Gwinnett County school officials propose hiring more teachers and giving employees a raise, bumping up the nearly $2 billion budget by about $87.5 million for 2016-17.
It’s affordable, thanks largely to a projected increase in local property tax revenue and more money from the state, administrators say. It will not increase property taxes, which pay most of the school bills.
Gwinnett Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks and his staff need to hire 159 more teachers as it opens two new schools in August. They also want to give nearly all employees a three percent salary increase and boost pay for substitute teachers by $2 a day. The starting salary for a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree will be $41,850.
Officials discussed the details with reporters Thursday and at the first of five public meetings at Lanier High School during the evening. The proposed budget is scheduled to be on Gwinnett's website Monday.
Chief Financial Officer Joe Heffron said Gwinnett’s property tax digest is expected to grow by five percent this year, which will result in an increase of $23.3 million in revenue. The school district also expects to receive an additional $20.8 million from the state. The entire amount of money Gwinnett expects from both sources is still less than before the Great Recession, which began impacting local school districts in 2009.
“Our digest is still not back to where it was in 2009,” Heffron said.
One trouble spot for Gwinnett: it will spend an additional $9 million on health insurance on more than 6,200 "non-certificated" employees, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers. The increased health insurance costs are a result of state budget cuts for those workers.
Other metro Atlanta school districts, such as Fulton, are also proposing salary increases for teachers as economic conditions improve. Atlanta school officials are exploring ways to cut a budget gap recently estimated at $16 million.
School board members are scheduled to adopt the budget May 19.
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