.