Leaders ‘optimistic’ after annual retreat

By ALEXANDER POPP alex@appenmedia.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. —The Sandy Springs City Council and key staff met for more than eight hours Jan. 28 for the council’s annual planning retreat, drilling down on priorities, goals and initiatives to be completed in 2023.

In presentations and break-out sessions held at the City Springs Terrace Conference Room overlooking downtown Sandy Springs, officials heard from nearly every city department on topics ranging from the city’s finances and road improvements to current MARTA initiatives and the state of the local cultural arts scene.

At the end of the day, city leaders said that despite the massive amount of work

See RETREAT, Page 4

With nearly $11 billion of state revenue budgeted for public schools this year through QBE, getting the formula fully funded and fair is important.

“It’s a plurality of the state budget,” said Stephen Owens, education director at the Georgia Policy and Budget Institute. “But it’s in the [Georgia] constitution as a primary obligation to provide an adequate public education free of charge.”

In developing the “per pupil” cost each year, QBE considers a variety

See SCHOOLS, Page 10

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