Rockdale County prides itself on having a good school system.

Over the last few years, starting under the administration of Dr. Samuel King and continuing under the leadership of Richard Autry, the improvement of our school system has continued to show success.

The only thing that has stalled even more progress is the lack of revenue caused by our continued economic situation.

The Board of Education has been struggling to ensure that improvement and growth continues here in Rockdale County.

Chief Financial Officer Lee Davis said this was one of the most difficult budgets he has dealt with in 24 years. We are sure many of our local business owners can attest to that.

We commend the school administration and the BOE for making the difficult decisions to keep our school system on track for success.

We will never be happy with raising people's taxes but the BOE is going to increase the millage rate by 1.5 mills, and in this case, we see no other way to ensure that our children in Rockdale County receive the best education we can provide.