Frustrated Atlanta school board members met Wednesday and called for a bloated central office to start shedding unproductive administrators so that more money can go toward reducing class sizes.
In a school district with the highest administration costs in Georgia, parents and board members want to direct more money to students in the proposed budget for the next school year.
Board Chairman Reuben McDaniel asked the administration to identify 18 non-teacher positions — worth about $1.5 million — that can be cut, especially if those workers are not doing their jobs.
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“There are people here who don’t need to be here,” McDaniel said. “We’re not doing the hard work around making sure that the professionals in this building are actually contributing to what we need, and those positions that are not should be eliminated.”
Community members told the board they are also disappointed in proposals for balancing the budget that have so far been brought before the board.
“This administration seems tired and out of answers and solutions, but the children who need to be educated are still there. They can’t wait,” said Robert Stockwell, an Atlanta resident who analyzes the budget on his blog, Financial Deconstruction.
The $592 million budget includes $2 million in new spending to hire 26 more teachers, which would result in slightly smaller class sizes in a school district that had 3,226 teachers at the end of the 2013 school year.
The average class size was about 21 students last school year, but some crowded schools had larger classes that exceeded limits set by state guidelines.
“We want the resources to be put in the classroom. That’s going to mean there’s probably going to have to be decreased resources elsewhere,” said board member Cecily Harsch-Kinnane. “Something’s got to give.”
Board Vice Chairman Byron Amos criticized the absence of Superintendent Erroll Davis, who was out of town on trips that were scheduled before budget meetings held last week and this week.
“I don’t see how our superintendent can continue to miss meetings when he’s the leader of this system. He needs to be here,” Amos said. “This says to me that he’s not taking into consideration anything that the people or the board are asking him to do.”
Davis plans to return to Atlanta on Friday, but in the meantime, Associate Superintendent Steve Smith said he will look for ways to respond to the school board’s concerns.
“I will ensure the superintendent has the message,” Smith said. “We will take that and be responsive.”
The proposed budget relies on furloughing teachers for three days, retracting a planned 3 percent salary bonus and spending $21.5 million in reserve funds.
The school district plans to spend $12 million more than it did in the 2012-2013 school year, in part because of increases in pension and benefit costs.
The budget was scheduled for tentative approval on Thursday, but board members questioned whether they’d be ready to move forward until their concerns are resolved.
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