Nathan Deal received the loudest applause from lawmakers last month in his first major address as governor when he promised his education budget proposal would do what his predecessor's could not.
"Let me be clear: My budget will end teacher furloughs and keep students in school for a full school year," he said.
But the reality is much different for many school districts.
State funding under Deal's budget plan wouldn't change much from this year, when districts laid off staff, made teachers take days off without pay and reduced the number of instruction days. Federal funding for schools will plummet.
In interviews with the AJC, one metro Atlanta school superintendent derided Deal's pronouncement as "new math," lawmakers in both parties said his budget may not prevent furloughs and some teachers were skeptical at best.
"Nathan Deal really corrected nothing," said Bill Kecskes, a ninth-grade government teacher at Chapel Hill High School in Douglas County. "Is Deal a savior? No. Is he a financial genius? No."
Linda Podger-Williams, mother of a Chamblee Charter High School senior, said she's concerned Georgia schools will see more of the same next year.
"I read where Deal said he didn't want furloughs, but how do you accomplish that if you have the same or less money?" she asked.
Deal said districts were told to save some of the federal stimulus money they received this year to tide them over in fiscal 2012, which begins July 1. Deal's spokesman, Brian Robinson, said districts that did so "should be OK."
"The governor has made every effort to do the state's part to ensure we end teacher furloughs," Robinson said. "We understand there are continued hard times and it is felt at the local level. We are doing what we can do. It is our intention to do everything in our power to give districts the resources that they need to stop furloughs."
Joe Martin, a former Atlanta school board president and three-time unsuccessful candidate for state school superintendent, said many districts used the federal money to limit teacher furloughs and layoffs this year.
"That's the money they used to make it through this year," he said.
Some systems did save federal stimulus money, and they will have an easier time surviving the difficult school year ahead. But even districts that saved the money told the AJC they will struggle to avoid furloughs, and none had hope of moving back to a longer school year.
Deal took office last month facing a budget shortfall of up to $2 billion, little in reserves and the knowledge that federal stimulus money that had been propping up state budgets would end in fiscal 2012.
His nearly $7 billion education budget recommendation for fiscal 2012 would barely increase total state funding for districts from this year, excluding money that systems will get in coming months to cover enrollment growth. And several areas, such as transportation and school nurses, would be cut. Including federal funding, overall school spending will decrease about 7 percent.
In addition, systems are still dealing with $1 billion in annual "austerity cuts" built into state funding budgets over eight years, before Deal took office. Fulton County schools, for example, have lost $181.6 million to the austerity cuts since 2003, according to the school district.
Lawmakers from both parties say they aren't sure how the math works for districts to avoid continued shorter school years or furloughs, or both.
"Furloughing teachers is a decision that's made at the local level," said Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "If you don't give them enough money, then they are going to make the decision to furlough teachers or lay teachers off."
Rep. Kathy Ashe, D-Atlanta, a member of the budget subcommittee that handles education funding, said, "I don't know how they are going to manage in a way that it's possible not to continue furloughs."
The only good news, she said, is that the fiscal situation is not worse. "While the [financial] bleeding continues in this budget, at least it doesn't open another vein."
Pressure from all sides
State and local budget woes are squeezing both metro and rural districts, sometimes in different ways.
Metro school systems, for example, are seeing their tax bases decline as real estate values tumble, meaning they won't be able to count on higher local property taxes to bail them out. Outside Atlanta, school districts don't have a large property tax base to begin with and depend more on state school appropriations.
Some districts furloughed teachers to cut costs, others didn't. A total of 135 of 180 school districts reduced the number of days of instruction, with Chattooga County in far North Georgia having the fewest, with 144 days.
Some districts may be able to avoid furloughs or restore school days, but others will be in the same boat they are in this year.
"It will vary from system to system," said State School Superintendent John Barge, who expects furloughs in some districts. "I'm hearing from some individual systems that they don't have any way around it. There's obviously not enough resources to restore austerity cuts and all the other things."
County by county
Metro school districts are just beginning to write their budgets for 2012 — a process that will take months — but they know the coming year will be a struggle.
Gwinnett County. Rick Cost, chief financial officer in Gwinnett County, Georgia's biggest system, said school officials there have set a goal of avoiding furloughs and maintaining a 180-day school year this fall.
That will be a challenge, Cost said, because Gwinnett will get $18.6 million less in funding from the state — absent extra money to pay for new students. In addition, Cost said, the district will lose another $40 million, at least, in local revenue next year because of the declining property tax base. Every furlough day saves the Gwinnett system — and costs educators — $5 million.
"If we are able to eliminate some or all furlough days, it won't be because of additional revenue or fewer cuts," Cost said. "It will be because we trimmed even more from our expense budget."
Fulton County. Superintendent Cindy Loe said she anticipates that her system will be able to avoid furloughs but that the district will keep its shorter, 177-day school year. Pay cuts to administrators this year will be continued in 2012. Loe said she was "encouraged" by what she is hearing from the governor's office on school funding.
Cherokee County. Superintendent Frank Petruzielo, the administrator who called Deal's school budget "new math," is less optimistic.
Petruzielo said his district followed state instructions and held onto federal stimulus money to use in the upcoming school year. But Petruzielo said his district will receive another "austerity cut" in state funding, will see a major decline in federal funding and will likely suffer an "extraordinary drop" in property tax money.
"Our budget [this year] has four furlough days in it," he said. "I don't see any money from the state offsetting the $4.4 million that it will cost us if we do not have furlough days next year."
Cobb County. Officials don't see much reason for optimism in the state budget, either.
"Based on our review of the governor's proposed budget, funding has not been restored to avoid furlough days and return to a 180-day school calendar," said Mike Addison, the district's chief financial officer.
The school system planned to furlough teachers five days this year but later cut that back to three days. The calendar was shortened to 175 days, Addison said. Next year the system is anticipating a $20 million to $35 million shortfall.
DeKalb and Clayton County officials said they expect no teacher furloughs next year. Atlanta city school officials said it's still too early to determine what the state budget allocations will mean for their district.School four days a week.
Some districts outside metro Atlanta are in worse financial shape because they have relied more heavily on state funding to pay for schools and don't have large reserves or a strong property tax base to make up for the cuts.
For the current school year, Haralson County west of Atlanta cut its school calendar from 180 days to 147 days to save money. School runs four days a week and teachers are on the clock from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Teachers also have been furloughed six days this year, something Brett Stanton, superintendent of Haralson County Schools, said he hopes to avoid next year if possible.
"To be honest, we don't see a whole lot of light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
The picture is different in Walker County in North Georgia. Jim Barrett, a Georgia studies middle school teacher, said his district kept the usual 180-day school year and avoided furloughs by planning ahead. He said the district had been cutting back for several years in anticipation of the hard times the state faced during the recession.
"I think if districts have their act together, they can work hard and protect instructional time for students," he said. "I was pleased by what he [Deal] said."
But teachers in other districts remain worried.
Although DeKalb County officials said they are not anticipating furloughing teachers next year, David Schutten, president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators, said teachers are more stressed out than ever before.
"It seems like everybody has more paperwork, more pressure, less planning time. You go by a school at six, eight o'clock at night, and somebody is there," he said. "People are just afraid next year is going to be as bad as this year."
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