Kemp to decide suspension of Dublin City Board of Education

The board is required by law to hold a hearing when a school or school system is a step away from losing its accreditation. Cognia, a nonprofit that evaluates schools for accreditation, placed the Dublin City School Board, listing the school as "accredited with conditions," in April, attorney David Younker said during a presentation at Monday's hearing. The Dublin City School System has 2,300 students, he said. 

The evaluation from Cognia came months after a report from the Georgia Department of Audits said it identified purchases that "raised concerns about potential waste and abuse of public funds, along with weaknesses in staffing and compensation practices."

"Numerous expenditures raised concerns about the appropriate use of public funds," state auditors said. "These types of expenditures reflect a pattern of poor oversight and lack of controls designed to safeguard taxpayer dollars and promote fiscal responsibility."

Some of the expenditures included funding for out-of-town leadership retreats that were unrelated to educational objectives and late payments to the Internal Revenue Service that resulted in penalties and interest, state auditors said. 

The board operated at a deficit for more than 15 years, Younker said. COVID-relief money gave the school system a lifeline but said testimony would show the school board "burned through" almost $20 million, he said. 

By August 2025, the district had withheld its own employees' health insurance money, not the money they owed, only the money that their employees were having withheld for their own health insurance," Younkers said. "It was withheld from their paycheck and never sent to the state, never sent to the Department of Community Health. 

Brian Smith, representing the Dublin City Board of Education, said the school board was not getting accurate information from its former finance director, who resigned in August 2025. The finance director testified at the hearing but invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked specific questions. The finance director is under criminal investigation, according to Smith. 

The school system's proposed budget shows a surplus of more than $342,000, compared to a budget presented by the state Department of Education that shows a $265,000 deficit. The Dublin City School Board added staff furlough days to create the surplus but it wasn't included in the state department's budget presentation.

"What is clear is that the Dublin City Board of Education did have the will to balance the budget," Smith said. "DOE (state department) did not."

If Kemp decides to suspend the board, it won't be the first time a governor has done so. Former Gov. Nathan Deal suspended the Dooly County School Board in November 2016 at the recommendation of the State Board of Education, according to a news release from his office.

Deal suspended six members of the DeKalb County School Board in 2013.