Fulton school board adopts $803 million budget

By Gracie Bonds Staples

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Fulton County Board of Education gave final approval Tuesday to a $803.1 million budget for the 2011 school year.

Although the district is still waiting on numbers from the tax assessor’s office, the final tally was based on increasing the millage rate by 1 mill.

“This has been the must difficult budget year that I've ever seen,” said Superintendent Cindy Loe.

The board is expected to tentatively adopt the millage rate at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the district’s administrative center. It will then hold three public hearings: on July 6 at 11 a.m. at the administrative center and at 6 p.m. at Dunwoody Springs Elementary Charter School in Sandy Springs; and 10:30 a.m. July 15 at the administrative center.

The millage increase should bring in an about $28 million in additional revenue. Parents and school employees called for a tax increase in hopes that it would save in other areas, namely the district's popular elementary school band and orchestra program and cuts to school social workers and counselors.

Despite continued objections from parents, the board voted to accept Loe's recommendation to convert the band and orchestra program into a fee-based after-school program.

In addition to revamping the music program, other cost-cutting measures include increasing class size, reducing the school calendar from 180 to 177 days, reducing central office operating costs by 10 percent, requiring all employees to take three furlough days, and stopping door-to-door transportation for the district's magnet students.

Most troubling were personnel cuts, including about 250 teachers, Loe said.

She said after the board meeting this is the first year she is aware of that the school system has had to make cuts to its teaching staff.

“That’s been the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” she said. “I really commend the board for being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars.”