Newsome named CFO of Habersham County Schools

CLARKESVILLE – A product of the Habersham County School System will return in September to serve as its chief financial officer.

“I have before you a recommendation for our chief financial officer,” Superintendent Matthew Cooper told the board of education this week. “I’m going to recommend to you Staci Newsome. Staci is a Habersham girl, graduated from Habersham Central, and a lot of y’all will know that name. Her mother was a long-time teacher at Habersham Central High School.”

“Staci has been working at Pioneer RESA as their finance director for 11 years,” Cooper said. “Prior to that, she was in Banks County as their finance officer for six years. If you look at not just the experience – that’s 17 years of experience – but her education is very impressive. Staci has an MBA – a master’s of business administration. She has a bachelor’s degree in math, business and accounting. She has school finance officer certification, and she’s currently working to become a certified administrator of school finance through ASBO International, which is very prestigious.”

“She has the education, she has the experience, but she also is a good person,” Cooper said in making the recommendation. “I think it’s going to work very well with our finance officer, Holly Berry, and the other staff there. I’ve said this, and I’m going to say it here, we’re going to have to have the strongest finance team in north Georgia, period – no doubt about it. The good news is that’s good for our kids. It will affect the students.”

Board Member Gilbert Barrett said filling the position is important.

“We have been, for the past 12 months, the only system in the state of Georgia that I’m aware of that didn’t have a CFO in place,” Barrett said. “Holly’s done a great job to step up to the plate and fill those shoes as finance officer and I’d like to thank her for that, but I think when you’re dealing with a budget of over $55 million, it’s very critical to have adequate staff to oversee that budget.”

“I also commend you because we’re not really creating another position,” Barrett said. “We’re just reorganizing in order to make this work.

The board voted 4-0 (Board Member Pat Taylor was out of town) to approve Cooper’s recommendation to name Newsome as CFO.

Newsome is happy with the appointment, which begins in September.

“I am very excited to be coming home to Habersham County Schools,” Newsome said. “I grew up here and am a product of this wonderful school system and community. There are many budget challenges that school systems in Georgia are facing and I know that working together as a member of the financial team, we can be part of the solution. I look forward to working with Mr. Cooper and the board of education as well as serving the principals and all staff in this capacity.”

Board of Education Chairman Trent DeMore said following the meeting he is happy to have Newsome coming aboard as CFO.

“We were happy to approve a CFO for our county,” DeMore said. “This is a position our system has lacked over the past year. It’s a position that was in the budget.”

A retiring payroll employee’s position has been modified to create the CFO position with existing funds in the budget, system officials have said.

DeMore said Newsome is ideal for the position.

“She’s got a great background in school finance,” DeMore said. “She comes from Pioneer RESA, where she ran the finances there. We’re excited about getting her on board, and anytime when you’ve got a budget like ours you need some people to really put hands on and get in here and start looking at everything, so we think Staci can more than well pay for herself and come in here and lead us to where we need to go budget wise.”