Can schools pay their bills with more flexibility?
One of the most pungent commenters on education issues in the state is former Henry County superintendent Herb Garrett, who is now executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association
In response to the prospect of more school cuts and the pledge of Gov.-elect Nathan Deal to grant schools more flexibility rather than more money, Garret said, “We’ve been getting some flexibility now for several years and Georgia Power just won’t accept flexibility as payment for electric bills.”
The relentless cuts to education come at a time when the state and feds are making unprecedented demands on schools to educate more students to higher standards. Can those goals be met with the larger class sizes and diminished resources that have resulted from the deep cuts to education spending in Georgia?
That is the question facing our schools today. And it has a new urgency now that Deal says state finances are so bad that he predicts even deeper cuts to education.
Here is the latest AJC story on the bleak education picture:
Deal’s forecast — though absent specifics — came as educators across the state are still adjusting to major changes — such as bigger classes, condensed school years and furloughs or layoffs — that many districts were forced to implement this year to trim budgets.
Budget cuts from the state are not new, partly because of declining revenue during the recession, as well as austerity cuts that have been in place since 2003. At least for the past five years, local school districts have been shorted millions that they were due under the Quality Basic Education Act, the state formula for funding public education.
For the current fiscal year, the districts were shorted a combined $915 million. That’s on top of state cuts of $654.1 million in fiscal 2010, $93 million in fiscal 2009, $143 million in fiscal 2008 and $170 million in fiscal 2007, according to records of the state Department of Education.
“We’ve seen a radical decline in state funding for public education over the last seven or eight years, to the point that the state’s QBE funding formula has little meaning anymore,” said Jay Dillon, a spokesman for the Cobb County School District. “At this point, there are few options remaining if the state again decides to cut funding for Cobb schools by tens of millions of dollars.”
Since 2003, Cobb has not received $280 million that it was due in QBE funding, Dillon said.
Herb Garrett, executive director of the State School Superintendents Association, said Wednesday that additional cuts are likely to hurt across the board.
“It hurts everybody, but it really hurts the poor systems, the ones that don’t have a very good property tax base to try to cushion the blow,” Garrett said.
Since his election in November, Deal has been going over the details of an amended budget for the current year and a 2012 spending plan that he will submit to the General Assembly in January. On Tuesday, he warned that “tough choices” will be coming in education spending, though he pledged to give local school districts more flexibility with the money they receive from the state.
– By Maureen Downey, the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
105 comments Add your comment
Batgirl
December 9th, 2010
1:05 pm
No, teachers should not have to pay for substitutes when they’re sick, but what about those who regularly use sick leave to take personal time. Our principal and several teachers have young children, and every time there is a class party or play at their child’s school, thesse people have to take time out to attend. One teacher went on a church shopping trip to New York for two days last week, and I can promise you that at least 2-3 teachers will take a day off for Christmas shopping. Should we really be paying subs for this? I was out with the crud for a couple of days earlier in the year and had to shut down the library. No sub for me. For those of you wondering where the cuts will come next. I’m pretty sure it will be librarians.
What's best for kids?
December 9th, 2010
1:17 pm
Batgirl,
Teachers are given three to five personal days, and we should be able to take them as we see fit, since they’re personal and all. After that, though, I agree that we should not allow for sick time to be used for anything other than sick time.
teacher&mom
December 9th, 2010
1:50 pm
@Teacher&Mom… Your numbers on sports programs being self-supporting don’t add up. You say you can gross $5,000 per varsity game. Let’s say your school plays 7 home games, or even 10 if you are in playoffs, so that’s $35,000 to $50,000, which pays for field and team equipment, field maintenance and utilities, concession licenses and health inspection, salaries for the head coach, assistant coaches, expendables like trainers supplies, chalk, stat sheets, etc., referee fees, summer and spring training, football team’s share of weight room facilities cost, and public safety (off duty police for crowd control).”
OK…you’re talking to someone who doesn’t work in a 4A system so we don’t have concession licenses, etc. More like a 2A system on the verge of becoming a single A system.
The local churches and businesses pitch in and work the concession stands…all organized by the booster clubs. Uniforms, training equipment, etc…provided by the booster clubs.
Once a year the local doctors volunteer to complete all physicals after school. (not sure if this is what your reference to “health inspections” is referring to??)
We have 1 PE teacher at the elementary, 2 at the middle school, and 4 at the high school (based on numbers, we are paying for 2 PE teachers at the high school out of local funds). Supplements are very reasonable. Our baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, swimming, and wrestling programs are all coached by classroom teachers. We also utilize community coaches to fill in the gaps.
The $$ amount I gave was for basketball games. I’ve never kept the gate at a high school football game but a fellow teacher once told me that he collected over $10,000 one night at the “home” side gate. He estimated the game pulled in around $15 grand.
My point??? Cutting these positions will do very little to help our rural system save money. It also detracts from finding meaningful ways to fund education. Please remember that many systems in GA are located in rural areas. We don’t have the tax base to fund lots of “bells and whistles.” We also rely heavily on our community and local businesses to fund many “extras” at our school. We are strapped and while APS, Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton, and others may be able to absorb more budget cuts, we have absorbed to the point of closing school a week early.
How many more days of instruction do we need to lose before someone decides enough is enough? I think it is time to expect our legislators and governor to get creative and come up with viable solutions. Hold their feet to the fire on this one.
It's Simple ... Raise Taxes
December 9th, 2010
2:00 pm
It’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to touch/mention. And don’t give me this crap about “we already pay too much in taxes…” NO WE DON’T! And I live in Fulton County.
Yes, cut the fat where there is fat. But to CONTINUE to cut the education budget in Georgia, while demanding better student achievement levels is foolhardy. (Side note: I surely hope that “God Bless the Teacher” is really NOT teaching any of our children! Someone with so little intelligence as to suggest that teachers pay for their own subs, shouldn’t be anywhere NEAR a teaching position!)
And for Deal to begin laying the groundwork for more Draconian cuts to education, while also laying the ground work for more TAX BREAKS for “businesses” to supposedly kick start the state’s economy and fill Georgia’s coffers is laughable.
The former budget guru for the “Republican Deity” Ronald Reagan, Dick Stockman, has let the cat out of the bag … TRICKLE DOWN ECON DOES NOT WORK! It’s fantasy! Giving tax breaks to businesses does not increase state revenues and does not result in more jobs!!
But sadly, Republicans have continued to push this lie for 30 years on a largely uneducated populace that they have targeted, and their tactic has worked. And we continue to see its impact on blogs like this one, and in elections that produce results like our governor’s race — where the winner QUIT his national political seat because he knew he was about to be investigated and most likely indicted.
But, I digress. Call for an extra penny to be added to all sales in Georgia, and make the legislation air-tight so that the money only goes to K-12 education. Also, include in the legislation that in five years, the extra penny tax can only be extended with voter approval.
Meanwhile, take away ALL tax breaks for any business based in Georgia that has more than 10 percent of its operations overseas.
Sorry, Wrong Answer
December 9th, 2010
2:04 pm
@teacher&mom…Your numbers are still way off. It doesn’t cost less to maintain facilities in a small school than in a big one – the football field and basketball courts are still the same size. Teachers paid extra as sports coaches are not “free” – that money is not coming from gate receipts and if you don’t have a booster club, it is coming straight out of county salary funds. Are all the materials and equipment (balls, uniforms, goals, trainers gear) donated? Do the referees donate their time? Is the bus drivers’ time and gas money donated or paid for by gate receipts? The health inspections are MANDATORY for any fixed location that sell food in Georgia (that is, your concession stand). How are all the nonrevenue sports funded? Swimming pools are not costless, nor does an outdoor track never require maintenance.
But still, your point is well taken. It is time to stop cutting instructional funds. I think the beef some of us have with your defense of sports programs is: a) they are nonessential for academic performance and b) if districts budgets are to continue shrinking, then nonessential activities should go first. Personally, I would rather take even $5,000 saved from a sports program and buy classroom technology, toner for the school’s printer, magazine subscriptions for the library, glassware for the chemistry lab, or dry-erase markers for the poor teacher who had to fund that out of his/her own pocket. Only in the US do schools have the fanatical devotion to sports teams from 6th grade up. If the programs are as cheap to run as you say and are self-supporting, then let the city or county government run them as traveling sports teams and get the schools out of the sports business.
Batgirl
December 9th, 2010
2:06 pm
Yes, I get those personal days, too. I am a public school media specialist, but if I take my days because I’m sick, the library shuts down because I have no parapro and that teacher who goes shopping will get a sub before I will. I just think everyone should be a little more considerate about when they take their days especially in this economic climate.
alm
December 9th, 2010
2:24 pm
“Eliminate senior exemptions on property taxes.”
Amen! Sooner the better!
“In DEKALB County we could get rid of our TV show on cable, the people who run it and over half the Central office.”
I think they should keep PDS24 but only show the current BOE meeting on a loop and cut everything else. I agree the Central Office is too big.
Booklover
December 9th, 2010
2:29 pm
@Batgirl and “God Bless” and anyone else with sick day issues–
Your personal and sick days are part of your compensation as an employee. These are some of the “perks” we are allotted for taking a public sector job that has less financial benefit than the private sector. (Note, however, that the vast major of private sector jobs, particularly those requiring the education that teachers hold, also allot sick and personal days!)
The money to cover those personal/sick days is (supposed to be) set aside to pay for subs for the personal and sick days that you take. This is why employees are supposed to be able to roll over sick days onto retirement.
Georgia puts many restraints on rolling over sick days, however, which encourages many employees to use them less judiciously than they may prefer. Teachers cannot receive cash pay-outs for unused sick days, cannot transfer them to other states, and cannot roll fewer than 20 days into retirement, so in districts like mine, where many military spouses leave the state when the Army moves hubby, teachers are forced to take sick days or lose that compensation.
We had one teacher who had over 15 sick days saved up after just a few years teaching here–clearly she didn’t call out sick a lot! When she found out hubby was getting transferred, she had to use those sick days or lose thousands of dollars in compensation! (Not to mention, moving a house is a lot of time and work…)
What's best for kids?
December 9th, 2010
3:16 pm
I saved up my sick days because I would need them one day. And I did. Teachers don’t get paid maternity leave. We get 8 weeks that comes out of our sick leave. So I took 16 weeks of sick leave, eight weeks for each of my kids. Thank goodness I saved for it.
Batgirl, you are not responsible for the library being closed when you are sick. The school should have a sub for you. The kids are being punished because the county is cutting days, and the powers that be know that you will come to school rather than punish the students.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
3:22 pm
@teacher&mom”
4 at the high school (based on numbers, we are paying for 2 PE teachers at the high school out of local funds).”
At one school that could mean a savings of over 250k annually. Multiply that by all the high schools and that is a lot of money. Again, if their have to be cuts for teachers this is where it should start.
Warrior Woman
December 9th, 2010
3:29 pm
@blackbird13, catlady, etc. – Before you start talking about cutting athletics and other extracurriculars, you should realize that many school districts provide little or no funding for athletics. For example, all athletics in Cobb County are essentially student funded. For the sport in which my students are involved, the county provides a whopping $2600 coaching supplement per year. The athletes and their parents pay for field preparation and maintenance (incuding replacing sod; mowing grass; painting the lines on the field; and maintaining the speaker system, concession stands, and scoreboards at the stadium, for example); purchasing and maintaining uniforms and equipment; travel to other schools for games; paying the referees; paying for substitute teachers if the coach misses a class for coaches’ training or games; and paying for insurance that protects the county and school if a player is injured at a game. The coaching supplement is a miniscule portion of the budget, and in return, the school gets fields that are also used for PE maintained by the teams. The school and county also get to count all the money the team and its boosters spend on the sport when reporting female athletic opportunities for Title IX purposes. And before you say, “Cut the coaches’ teaching positions,” you should realize that PE and health are required subjects and that many coaches teach hard academic subjects, including AP classes.
@HS Math Teacher – Most systems haven’t cut to the bone. Very few made central office cuts.
@Sorry, Wrong Answer – You’re leaving out the participation fees the student athlete pay, and grossly overestimating the expenses, considering they are shared among several teams. Remember, football, soccer, track and field, lacrosse, etc., all use the same stadium. All those teams plus basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball, etc., use the same weight room. And PE classes also use both.
Finally, there is abundant evidence that student involved in extracurricular activities, including student athletes, outperform other students in terms of grades, graduation rates, and college participation.
The cuts need to be made first at the bloated central offices and support staff that are not teaching positions – truckloads of assistant superintendents, program managers, financial managers, etc., along with high priced pet projects and inefficient programs. School systems are notoriously inefficient in spending our money. Second should be all ESOL expenses. Next in line should be excessive numbers of assistant principals/administrators, graduation coaches, student support services, etc. This would include medical care for special ed students, which is enormously expensive. Fourth would be things like arts and PE classes, with the last thing to be cut hard academics.
Other state agencies have endured budget cuts of as much as 45% over the past few years. These include some charged with public safety. Compared to that, the schools haven’t been touched. There is still enormous fat in school budgets, but it’s controlled by those making the decisions to cut teachers instead of cutting their turf.
Jokester
December 9th, 2010
3:32 pm
Slavery: Georgia continues to pay for the sins of its fathers. And it will continue to pay until this whole cesspool colapses completely.
HS Public Teacher
December 9th, 2010
3:40 pm
So many people have no clue how things work and yet have such rock-hard opinions….
I teach science. I am also a coach. My ‘extra’ pay from the County is all of $2000 per year – hardly enough to save anything or anyone.
Cutting sports does NOTHING real for the budget. You idiots that continue beating this drum need to STOP until you get the facts.
Sports brings more money in than it cost. Can you at least understand that?
The parents of the players contribute money. There are fund raisers. There is a boster club. There are ticket sales. There are concession sales. Corporations will sponsor.
Again, cutting sports will save NOTHING for the budget of the school of the school system.
Get over it.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
3:41 pm
“The cuts need to be made first at the bloated central offices and support staff that are not teaching positions – truckloads of assistant superintendents, program managers, financial managers, etc., along with high priced pet projects and inefficient programs.”
I absolutely agree with that, but I still favor cutting p.e and sports because they are a waste of time and money. Look at the rest of the world that ranks ahead of us in education and see how much time they devote to sports.
FCS Teacher
December 9th, 2010
3:45 pm
The real reason we should eliminate athletics from schools is the completely useless coaches that get hired as “teachers”. I’m sure every high school teacher who reads this blog has had an experience working with a special education team teacher who spends his entire day sitting in the back of the room sketching plays in his notebook — that is when he shows up to class. While eliminating athletics may help us with some budget concerns, it would help raise achievement by getting coaches out of and teachers into the classroom.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
3:49 pm
@hs Public teacher. Again, cutting sports will save NOTHING for the budget of the school of the school system”
False. Go find out how much the head football coach makes and then tell me cutting his salary wouldn’t save money. And just because you like sports it doesn’t mean they should have anything to do with school. And do concessions and fundraisers and boosters pay for million dollar athletic fields? Where does that money come from and regardless of where it comes from why should it go to anything other than education, not playtime?
Warrior Woman
December 9th, 2010
3:51 pm
@blackbird – The facts show that sports are emphatically NOT a waste of time and money. Sports participation improves attendance, grades, test scores, graduation rates, and college attendance. Look at Dwyer, Sallis, Blizzard, Lazarus, & Dean (2001); Dwyer et al. (1983); Linder (1999); Linder (2002); Shephard (1997); Tremblay et al. (2000); JacAngelo (2003); Din (2005); and others.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
3:52 pm
@HS public teacher
“Get over it.”
You need to get over the idea that sports are important enough to give you 200 dollars extra a year, much less 2000. Things change; get over that.
Warrior Woman
December 9th, 2010
3:54 pm
@blackbird – “Where does that money come from and regardless of where it comes from why should it go to anything other than education, not playtime?”
Because if the money doesn’t come from public coffers, you don’t get to dictate how private funds are spent. Just because you don’t like sports doesn’t mean they should be removed from schools when sports’ benefit on education is a fact.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
3:57 pm
@Warrior Woman
Sorry, but the days of giving students external motivation to do what they should do anyway are over. Don’t want to go to school because there is no football? Fine, get ready to be a bum. Look at how far this country is falling behind in education every year; the time for coddling is over.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
4:07 pm
@FCS teacher
“While eliminating athletics may help us with some budget concerns, it would help raise achievement by getting coaches out of and teachers into the classroom.”
Absolutely. And if you look into the numbers, you will find that head football coaches are often the highest paid “instructor” in the school. What a joke. I have, in my 20 years of experience have known two head coaches who were not p.e. teachers (glorified babysitters). People are so sold on this nonsensical idea that sports have to be a part of education that they will justify it anyway they can.
td
December 9th, 2010
4:16 pm
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
12:28 pm
I do not think you know what you are talking about. My son is on the wresting team and his coach is a math teacher and the varsity coach is a social studies teacher. I have paid $50 this year for transportation cost and my son is required to raise another $100 for his sport. I have also paid at least $5 for every match I have been to for myself and all my family. I thinks the coaches will receive a $2000 supplement for coaching the sport. I am pretty sure this sport is paying for itself. The football team had 6 home games this year and I know just the gate raised over $500,000 so I am pretty sure that program paid for itself. If you must talk about a problem then it is with title 9 and women’s sports not paying for themselves. I personally thing women should have sports but if you want a bottom line then there is something for you to rail about.
The PE department is the smallest in the school because the new core curriculum requirements (4 years Math, 4 years of English, 4 years of science, 3 years of social studies, 2 years of a foreign language. ect) do not let the students take very many PE classes. They are required to take a personal fitness class and a health class to graduate.
The real problem is the central office staff and the glut of administrators, counselors ect in the k-12 schools and some of the money we pay teachers who teach is elementary school. Their salaries are outrageous. The Superintendents, deputy superintendents ect in the central office that make more money that the Governor of the state ($150,000) or the Superintendent of the state ($139,000). I think some make more then the President of the United States. Why do we need Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade teachers with a Phd making more than $90,000 per year? Does there knowledge base really need to be that extensive for this age group kids to teach the basics?
If you really want to rail at something how about this: Dr Micheal Adams (President of UGA) makes more than $600,000 per year from the state and more than $1 million when you add money from the foundations. Look up all the University presidents salaries and Department chairs in our colleges and tell me we cut not trim some fat there first.
oldtimer
December 9th, 2010
4:51 pm
Some points: In the high school where I worked the best geometry (not in GA) teacher is the football coach. He does a wonderful job and parents want him. He also gets the “bad boys” because he can “handle” them.
Music enhances everyone’s education. Small children actually learn through songs as do special education students.
Art is a way all children can express themselves. It also enhances social studies and science education.
Cutting 20-50% of of the central office budget would actually help. We might need coordinators, but they could live without a secretary. Cut one AP at high schools. Small schools could share AP personnel. The state could slim down documentation. We could cut some testing…at some grades.
We need to think outside the box. The state is out of money. The main job of the state is provide security for the public and educate the children. Neither of this is being done very well. Now me have to stop spending money.
teacher&mom
December 9th, 2010
5:19 pm
@blackbird-”At one school that could mean a savings of over 250k annually. Multiply that by all the high schools and that is a lot of money. Again, if their have to be cuts for teachers this is where it should start.”
That may be the case at your local school but is sure isn’t the case in my system. Trust me on this one. I took the time to look up the coaches salaries this afternoon. If you took the two highest paid teacher/coaches in our system, their combined salaries do not come anywhere close to 250K.
An American Patriot
December 9th, 2010
5:22 pm
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
12:28 pm
“Cutting sports overall really doesn’t save big money. The reason is that because for the most part, sports are self-sustaining…. they can generate enough revenue to pay for themselves.”
But if jobs have to go, the jobs related to them should be the first to go. Most coaches teach p.e., which, again, if cuts have to be made, should also be the first to go. In fact, those cuts should have been made already
@blackbird13 – It’s quite obvious you and “catlady” are not big high school sports fans. Do you know what motivates a lot of kids to attend high school?…..yep, athletics…..you take away this and the dropout rate in Georgia High Schools would be through the roof. You might not like it, but high school athletics do tons more good things than bad things……bad idea, boys and girls.
If you really, really want to balance the school budgets here in Georgia, there is a sure fire way to do it and I actually threw out this suggestion earlier this year (I got crucified for it, but that’s OK, I don’t mind)……Either do away with the school busing systems or charge parents for the actual costs…..presto, the budget is balanced overnight……any takers??????
teacher&mom
December 9th, 2010
5:27 pm
As long as we squabble and fuss about sports vs. non-sports, Nathan Deal and his merry band of legislators can continue to rob education. While I understand the 2011 budget will be tight, what I don’t understand is the unwillingness to explore other options for raising revenues. I personally think Deal’s announcement was a litmus test to see how the general public feels about further cuts. If he doesn’t get any push-back from the public, then they will proceed as planned.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
5:59 pm
“Either do away with the school busing systems or charge parents for the actual costs…..presto, the budget is balanced overnight……any takers??????”
Numbers for that? School bus drivers make next to nothing. A lot of kids would simply not make it to school. I support cutting extracurricular bus use, but what you are suggesting makes no sense if the goal is for students to get to school. Plus, you would create an even worse traffic problem than we already have. How about charging everyone for parking, staff included? My wife and I have to pay for parking where we work, why not teachers and students? And I don’t mean some nominal amount. And if there have to be football games and such, charge for parking on that too. (I know some schools already do this)
catlady
December 9th, 2010
6:07 pm
say what? Actually, I have taught sped. Very special sped. My problem is that employing these folks (therapists), providing benefits, giving them cushy schedules, wastes money for the system. Let the therapies be done outside of school time, outside of schools’ purview. The providers can bill the government (they already fill out the paperwork to do so) The federal government can still pay; the systems won’t be hit for the extra costs of hiring them. ALL parents have to take care of the needs of their children. Many sped kids have additional assistance through CMS, SSI benefits, the Marcus Center. Just disengage the schools from the services. We have to think outside the box.
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
6:08 pm
“Do you know what motivates a lot of kids to attend high school?…..yep, athletics…..you take away this and the dropout rate in Georgia High Schools would be through the roof.”
Yeah, well if we continue to coddle kids in this way, looking to help them feel better about themselves when they should be going to school to learn and to survive in a tough world, we are going to have big problems anyway. I’m not sure that kids who are only in school for sports should be there anyway, as more than likely they are disruptive and a waste of instruction time. Let them go learn to work at whatever job they can get; a high school diploma isn’t going to make any difference.
catlady
December 9th, 2010
6:41 pm
say what?: And parents might more closely monitor the therapists to be sure their children are getting the services they should be getting. When the providers don’t show up, the parents would be more likely to notify the authorities.
“Patriot”: Actually, I AM big on high school sports. Among my 3 children, 12 consecutive years of band, sports, cheerleading–I don’t want to hear it! After they graduated, I have continued to attend. And I am QUITE aware that research links extracurricular participation with finishing high school. I am merely saying it is a luxury we cannot seem to afford right now.
Think of the percentage of students who participate in sports (let’s limit it to that right now) compared to the student body. Our school has about 1200 students. But less than 200 participate in sports (not counting other things, like band or ag or theater, which are actually classes). Is it worth the money, including building and maintaining the venues, salaries for coaches, cleaning, transportation, equipment, security, and uniforms?
On bus service: Have central pickup spots to minimize gas use. Parents who do not make arrangements for their kids to get to school can be taken to the woodshed by DFACS. You see, the accountability and responsibility are not just on the part of the schools.
GNGS
December 9th, 2010
6:57 pm
I realize that the question has foretold the answer. However, let us think outside of box for a second. Many districts have SPLOST, which is dedicated to capital investment (buildings etc.). If the governor-elected is willing to push for more flexibility on how SPLOST fund can be used, it can relieve some stress on school funding. Yes, It will not be easy and it will require a referendum.
mcc
December 9th, 2010
8:16 pm
I love all these wonderful teachers & parents suggesting that we just cut out all of the federally-mandated special education providers with “cushy” schedules (yeah, I don’t consider seeing 55 kids multiple times per week very “cushy”). Federal law doesn’t allow the school system to push the responsibility for these services onto parents outside of the school day because the services relate to deficits in EDUCATIONAL performance. Billing the governent directly is a joke – two years ago I was billing $120/hour for private speech therapy. Do you actually think the federal government gives my school system anywhere near that amount of $$ for my services in the schools?? Yeah, right. Local taxes cover the majority of my TEACHER salary.
Those of you who are so unhappy with expenses related to special education, I suggest you consider how you would feel if your student was bright but could not speak due to a physical disability. Or if your child had autism (NOT a guarantee of a limited IQ). Would these services seem so unimportant to you then??
I encourage you to contact your US Senators & US Representatives and urge them to end the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so that you don’t have to deal with these children, nor do you have to be bothered by the presence of these “therapists” with such cushy jobs. After all, who cares what happens to these kids anyway?? Let’s just throw them all back into institutions, why don’t we?? **sarcasm**
just watching
December 9th, 2010
8:46 pm
I wonder how much of our taxpayer money that APS and other districts are wasting trying to “recover” per pupil funds from the very few state commissioned charter schools that exist? I am quite sure that the out going money will far exceed whatever funds they may “recover” if they win.
As for the discussion about the sports programs….drop it. Cutting sports from HS will never happen. It just won’t. And cutting PE? We have a SERIOUS public health problem in obesity and diabetes. We need kids that WANT to participate in physical activity and learn the skills to do so. You can pay for the PE now or you can pay for the increased healthcare costs later. It’s bad enough that PE is now relegated to only ONE day per week for most students. When I was in school we had PE at least 3 times a week (and 5 days at one of my schools). And don’t even get me started on what they’ve done with recess….15 minutes once a day and teachers can take it away as a punishment? Ugh.
say what?
December 9th, 2010
8:49 pm
@mcc- I am with you on special EDUCATION students’ needs. Even with the mandates, not enough is being done- no need to gamble with the hope that the parents will report poor providers when services are not provided according to teh IEP.
Someone mentioned adding DFACS to the fray when parents don’t behave accordingly. This blog is addressing the cuts to education, but DFACS is being cut left and right, and every staff member, except the executives at 2 Peachtree, must take at least 1 furlough day per month. And while on furlough understand that if any hurt harm or danger comes to a child on your case load, you will be terminated.
just watching
December 9th, 2010
9:00 pm
@catlady….have you seen the wait lists for the Marcus Center and other providers? Plus many school districts no longer employ their own therapists, but instead hire contracting companies to come in and do so. So they aren’t paying benefits out for those folks.
An American Patriot
December 9th, 2010
9:09 pm
You know, blackbird13 and catlady, we can argue about this forever, but cutting athletics out of high schools doesn’t save any money. Doesn’t the state pay local systems a per student amount? If you cut out athletics, you’re not gonna have as many students in school, thus lowering the amount the systems get. There is a threshhold you cannot go below in running a school system…..OK, you can cut some teachers if you cut athletics, but you still have those fixed costs that will be there regardless…..you can’t have it both ways. You have all these dropouts, you’re gonna have more crime…you’re gonna have more people on welfare, etc., etc……you’re just transferring the costs to another program. As far as cutting the school busing, I know that pretty radical, but somehow, someway, parents are gonna have to be accountable for the education of their kids…..they brought ‘em into this world, they have to take care of them……that’s not the governments job, although it seems like it sometimes. I’m 10-10 and on the side….bye.
Dekalbite
December 9th, 2010
9:24 pm
Enter your comments here
blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
9:33 pm
“If you cut out athletics, you’re not gonna have as many students in school, thus lowering the amount the systems get.”
That in itself is a sad commentary on American life and young people that goes beyond the issues of schools and budgets.
ScienceTeacher671
December 9th, 2010
9:34 pm
An American Patriot, we give them paper, pencils, books, breakfast, and lunch, because they can’t seem to afford those….
…although most of them do manage to have the latest cell phones.
ScienceTeacher671
December 9th, 2010
9:37 pm
If they are only coming to school to play football, how much effort are they actually putting into the academic side of it?
MS Man
December 9th, 2010
9:46 pm
I think everyone here and who reads this blog needs to attend budget hearings and BOE meetings to get the facts about their own county’s positions and problems. It is evident that Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Dekalb, and APS have very different issues than all the other counties in the metro area and definitely different issues than rural counties that make up the other 150 school districts in Georgia. For metro counties, there are local property taxes that supplement salaries, benefits, and buildings. For the majority of counties in GA, the state salary is all you get and if the state can’t pay, you don’t get paid. I am all for cutting “non-essential” services, but I understand also that what is non-essential to you, is essential to someone else. I think it is also really important in all these blogs to understand that school funding comes from basically four sources and usually those four pots have specific uses that can’t be changed. You get money from federal programs, state funding, local funding, and any “private” funding sources (read donations, private grant foundations, booster clubs, etc.) If Deal wants to give flexibility, he needs to change how school systems are able to use federal dollars. Most of the waste in the bigger systems comes from mishandling of Title I dollars. Educate yourself on how funding actually works in schools, not just how you think it “should” or could or might work.
HS Public Teachers
December 9th, 2010
11:04 pm
@blackbird13,
Again, YOU need to educate yourself. Most head football coaches are teachers in academic subjects. I know of one that is a science teacher and one in another school that teaches Social Studies.
Head football coaches earn a salary as a teacher plus a stipend. The head football coaching stipend is less that $10,000 and is usually more like around $5,000. Again, cutting this stipend is a drop in the bucket.
And don’t forget that football is a major profit center for the school. Cut that stipend and lose around $15,000 PER FOOTBALL GAME in some cases!
The football field, the basketball court, and so on is standard issue for any high school built. If there are “extras” they must be paid for by the boosters or from the “profit” that the sport brings in. It is NEVER coming out of the school or school system budget.
Do I think that PE teachers should be cut? Well, there is value to physical education cases. Of course, they should be cut before the core academic areas. But most high schools have only 1 or 2 real PE teachers. Most coaches teach other subjects.
Again, EDUCATE YOURSELF. And,…..
Get over it!
An American Patriot
December 10th, 2010
8:26 am
@ScienceTeacher671
December 9th, 2010
9:37 pm
If they are only coming to school to play football, how much effort are they actually putting into the academic side of it?
That Sir/Madam? is an excellent question……to answer, I point you sixty-five miles east of Atlanta, toward that football factory known as UGA……need I say more?
@blackbird13
December 9th, 2010
9:33 pm
“If you cut out athletics, you’re not gonna have as many students in school, thus lowering the amount the systems get.”
That in itself is a sad commentary on American life and young people that goes beyond the issues of schools and budgets.
Excellent, excellent point……the whole problem in our school systems is not the students or teachers…..it’s the PARENTS of the students. From an early age, some kids are taught that athletics is the most important thing, not academics and an inordinate amount of time and effort on the part of the parents and students are spent on athletics. The one thing that really disturbs me a lot is seeing a kid walking down the street bouncing a basketball. Only a very small percentage of high school athletes receive full athletic scholarships to attend colleges/universities……and a lesser percentage of those receiving scholarships go on to make it in pro sports…..the odds against it are tremendous. There are a lot of success stories about athletes not playing pro sports and I do not mean to diminish these achievements…….they, not athletes keep this country alive and well.
The chances of cutting athletics out at our high school in Georgia…….slim and none…..no way it’s gonna happen, not in my lifetime
East Cobb Parent
December 10th, 2010
8:58 am
Catlady I support your thinking on the special services. Cobb County has a school that services hearing impaired. Last year they had 3 students, this year 4. One teacher and two aides, teacher makes over 90K. The students receive door to door service via the bus. One child has been in the program since 3. A few miles down the road another school with the same program. These programs should be combined. Then you would have one class, one teacher, two support staff and 7 students. Still pretty good odds.
No one is saying we shouldn’t address special needs, but it is time to look at these specialized services and combine where we can. Times are tough.
As for sports, music, art, I say cut them. Doesn’t mean I don’t think they are valuable, but we need to focus on the basics. Charge parents more or let the foundations cover the music and art programs.
Lisa B.
December 10th, 2010
9:20 am
A number of years ago, the Portland, Oregon school system was broke. School ended 26-days early that year. The next year, school athletics became pay-to-play activities. Parents had to buy uniforms, equipment, and contribute to all other related overhead. I don’t know how many years that went on in Portland, but I do remember feeling sad for the “poor” students who lost the opportunity to compete in sports. I am not saying I agree or disagree with what happened in Portland, but believe that to preserve academics in Georgia, we need to consider all sorts of options.
East Cobb Parent
December 10th, 2010
1:21 pm
@ WWoman – Cobb county has installed astro turf in most HS. Should complete soon for all HS. I can assure you that Walton HS is severely limiting the use of the field to protect the turf. There are many areas where education spending could be cut, I agree that we should start with the bloated central offices found in Cobb, DeKalb, APS, Gwinnett etc. When you see the mostly empty HS and MS buses, you realize there could be a cost savings there. I’ve always found it ironic that parents drive the one or two blocks to the bus stop for ES when the school is about a mile from our sub. No one is going to enjoy cutting the budget but it must be done. Remember those pennies add up to dollars.
Poetry Man
December 10th, 2010
1:37 pm
Those of you who want to cut sports, PE, etc. are ignorant. I teach high school literature and am not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination, but I know darn well that without athletics, many students would drop out. Football, basketball, track, etc. are the only reasons many of these kids come to, and stay in, school. They keep their grades up in order to play ball. Sure, some of the coaches are lunk-heads, but many times they are the only ones who can reach those kids. I don’t like the cuts any more than any of you, but cutting athletics is just as assinine as cutting music and art. To educate is to create well-rounded individuals. A well-rounded individual is one who has book-knowledge as well as athletic and/or artistic abilities. Open your eyes people. Next time, get rid of the ones causing the problem (Republicans) and replace them with someone different (notice I didn’t say better!).
Fled
December 10th, 2010
11:51 pm
Well stated poetry man. Indeed, some of the coaches do an excellent job with students no one else can reach. Instead of fighting over crumbs, which is what republicans want, teachers should take a dose of “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Republicans suck: it really is just that simple.
What's best for kids?
December 12th, 2010
7:14 am
mcc, I teach 160 kids multiple times a week~every day in fact. Many of them have IEPs. Many have other processing difficulties. I would LOVE to only have 50 kids that I see multiple times a week. Then I might have a chance of reaching them all.
GA priorities
December 12th, 2010
11:03 am
It’s funny to see 300-500 comment posts on entertainment blogs like “idol”, etc… but fewer on education issues. I don’t think the general public is interested with state school issues.