Franklin County Students Back in School Today

Some Franklin County school students may be thinking Friday the 13th fell on a Wednesday, but for others, today is the start of a new and exciting school year.

Either way, the first day of the new academic year gets underway today for Franklin County school students.

The school system is beginning the year with a bigger budget, extra class days, more teachers, a new assistant principal and a new state of the art high school core building containing a host of new, upgraded classroom resources.

Many of the additions to the new FY15 school budget are being paid for with an increase in the education property tax millage.  In July, the Franklin County School Board voted to increase the millage by 1.75 mils to 18.618 mils.

School superintendent Dr. Ruth O’Dell has said the increase was needed to put back monies and days lost due to years of austerity cuts by the state.

The school system also received about $700,000 in extra funding via new State Legislation this year that reduced the amount of austerity cuts.

The new core high school building was built using eSPLOST funds.

But as the new school year gets started today, there are practical issues for both motorists and students, such as being aware there are now school buses on the roadways.

Franklin County School Transportation Director Jason Ayers said motorists need to be prepared.

“The buses will be on the roads a little bit earlier because we’ve changed our school schedules and backed up our release times ten minutes,” Ayers said. “So buses will be on the roads a little bit earlier  and a lot of peoples’ work schedules will overlap that. They will likely be seeing school buses in areas where they haven’t seen them before. So, we just want people to be aware as they’re coming down the road there may be a school bus where they’re not used to seeing them.”

In the morning, bus runs will coincide with motorists trying to get to work, running from around 5:45a to 7:30a.  In the afternoon, buses will be running from around 3:30p to 5p.

And because of some changes and redistricting with some elementary school students now going to different schools, there will be some changes in release times.

Anyone with questions about school bus routes and schedules should contact the Franklin County Schools Transportation office at 706-384-3485.