Gwinnett schools: Furlough days, larger classes and 585 unfilled jobs
Gwinnett schools approved a budget today that calls for two unpaid furlough days for most employees, two extra students per classroom and nearly 600 fewer people on the payroll. Most of the job cuts will come from leaving open jobs unfilled.
Spending for day-to-day operations of the state’s largest school district will be $1.2 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1, down $60.6 million from this year.
“It’s a very tough budget,” said Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks. “It’s one we have lots of concerns with, but it will allow us to continue to do what we need to do.”
The largest share of the savings — $43 million — will come from leaving vacant 585 jobs, where employees — mostly teachers — have retired, resigned or transferred, and adding an average of two students per classroom.
The system will save another $10 million by furloughing employees for a fourth straight year. The two unpaid furlough days will apply to all employees, with the exception of bus drivers and school nutrition workers.
School districts are winding down work on budgets that call for drastic cuts next year, including the elimination of at least 2,000 jobs in metro Atlanta. For them, a combination of factors is at play: under-funding from the state, falling property taxes and the end of federal stimulus money that had helped bridge the gap.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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59 comments Add your comment
BestMiddleSchoolTeacher
May 19th, 2012
9:56 pm
There is much confusion about DeKalb County, Georgia TRS (Teacher Retirement System) and TSA (Tax Shelter Annuity). The two plans are different. The TRS (Georgia) is required and is deducted from our pay each pay period. Employees contribute about 6% of their pay each pay period to the (TRS). The (TSA) was implemented by DeKalb County when they decided to opt out of Social Security. The big idea was to provide both a state plan (TRS) and a board approved retirement plan (TSA). DeKalb County contributed to the (TSA), not the teachers. This was a true benefit and perk for DeKalb teachers. A few years ago, due to budgets issues, DeKalb County stop making contributions to the board approved (TSA). Teachers still contribute to the Georgia (TRS) but no contributions have been made to our (TSA) by the DeKalb County School District.
We have the TRS but no TSA or Social Security.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
May 20th, 2012
1:27 am
Has the GCSS contracted with competent, disinterested, out-of-state entities for the performance of regular comprehensive financial, personnel and mission-attainment audits? If not, why the H— not?
How can an organization operate efficiently and effectively without the knowledge provided by such external examinations?
nikole
May 20th, 2012
9:03 am
@public hs teacher— i currently work in Dekalb and the county still pays into TRS. The TSA is a different account and they have not paid into that.
@Angela—- You often have your info wrong. The current recommendation is that we keep the same schedule AND pay for next year. Nothing is set in stone, but i think you are giving out false info on purpose. Why is that?
Dr. John Trotter
May 20th, 2012
9:52 am
In my 10:36 AM post yesterday, I noticed that I must have been typing too rapidly. Each time I talked about “Needs Improvements,” I used “(Nis”) instead of “(NIs).” Sorry.
Have a great day!
Larry Major
May 20th, 2012
3:27 pm
Dr. Spinks: Yes, GCPS has annual financial audits performed, under contract, by an independent certified public accounting firm. RFPs are open to any firm in the United States and awarded to the firm that meets all requirements and submits the best proposal considering both technical and cost factors, for a term of one to three years. Currently, Mauldin & Jenkins has the auditing contract, which was awarded under RFP #1145BM.
Additionally, because of its size, GCPS is ranked by credit rating agencies using their own criteria and is one of the few large school districts in the country to have multiple AAA ratings.
Alvin may come across as a soft-spoken wimp, but when it comes to money, he’s far more heavy-handed than people think -)
Michelle-Middle School
May 20th, 2012
3:57 pm
Well, here we go again. The Gwinnett County School system again cuts the budget by releasing teacher slots and handing out furlough days to the individuals most important in education—the teachers. What the system really needs to do is empty out most of the Taj Mahal county office with its top heavy bureaucracy of totally useless offices that add absolutely nothing to the final product of education. All the department heads, like the social studies office, do nothing to contribute to the teaching of students. They just manipulate the teachers by forcing upon them strict guidelines as to what and how to teach their subjects. The same is true for all curriculum offices. Why do we need “area superintendents?” Why do we need so many hidden “assistant superintendents?.” Why do middle schools need a principal and four assistant principals. If you take a realistic look at the system you will find waste at every single level of the system above the teacher. Aren’t teachers the key to success? Why can’t the county recognize that all the pressure is squarely placed upon the shoulders of the TEACHER? Wake up, Gwinnett County, and Cut where the pain will not even be felt b;y the students.
Tired
May 20th, 2012
10:55 pm
Education is over 50% of the state budget. There’s simply no way to make state budget cuts of any significance without touching education; the Departments of Transportation, Public Safety, the National Guard, Natural Resources, Public Health, Human Services, Agriculture, etc. divvy up the remaining 40-some percent of the state funds.
Truthfully, I don’t know if the counties’ budgets are 50%+ funding in education or not. But if so, again it’s impossible to make budget cuts without affecting that which consumes most of your budget.
HS Public Teacher
May 21st, 2012
9:28 am
@Larry Majors -
A funny thing about financial “audits”…. they only verify that the money goes where they say it goes. It is most certainly NOT a verfication that the money was well spent or spent on critical areas.
On the books, it could show that $1 million was spent on construction. However, the audit does not reveal that the $1 million spent on construction when to the nephew of the Super that owned a construction company or that half of it went to refurbish the Super’s office – as an example.
Big Bill
May 22nd, 2012
5:52 pm
It’s not just the pro-business, right-wing Republican oriented ALEC which is involved in pushing these taxpayer- funded private school scholarship programs in many states across the country. The NYT article also states this: “A national network of school choice advocates has been promoting the programs with financing from conservative activists and foundations. The advocacy groups do everything from financing political advertising to lobbying state legislators. One group, the American Federation For Children in Washington, DC, has not shied from the rough-and-tumble of state politics.” This is an important point. The Chairman of the Board of the National Federation For Children is the extremely wealthy and conservative Republican Betsy Devos, who, among other things, was once the chair of the Republican U.S. Senatorial Election Campaign Funding Committee. She and her husband Dick Devos, the son of the founder of Amway, who unsuccessfully campaigned as a conservative Republican pro-school choice candidate for the governorship of Michigan, have created many foundations promoting school choice, charter schools, voucher programs, and now are pushing this taxpayer funded private school scholarship program. I urge Georgia voters who support the maintenance and enhancement of our public school institutions and oppose their privatization for profit to find out more about the advocates behind these efforts. Take a close look at the folks behind the Georgia Federation For Children and other conservative idealogues like them who are lobbying hard to enact harmful ALEC-drafted, conservative pro-choice legislation like the taxpayer-funded private school scholarship program described here.