County ends funding for Gwinnett schools crossing guards

Minutes after touting administrators for keeping a lid on property taxes, the Gwinnett school board learned the district will lose about $1.3 million in funding from the county.

At its monthly meeting Thursday evening, School Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks told board members the county had notified him that it will not be able to continue funding school crossing guards and the district’s community partnership program.

The announcement came as the board voted unanimously to adopt the 2010 budget, which totals $2 billion and maintains property taxes at current levels.

The crossing guard cuts will mean the loss of 18 officers and three supervisors at 30 schools.

The community partnership program, which provides school resources for programs such as drivers ed and summer camps, will lose about $1 million (almost 60 percent of the program’s budget) in county funding.

The district received written notification this week of the crossing guard program cuts, said school district spokeswoman Sloan Roach. There had been some staff-to-staff discussions concerning the community schools program, she said.

“We understand the county’s challenges because we have the same challenges,” she said. “We feel this is an important program and we would like to work together to see what can be done.”

The community schools program has enrolled more than 1.25 million people in 13,000 classes and activities this school year.

Here is a rundown of the approved 2010 budget:

Total: $2 billion

FUNDING

Local: (51.6 %) $863.2 million

State: (42.2%) $706.4 million

Federal: (6.2%) $102.9 million

Expenditures:

Salaries/benefits: $1.22 billion

Capital projects: $331.5 million

Debt service: $192.8 million

Other operating costs: $254 million

EMPLOYEES AND MEAN SALARIES*:

Superintendent: (1) $366,484

Executive staff: (2) $183,242

Principals: (118) $118,036

Asst. principals: (320) $82,406

Teachers: (10,536) $52,145

Certified substitutes: (351) $32,980

*Many employees’ salaries are adjusted upward for years of service. The average teacher, for example, has a master’s degree or higher with 11 years experience and earns $55,795 annually.