Rockdale County resident Ben Sosby is fixated on the money. 

Specifically, Sosby is concentrating on the Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) finances and how it spends its funds. 

This desire to have some input in the RCPS budget demands led Sosby to officially announce his intent to run for the Rockdale County Board of Education (BOE).

“I just want to give the voters an opportunity on the ballot to have different people,” he said. “I’m very passionate about Rockdale County.”

The school board has five seats that are up for grabs in 2016, including Post 1 Mandy North, Post 2 Bradley Smith, Post 3 Wales Barksdale, Post 4 Sharon Parr and Post 5 Tony Dowdy.

The 27-year-old Sosby plans to occupy Dowdy’s chair. He says that his main focus, if elected to the board, will be raising the salaries of teachers and making any necessary cuts to the budget to improve efficiency.

However, he also plans to listen intently to the needs of the community and do his best to satisfy their request. 

“I’ll be an advocate for Rockdale County,” said Sosby, who is a lifelong resident of Rockdale County and graduated from Heritage High School. “Eventually throughout the year, I’m going to go around and (ask civilians) what you need for the school system because I want to hear from them. I want to get out and see what the citizens want for the school system.”

He added that he is running in case Dowdy doesn’t run. “I want to keep the leadership that we have here, to keep it going.”

Sosby has never held a public office and currently works at a Kroger in Covington as a cashier. 

He says he’s been working on political campaigns since 2012, and last year, he assisted on three separate campaigns. He has aspirations to one day be a Georgia senator. 

Sosby can be contacted at 678-634-7719.