TIFTON — Millage rate and Milestones were the two major topics of Tift County Schools’ Board of Education meeting on Aug. 6.

It may take the system a bit longer to set a millage rate.

Chief Finance Officer Klinton Guess said the millage rate had to wait on the Department of Revenue’s certification of the tax digest.

“Until we know what that value is, we can set the millage rate,” said Guess. Revaluation is currently going on throughout the county.

As of July 30, he said, 1,394 property tax appeals had been received. Of those, 790 were in process while 604 were resolved. Tift has 19,359 total land parcels. Guess said the appeals so far only represented 4% of the total. Property owners had until Aug. 12 to file appeals.

“If either the value or the number of parcels that are pending appeal exceeds 8%,” said Guess, “then they have to wait, they can’t get the tax digest certified.” Eight percent of total land parcels is 1,549.

Guess figured there would be a delay because of outstanding appeals.

Results of the Georgia Milestones test were the other big presentation of the board meeting. Jennifer Howell showed the board graphs that displayed the proficiency of elementary, middle and high school scores, both within the system and compared with other schools in the Coastal Plains RESA District.

Lowndes’ school system ranked at the top of all categories, Howell said. Seventh grade English Language Arts had a 10% gain over two years and high school biology saw an 11% growth.

Dr. Michael Slaven talked about Perkins and state grants for CTAE. Tift received $125,678 in Perkins funds, $169,809 state grants for CTAE and $202,470 state grants for agriculture education.

Chief Operations Officer Allen Martin updated facilities. He raved about Tift Schools’ cleaning service. “They’re very responsive,” said Martin. They were on the spot lately after several windows were broken via vandalism at G.O. Bailey Elementary. “They were there within 20 minutes,” he said.

Martin also spoke about the new electric bus for the school system, which he parked in front of the board offices for members to inspect.

Dana Spurlin presented Board Policy GARH regarding employee leave, which was on the agenda as well for Thursday’s board meeting.

Spurlin also presented Board Policy JQK about exchange students. Board member John Waddell asked if they could require any potential exchange students be able to speak English. Jonathan Judy, chief information officer, said both potential exchange students indicated on applications they speak English as a second language.

Policy EDDB regarding walkers and riders was presented. “As long as we have room,” Martin said, those in the previous walk area could ride the system’s buses. The policy does not extend to Brookfield Mews apartments, which are located next to Charles Spencer Elementary, or for students living out-of-county.