Emory / Druid Hills: DeKalb Schools Owes Tax Funds and a Commissioner Lost Her Seat

Before we get into it, just a heads up that we’re making some neighborhood changes across the board, and this area may be impacted. The change we’re considering is combining this newsletter with our “North Decatur” edition. The areas share a ton of commonalities and are both Unincorporated DeKalb. If you’re vehemently opposed to that, however, let us know below:

Hey, Emory and Druid Hills neighbors! It's been a consequential week in DeKalb, and the headlines hit close to home. A paperwork mistake has left DeKalb Schools owing millions to APS and City Schools of Decatur, and voters just reshuffled county leadership in ways that could shape everything from your tax bill to new development. Plenty to dig into below.

- News — A bureaucratic error leaves local schools short on capital funds, DeKalb passes a tight $1.6 billion school budget, and an incumbent county commissioner is voted out in a runoff.
- Events — Reptile encounters and live animals take over the library and Fernbank mid-week, Saturday brings a USA celebration at Fernbank, and Eagle Eye hosts authors Wednesday night.
- Government — DeKalb commissioners vote Tuesday on property tax millage rates, a potential data center moratorium, and half a billion dollars in water infrastructure contracts — plus a playground replacement at Frazier Rowe Park.
- Construction — Emory is demolishing a tower on Clifton Road and overhauling the Rollins Pavilion interior, while a wave of pre-construction projects signals big changes ahead for North Druid Hills Road and the Ponce de Leon corridor.

Let's dive in.

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NEWS

DeKalb School Board narrowly passes a $1.6 billion budget
The DeKalb County School Board approved the$1.6B spending plan for the coming fiscal year, but the narrow margin signals real disagreement about how the county's schools should be funded, staffed, and maintained. If you have kids in the system, or just care about the institutions anchoring these neighborhoods, the details are worth a look.

DeKalb County to launch affordable housing investment bond
DeKalb County is launching a new bond program aimed squarely at the affordable housing shortage. This is a program that could reshape who gets to live here and where. For a county where housing costs have climbed steadily, this is one of the more significant policy moves in recent memory, and it will be worth watching which projects actually get funded.

Atlanta, Decatur schools owed millions in sales tax funds after paperwork error
A paperwork mistake — the kind that would get a student sent back to redo their homework — has left City Schools of Decatur and Atlanta Public Schools short millions in E-SPLOST funds they're owed that went to DeKalb Schools instead. These are dollars earmarked for capital improvements and operations, and the delay isn't abstract: it hits real projects and real classrooms until someone fixes the ledger.

Incumbent DeKalb commissioner defeated in runoff election, and DeKalb School board member chosen
Voters in DeKalb's District 3 sent a clear message, ousting incumbent Commissioner Nicole Massiah in favor of challenger Keyanna Jones Moore — a notable shake-up in county leadership heading into a consequential budget and development period. On the school board side, Tracy Brisson won the District 4 seat over Sonja Szubski in a race where neither candidate was an incumbent, meaning fresh faces are coming to both tables.

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Monday, June 22
- StoryWalk® at Mason Mill Park | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- Story Time | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Books and Babies Storytime | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- Toddler Storytime | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- English as a Second Language (ESL) | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County

Tuesday, June 23
- 8 Legged Scales: Reptile Education and Entertainment | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- Weekly Walking Club | Piedmont Park
- Yoga in the Park | Piedmont Park

Wednesday, June 24
- Meagan Brandy & Amo Jones- Mate of a Royal | Eagle Eye Book Shop
- Family Nature Walk | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Drop-In Technology Support | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- Preschool Storytime | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- LEGO Legends Club | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County
- Dino Talk | Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Thursday, June 25
- Evening Hike | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Live Animal Encounter | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Meet a Ranger | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Resistance Bands Exercise Class | Avis Williams Library - DeKalb County

Friday, June 26
- LATER: Rex Factor | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Pollinator Party | Atlanta Botanical Garden

Saturday, June 27
- Fernbank Celebrates the USA | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Sensory Morning | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- HBCU 5K Run Walk | Piedmont Park
- Green Market | Piedmont Park

Sunday, June 28
- Teen Forest Lab: Water Quality | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Live Animal Encounter | Fernbank Museum of Natural History
- Meet a Ranger | Fernbank Museum of Natural History

GOVERNMENT

Note: our information comes from posted meetings documents (agendas and minutes when available) — latest source document hyperlinked to each meeting.

Past Week Roundup

DeKalb County Board of Commissioners – Committee of the Whole

The Board's June 18 Committee of the Whole meeting carries a packed agenda — and since minutes are not yet posted, none of these items have been confirmed as acted upon; any could be tabled, deferred, or withdrawn. The single largest item is a proposed $233.8 million design-build contract with Ruby-Collins, Inc. to demolish and reconstruct major facilities at the Scott Candler Water Treatment Plant, which serves much of the county, alongside a separate $325.5 million multi-year contract for general water and sewer infrastructure repairs — together representing a half-billion-dollar commitment to aging utility systems. Residents who own property will want to watch the scheduled public hearings on the 2026 Ad Valorem Tax Millage Rates, which set how much county property owners pay each year. The agenda also includes a proposed $1.48 million boost to the county's ambulance contract with AMR to improve 911 response times, trail design contracts totaling over $4 million for expansions of the South River and North Fork Peachtree Creek Trails, and a rezoning request that would allow 12 new single-family homes on a lot currently zoned for larger parcels. Rounding out a consequential agenda, the county is moving forward on strict new zoning rules for data centers — including a proposed moratorium on land disturbance permits until a third-party health and environmental assessment of the county is completed — a policy fight that has been building for months.

DeKalb County School District Board of Education

The School Board had a busy June 15, holding two separate sessions — a public input meeting and a formal action meeting — both with minutes now posted. The called session was a community input opportunity focused on the second budget presentation and a third public hearing on the proposed millage rate; no votes were recorded from that session, meaning residents still had the floor. In the regular action meeting that followed, the Board officially adopted the FY27 operating budget and approved the property tax levy resolution that will directly shape school funding on homeowners' upcoming tax bills. The Board also approved continuation of the E-SPLOST, the one-cent sales tax dedicated to school capital improvements, through a joint intergovernmental agreement — a significant long-term funding commitment. On the spending side, major approvals included a $15 million purchase of updated K-12 science materials districtwide, $3.1 million for new school buses, and renovation and infrastructure contracts totaling several million dollars across multiple campuses. The Board also introduced — for its first reading only, with no vote yet — a new policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence in schools, signaling that district leadership is beginning to set formal boundaries around emerging classroom technology.

Meetings This Week
- Atlanta Public Schools — Board of Education — June 23, 2026. The Policy Review Committee is scheduled to take up a draft Electronic Payments and Funds Transfer Policy, along with discussions on student technology use guidelines and a policy governing how the district manages vacant or underutilized school facilities — the latter of particular interest to neighborhoods where APS properties sit idle.
- DeKalb County Board of Commissioners — Board of Commissioners — June 23, 2026 at 9:00 AM. A packed agenda includes scheduled votes on the 2026 property tax millage rates, proposed increases to stormwater and sanitation fees, a potential moratorium on new data center land disturbance permits pending a health and environmental study, and hundreds of millions of dollars in water infrastructure and trail design contracts. A $295,533 playground replacement at Frazier Rowe Park (2886 Lavista Rd) and a proposed $30,000 allocation to the Jane Goodall Institute for youth environmental programs at Fernbank Museum (767 Clifton Rd) are also on the agenda.
- DeKalb County Board of Commissioners — Committee of the Whole — June 23, 2026 at 9:00 AM. No agenda is currently available for this meeting.

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Permits

- 1405 Clifton Rd NE — Demolition permit filed for full vertical structural demolition of one or more towers (no ground disturbance in this phase). This is on the Emory campus and is routed for city review — worth watching as the university continues reshaping its built environment.
- 1364 Clifton Rd NE — Multiple permits filed for the Rollins Pavilion, covering interior finish and lighting upgrades, fire sprinkler modifications, and a low-voltage installation of 300 CAT6 cables and 22 speakers. A significant interior overhaul is clearly underway at this Emory Health facility.
- 1599 Clifton Rd NE — Fire alarm system modification issued in connection with an ongoing renovation at another Emory campus address.
- 569 Asbury Cir NE — Interior renovation permit filed for a new Beverage Station installation. No occupancy change, but something new is coming to this spot.

Beyond the notable items, the broader permit pool this week included 27 residential and minor permits across the area — mostly single-family home projects, HVAC work, and a handful of arborist permits — totaling roughly $193K. Activity is concentrated on the Emory corridor, with Clifton Road seeing the heaviest construction attention by far.

Road Work

Under Construction
- SR-236 Signal Upgrade at Shepherd's Lane (DeKalb County) — Signal work underway at the SR-236 and Shepherd's Lane intersection, about a mile from the neighborhood. Expect delays and possible signal timing disruptions if you're passing through that corridor.
- SR-236 Eastbound Left Turn Lane Extension at SR-155 (DeKalb County) — Turn lane construction on eastbound SR-236 at the SR-155 intersection. If this is part of your morning or evening commute, budget extra time for lane shifts and merge slowdowns.

Pre-Construction
- SR-155 / North Druid Hills Rd & Azalea Circle (DeKalb County) — A shared-use path is coming to the south side of North Druid Hills Road, along with a 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the north side, between SR-155 and Azalea Circle. Good news for pedestrians and cyclists in North Druid Hills — just expect some disruption once shovels hit the ground.
- SR-236 @ North Druid Hills Road (DeKalb County) — Same pedestrian infrastructure push here: a shared-use path on the south side and a sidewalk on the north side of North Druid Hills Road at the SR-236 intersection. Pairs with the Azalea Circle project to fill in a meaningful stretch of the corridor.
- Scott Blvd Complete Streets Plan (DeKalb County) — A Complete Streets redesign is in the pipeline for Scott Boulevard, though full project details aren't yet available. These plans typically involve lane reconfigurations, bike/ped improvements, and signal upgrades — worth watching if Scott is part of your regular route.
- SR-8 / Ponce de Leon Ave @ Lullwater Creek (DeKalb County) — Bridge maintenance is planned on Ponce de Leon Avenue over Lullwater Creek. Structural work, not a full replacement, but lane impacts are likely once construction begins.
- SR-155 / US-23 @ SR-236 Restriping (DeKalb County) — A restriping project is slated for the Clairmont/LaVista intersection at SR-236. Minor in scope, but lane markings at this busy crossing will be refreshed.
- SR-8 Ponce de Leon Roundabouts — Eastlake & North Ponce (DeKalb County) — Two roundabouts are proposed along the Ponce de Leon corridor: one at SR-8 and Eastlake, and a second at SR-8 where North Ponce, West Parkwood, and East Parkwood meet. Still pre-construction, but this would be a significant change to how traffic flows through those intersections.
- SR-8 / Ponce de Leon Ave Drainage Improvements (DeKalb County) — Drainage work is planned along Ponce de Leon Avenue between South Ponce de Leon Ave and Ridgecrest Road. Utility and drainage projects often require more lane closures than they look like on paper — file this one away.
- North Druid Hills Road @ CSX Railroad Crossing (DeKalb County) — A 2,600-foot corridor project along North Druid Hills Road between Spring Creek Drive and Willivee Drive includes bridge work at the CSX crossing. That stretch already backs up regularly — construction will make it worse before it gets better.

Service Requests

Potholes — Crews are working on reports at Houston Mill Rd NE and at the Rock Springs Rd & Cumberland Rd intersection.

Traffic Signal Repair — A non-emergency signal issue was flagged at the busy Lavista Rd & Briarcliff Rd intersection.

Overgrowth — A visibility/overgrowth concern at Springdale Rd & Cofield Dr has been resolved.