Words used by GCS chief financial officer Sharon Ozment to describe the system’s construction budget (if you can call it that) at last night’s school board meeting:
“I described our capital outlay situation the last time we talked as the perfect storm, and the seas continue to rage. I think this year will be a year when we will continually prioritize and re-prioritize our capital outlay dollars as they become available.”
There is one bright spot, Ozment told the board: The possibility of state lottery dollars for capital projects. The only thing is, the amount could be $5 million or $10 million. And receipt of those dollars will come only after the system applies for them. Which means the system could receive money by next January or next summer. They just don’t know, just like they just know the cost of fixing structural problems at Eastern, Hairston and Kernodle middle schools.
A storm indeed. But considerably less than perfect.
