Atlanta schools earn worst “financial efficiency” score in metro area
Atlanta Public Schools earned one of the worst scores in Georgia under a new “financial efficiency” measure unveiled Thursday by state education officials.
The high-poverty school district earned a score of 1.5 in the 1-5 point rating system, with 1 being the worst. It was the lowest score in metro Atlanta and among the worst in the state, with eight of the 180 districts faring worse.
One reason: Atlanta had the second highest expenditure per pupil in the state — a $13,297 average over three years, behind only Taliaferro County. Atlanta school officials blamed a high cost of living and the need to pay teachers more to remain competitive in the job market. The district is also struggling with increasing costs for an unfunded pension liability and says it must spend more to accommodate a large population of poor and special needs students.
Some of the spending involves donations rather than taxpayer dollars, the district noted, yet that spending was included in the Georgia Department of Education’s calculations.
Read more about the rating system here.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
