After three decades balancing budgets and building programs in Bulloch County Schools, Superintendent Charles Wilson is stepping down in March.
Why It Matters: Wilson’s departure closes a chapter defined by financial discipline and a hands-off approach to school leadership that gave principals more control over how they run their buildings. His successor will inherit both a stable budget and rising expectations from a community that’s grown used to clean audits and local decision-making.
What’s Happening: Wilson announced he’ll retire March 31, when his current contract expires, according to the school district. The Board of Education has started planning its search for his replacement.
Wilson came to Bulloch County from South Carolina 30 years ago and spent 16 years as the district’s chief financial officer before being chosen as superintendent in 2012 from a pool of 33 applicants. He’s held that job for 14 years.
“It has been my absolute honor to serve the families of Bulloch County,” Wilson said in a statement. “You can’t spend decades working side by side with people you care about and not feel deeply connected.”
The Big Picture: Wilson’s tenure as a Certified Public Accountant-turned-educator was marked by an unusual dual focus—obsessive attention to the district’s balance sheet paired with a willingness to let principals and teachers make their own calls in classrooms.
As CFO, Wilson steered the district through a major building campaign that replaced five aging schools and six athletic complexes using local sales tax revenues. As superintendent, he maintained that financial rigor while pushing what he called a shift from “top-down decision making” to empowering individual school leaders.
The district has gone more than 25 years without a single federal or state audit finding, according to the announcement. That track record earned Bulloch County Schools the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts’ Award of Distinction for Excellent Financial Reporting multiple times—an honor only about 35 of the state’s 181 public school districts receive annually.
Wilson’s financial foresight showed up again during the pandemic. The district built up its reserve fund during COVID-19, then strategically used that cushion to weather post-federal funding inflation without raising taxes or cutting services until this fiscal year, according to the district.
Between the Lines: That fiscal year arrived with force. The district faced a projected $15 million deficit driven by a $5.9 million drop in state equalization funds, a $2 million increase in the local fair share required by law, and an estimated $1 million decrease in property tax revenues from HB 581, according to the announcement.
The Board responded by raising the property tax millage rate to 10.400 mills—still among Georgia’s lowest—and cutting more than $3 million from the budget. Wilson had recommended gradually drawing down the district’s fund balance to three months of operating cash flow, and the district followed that advice.
Catch Up Quick: Beyond spreadsheets, Wilson championed literacy programs, forged partnerships with local businesses to align career pathways with job market needs, and made school safety a priority. Every one of the district’s 15 schools now has a full-time school resource officer thanks to a partnership with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, according to the district.
“Charles Wilson has been an outstanding superintendent for not only our school system, but also for our community,” said Benjy Thompson, CEO of the Development Authority of Bulloch County. “Our community is a great example of successful connection between the business community and schools, largely due to the leadership of Charles Wilson.”
Elizabeth Williams, chairman of the Board of Education and a retired school principal, said Wilson “has been laser focused on making sure that Bulloch County was able to provide the resources students would need to be successful.”
Wilson holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The Citadel, a master’s degree in business administration from Georgia Southern University, and a specialist’s degree in education from Georgia Southern.
What’s Next: The Board of Education has begun planning its search for Wilson’s successor, according to the district announcement.
The Sources: Bulloch County Schools, Superintendent Charles Wilson, Board of Education Chairman Elizabeth Williams, Development Authority of Bulloch County CEO Benjy Thompson, former Board of Education Chairman Levon E. Wilson.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
