Nearly 375 positions may be cut and Atlanta Public Schools employees will have to take four furlough days next school year under a leaner $574.7 million budget the school district's board approved Monday.
Officials say the budget allows the district to live within its means and better manage resources in the future.
"We're trying to make the difficult decisions around personnel and other efficiencies because we don't expect next year or the year after to be better than this one," said Reuben McDaniel, chairman of the board.
Property tax revenue is expected to drop by $20 million and has decreased by $119 million since 2008. Over the same period, the budget for the 49,000-student district has decreased by $56 million.
Almost every department was asked to cut spending this year by 10 percent to help fill a $47 million gap. Under the budget employees will have to take two additional furlough days -- for a total of four -- to ease the cuts. In exchange, the district is backing off earlier plans to outsource custodian jobs to save an estimated $3 million. Several "lead" custodial positions will still be eliminated.
The budget calls for reductions to contracts with nonprofits such as Project GRAD, Communities in Schools and Hands on Atlanta. Parents and students made signs to oppose those cuts at Monday's board meeting.
"These are our children’s heroes. And they’re our parents' heroes as well," said Chandra Gallashaw, who has students at Gideons Elementary School and Parks Middle School involved with Communities in Schools. "No one asked us if this program is working. We'd be the first to tell them this program is a success."
The district is setting aside $1.7 million to cover legal costs associated with an ongoing cheating scandal, and it is earmarking $4 million to pay unemployment costs. Property taxes will increase slightly to cover debt service principal and interest payments. Under the proposal, an owner of a $223,867 home in Atlanta (median price) pays $4 more a year.
School districts across the metro area are cutting spending in order to balance budgets.
In May, the Cobb County School District approved an $841.9 million budget with three furlough days and 350 fewer teaching positions. The DeKalb County School District is expected to vote June 11 on a budget that would account for a $73 million budget gap. The school board is considering increasing class sizes, shortening the school year and raising taxes to make ends meet.
Gwinnett County Public Schools, the state’s largest system, approved a budget in May that calls for two unpaid furlough days for most employees, two extra students per classroom and nearly 600 fewer people on the payroll.
Atlanta's budget includes some funding for improvements. The district plans to add an assistant principal at every school -- something promised during a massive school rezoning approved in April. Nurses will work five days a week in every school, and a police investigator will be funded for each APS cluster. And the district is planning to expand and align foreign language offerings.
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