To cope with budget, Cobb shortens school year, raises class size and cuts teachers. Welcome to the new normal
I can’t help but be depressed at the continual AJC news stories about larger classes, fewer teachers and shorter calendars.
This story is about Cobb, a school system that has been an academic pace setter and a major factor in the county’s appeal to middle-class families. When these top systems start slashing, I worry even more about the future of education in Georgia.
Here is the latest report from the AJC:
After failing to reach agreement last week, the Cobb County school board held a special meeting Monday for another go at next year’s budget, and approved one with $841.9 million in spending.
The 2012-13 budget, which kicks in July 1, cuts 350 teaching positions. That should increase average class sizes at all grade levels by two students per teacher.
The new budget pulls back from other cuts that were contained in the tentative budget approved in April.
Instead of five furlough days, for instance, teachers and all other employees will get three. That will mean a reduction in the school calendar, from 180 days to 177. Also, the hours for elementary school media paraprofessionals will not be cut as originally proposed. The budget was approved in a 4-3 vote, with board members Alison Bartlett, Tim Stultz and Kathleen Angelucci opposed.
The board also approved a new school calendar, with the furlough days on Dec. 21, Feb. 15 and May 30, 2013.
Other elements of the budget: a mid-year step increase for eligible employees, the use of $23 million in sales tax excess funds to lower the property tax millage rate and the use of $28.2 million in reserve funds to help close the deficit.
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109 comments Add your comment
Donaldo
May 21st, 2012
5:47 pm
No sympathy here, my first day teaching, I had 30 desks and 40 students, with no teachers aid. I learned how to teach on day 1. Crisis management.. So, I have little sympathy for complainers, it is your job is draw the students into the environment and get them to want to hear more, I admit, it is not easy, so to my original point, in the private sector, those who excel get paid really, really well. So you can continue to fight a losing battle and be underpaid, or change to a system that rewards success with high income. It is a NO BRAINER for this former educator…..
Public HS Teacher
May 21st, 2012
6:01 pm
@Donaldo – And how do you expect for me to do that?
You continue to state that I should change the system. I am open to all ideas. I am a great teacher by any measure. My students score in the upper 97% in Georgia on standardized tests. My students easily even pass the AP tests.
So with my credentials on record, how do you propose that I “demand” a higher salary? The school system contract has the salary already typed on it – no negotiation there. Private schools actually pay less and also offer few benefits.
I am all ears…..
Donaldo
May 21st, 2012
6:15 pm
HS Public School Teacher:
First, let me suggest you have way too many I’s in your email reply. Nothing personal, but this is not about you. My suggestion simply is to be open to change, which so many educators resist. Change is not easy, it can actually be frightening and rewarding, so I guess you will have to decide on that. I simply suggest you be open to new ideas, much like you want your students to do. Privatization is the ultimate answer if you think this through, and most of all do your homework, just like you want your students to do.
Tired
May 21st, 2012
6:19 pm
Excuse me? Teachers get a raise when other state employees haven’t had one for years?
It’s terribly unfortunate that positions and days are being cut, but other state agencies have been dealing with much worse for longer. You really can’t avoid cutting education – over 50% of the state budget – when significant cuts have to be made.
Donaldo
May 21st, 2012
6:26 pm
Tired:
The problem is our mechanism for funding schools. It is outdated and with some creative leadership, we can hopefully change. Frankly, I think the days of public education are numbered….so it is up to the adults to figure out an alternative….the models are out there.so just go take a look.
Innovate
May 21st, 2012
6:43 pm
Like my dad always said “those who can…do, those who can’t…teach, those who can’t teach…work for the government.
AngryRedMarsWoman
May 21st, 2012
6:56 pm
“The problem is our mechanism for funding schools. It is outdated and with some creative leadership, we can hopefully change.”
Quite simple, actually. Parents have to start paying tuition. Local property taxes can cover some base level for education, but parents have to be expected to pay something more per child. If you pay $2,500 in property taxes and have two children in public school – is that really all that you think it costs to educate your children and is that truly the value you put on it? How can you pay $300 per month for your bundled cable/internet/phone and refuse to pay that same amount towards educating your child? We are spoiled, plain and simple. We all want something for as near to nothing as possible.
NW GA Math/Science Teacher
May 21st, 2012
7:10 pm
The following info is taken from about 10 minutes with the downloaded data from open.georgia.gov
Superintendent for Cobb: $259,805.57
Sum of the (15) Deputy/Associate/Assistant Superintendents: $1,446,730.85
For a Superintendent Total of $1,706,536.42
(Less sure about this number – depends on what you include) Average Teacher Salary: $45,976.00
That doesn’t include the great number of “specialists” and other titles that, even as a teacher, I have no idea what are! The data is out there – talk to your board.
Donaldo
May 21st, 2012
7:16 pm
10% cut from CEO (SUPER) on down is expected. Most of us are living on 1980 wages, so it is your time to ante up….
Fed Up Cobb Teacher
May 21st, 2012
8:27 pm
Sadly, what you’re seeing this year is NOTHING compared to what you’ll see next year in Cobb. to fund this budget, they’re going to use the last of the reserves, the last of the SPLOST buy down for millage, the last of the last of the last. we’ve been told that the following year will be a nightmare of epic proportions.
i became a teacher knowing that the job was one with great demands for little pay. but, now, every day i get one step closer to having to choose between a career i love and paying the bills. when i started in Cobb, my classes hovered around the magic 21-student gifted cap. next year, they’re saying we’ll be lucky to keep it around 30-32, with many classes hitting the 35-38 mark in high school. i make less now than before i got my master’s degree, but getting a second job isn’t an option if you want me to actually mindfully grade student work and prepare challenging lessons for my students. there’s a difference between sucking it up because of a recession and being asked to work magic.
be ready, dear Cobb citizens. many of the teachers at the best schools are over-qualified for their jobs and are seeing the collision course in our future. let’s just say that of those who are left and didn’t flee before, a lot of people are polishing their resumes and will be spending time next year job searching. a few more years of this, and just imagine who will be left to teach your children.
Dekalbite@High School Teach
May 21st, 2012
8:37 pm
DCSS is still spending $7,000,000 for Fernbank Science Center when only 29 of their personnel are teachers and 34 are admin and support. Our science scores have experienced the steepest decline in the history of DeKalb and our regular education science classrooms are packed up to 35+ with only 50 cents a year per student for supplies and equipment. However, the science center is protected by the Very influential Fernbank community from cuts and that’s one of our biggest problems. There are still programs and departments that are protected by one powerful group or another. Everyone has a pet program or group they want to protect be it a community like Fernbank or BOE factions.
Cuts, consolidation and outsourcing should be happening at a much greater rate. When you balance the budget on the backs of the teachers, you are really balancing it on the backs of the students.
MB
May 21st, 2012
9:04 pm
Has anyone read the book Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers? Just had it recommended as summer ed reading but wondered if any of you have read it already… please comment if so!
Taylor
May 21st, 2012
9:32 pm
Public education has always been the bedrock of upward mobility in this country. It is the foundation of the middle class. Privatization and tuition schemes are completely off the mark. Our state legislators need to stop subsidizing corporations and start fully funding our public schools.
Cobb History Teacher
May 21st, 2012
10:11 pm
@ Howard Finklestein
It doesn’t mean we’ll work for free and it doesn’t mean we’ll work for cheap, but we realize we do make a difference (unfortunately that difference won’t buy me a new car when my 16 year old one dies).
N. GA Teacher
May 21st, 2012
10:15 pm
How can a school board in good conscience do this? Why aren’t all central office necessary degreed administrative position salaries cut by 30% and unnecessary ones cut? The cut admins can be placed back in the classroom (their worst nightmare) to replace retired or whimsically fired teachers. The ONE thing you should never, ever do is increase the student-teacher ratio. This diminishes classroom management, minimizes personal attention from a teacher, and increases the out-of-school workload. One of the major problems I see is that board members and upper-level admins send their kids to private schools, and thus avoid the madness of testing, the stultifying curricula and the fallout from teacher cuts. The blogger above spoke so true: football alone is a sacred cow from gutting.
Cobb History Teacher
May 21st, 2012
10:17 pm
@AngryRedMarsWoman
“How can you pay $300 per month for your bundled cable/internet/phone and refuse to pay that same amount towards educating your child?”
A: “Cuz we’re owed an education.”
“But you don’t want to pay taxes, vote or defend your country.”
A: “Shut up and just gimme what I want.”
another comment
May 21st, 2012
11:12 pm
@AngryRedMarsWomen obviously you have no idea how many families of 4 claim they make less than $22K a year. That is the qualifying amount for Free Lunch. How many Hispanics cram into 2-3 or 4 bedroom houses or apartments, on average about 10. So even if the landlord is paying $1000 in property taxes the $800 in School taxes does not come close for educating the 6 kids from 2 familes living in a house or apartment. Why do you think some of these small old apartment complexes have 2-3 full buses full of children getting off each day.
The biggest places to start are with the short busses. They should not be taking only 1 child each. They need to take several students. That is the most ridiculous thing that these children have their own private buses. There are kids with autism who could ride the regular bus, if they are at the main stream bus and not in a wheelchair they should be able to ride the regular bus with their siblings.
Where is the law that says we must provide all the ESOL classes? My mother did not have any ESOL classes, she did not know any English when she started Kindergarten. She says she quickly learned, her parents also learned at the same time. There were no translation services for her parents either. My mother says they quickly learned English, in fact they forgot their orginal language, for the most part.
Really amazed
May 22nd, 2012
12:32 am
What happened with all of those RTTT funds???? I guess Cobb didn’t apply for them. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. More money being thrown to public GDOE the worse they do. Go figure. MONEY is not the answer.
Truth in Moderation
May 22nd, 2012
1:58 am
10,000 college students in Montreal didn’t roll over when government threatened an 80% tuition increase. Government passed a pseudo martial law bill. Students quickly defied it.
http://theintelhub.com/2012/05/21/10000-montreal-students-defy-anti-protest-law-bill-78/
MUST SEE VIDEO!
AdoringFan
May 22nd, 2012
6:47 am
Maureen,
I thought you and your readers would find this interesting. Here is part of a letter all WHS parents received this past week:
Your Support Makes the Difference
You should have already received a letter from the Walton Facilities Foundation explaining the current situation Walton faces with reduced educational spending.
As we look toward the next school year and anticipate a further loss of financial support, we cannot ignore the alarming facts at hand:
* Over the past three years, 11 teaching positions have been cut from the Walton staff resulting in the loss of 55 class sections.
* Current projections indicate that approximately eight and a half teachingpositions will be cut from Walton next year, resulting in the loss of another 43 class sections.
* The average Walton class size in 2007 was 27 students. Next year the average class size at Walton is projected to be 34 students.
* Academic electives are at risk for being cut from the cirriculum.
* In order to return to the staffing levels we were at before the economic downturn, it is estimated that Walton High School will need to receive an additional $500 per student.
Please support Walton in their goal to restore teacher staffing and reduce class size to better serve your child.
You can make your $500 check payable to Walton Facilities Foundation
Don H.
May 22nd, 2012
7:44 am
And welcome to the real world, teachers. At least those of you without spouses already inhabiting a marketplace where job security is linked to actual consumer satisfaction with the goods or services you produce.
In a fictional Utopia, of course, everyone is promised a lifetime job with steady pay increases. Just ask any teachers’ union boss.
But as the old Soviet Union and the modern Greeks have discovered—taxpayers have limits on just how much revenue they’re willing to divert from their own families’ needs to support perpetual mediocrity.
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
8:46 am
Don H-
Please explain how funding, class size increases, and a shortened school year are the fault of teachers?
There are no teachers unions in GA. Please educate yourself.
From their own families’ needs? Obviously your family doesn’t need education, as evidenced by its patriarch.
Ron Mexico
May 22nd, 2012
9:06 am
So glad I left teaching in Georgia 10 years ago. Georgia doesn’t support education, that was apparent to me then, even more so now–good luck on the continued descent to trash heap of US Education…
GA Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
9:08 am
@HSTeach
Off topic, but Common Core does NOT require 70% non-fiction in your literature class. It states 70% non-fiction across the curriculum.
tired
May 22nd, 2012
9:14 am
“Parents have to start paying tuition. Local property taxes can cover some base level for education, but parents have to be expected to pay something more per child. If you pay $2,500 in property taxes and have two children in public school – is that really all that you think it costs to educate your children and is that truly the value you put on it?” – #1) Many, many families can’t possibly afford $2,500/year per child. Education should NOT be denied to children from low-income families; it’s the best path out of low-income that they have. #2) Of course it takes more than a household’s taxes to educate their children. That’s why childfree homeowners and homeowners with grown children and homeowners with children in private schools or homeschool all pay school taxes. There are far more households paying for public schools than there are households that actually use them. I’m OK with that, because I believe it’s a community responsibility.
Don H.
May 22nd, 2012
9:17 am
@JordanK. Please educate yourself: there ARE teachers’ unions in Georgia, though they’re understandably not all that popular among teachers.
The links below will help you understand both your misconception and the reason why so many Georgians find unions undesirable.
ref: http://www.nea.org/home/18469.htm
ref: http://goo.gl/rtJIZ
ref: http://goo.gl/bNdPt
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
9:24 am
Actually, Don, unions in GA have no teeth. There is no collective bargaining. The NEA has no power here.
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
9:25 am
All three links you provide link to the NEA. The NEA has no ability to collectively bargain in GA. The protect nothing for teachers. Again, please educate yourself.
HS Public Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
9:28 am
@Real story -
Your comment about salary vs. hourly employees really do not apply to teachers at all. Teachers are CONTRACT employees and are given annual contracts for a set amount of money for a set number of days.
The crime about furlough days is that the school systems BREAK the contract by decreasing the pay and keeping the same number of work days…. and the employees have no recourse.
If the employees try to break the contract then the school system insists that the teacher certification is revoked by the PSC.
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
9:29 am
and not that popular among teachers? What? If they aren’t popular among teachers, how do you use them to justify your argument that the funding crisis is the fault of teachers?
What IS your argument, Don?
That they housing crisis which is causing the current budget crisis in education is somehow the fault of teachers’ unions even though they have no ability to collectively bargain in a right to work state like GA? Seriously?
Don H.
May 22nd, 2012
9:32 am
All the less justification, Jordan, for the $168 in extra NEA dues each Georgia Association of Educators member must pay for concurrent NEA membership each year?
Anyway, glad your family’s patriarch is now clear on union presence in Georgia.
HS Public Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
9:36 am
@Don H. – You are very out of touch with education, especially in Georgia.
How many times does this need to be pointed out…. Teachers cannot be held solely accountable for students. Parents are the single most important factor in student learning.
No one can justify putting a teacher’s job in jeopardy if the class is filled with children that don’t want to learn and don’t care to learn with parents that feel the same way!
CobbEdMom
May 22nd, 2012
9:47 am
@HSPubTeacher: If kids are unteachable and parents unreachable—why do liberals pretend to have solutions only THEY can be trusted to evaluate the results of?
Or does my question suggest its own answer?
The opening of the education monopoly to competition should confirm either liberals’ worst fears about kids and their parents—or the public’s worst fears about the education establishment itself.
HS Public Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
9:54 am
@CobbEdMom – Why do you blame “liberals”? Who are these “liberals” that you speak?
Why is education a “monopoly”? Public education suggests that it is owned by ALL!!!!
You seem very twisted.
HS Public Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
9:57 am
@CobbEdMom – By the way, education in Georgia has been run by the so-called “conservative” republicans in office for about 10 years now. They have been in charge of the Governor’s office, the Senate, the House, and even the State Department of Education.
Are these the “liberals” that you speak?
Don I-I
May 22nd, 2012
9:57 am
All the less justification, @Jordan, for the $168 in extra NEA dues each Georgia Association of Educators member must pay for concurrent NEA membership each year?
Anyway, glad your family’s patriarch is finally aware of the union’s presence in Georgia.
HS Public Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
10:09 am
@Don I-I
????? What union’s presence in GA? They may have an office here. They may be happy to collect money here. However, they have ZERO authority or power to do anything here in Georgia.
Ergo, there is no real “union.”
CobbEdMom
May 22nd, 2012
10:12 am
@HSPubTeacher. No need to get rude, even if I’m a woman making points you would rather not have aired.
And surely—even you must be secretly embarrassed by your suggestion that liberals have no influence in public education!
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
10:19 am
“for the $168 in extra NEA dues each Georgia Association of Educators member must pay for concurrent NEA membership each year?” What are you talking about? The GAE may pay dues to NEA?
Wait…what?
So the fact that GAE (a group no one is obliged to join) pays dues to the NEA (a group that has no collective bargaining power in a right-to-work-state) somehow constitutes how evil teacher unions are the cause of the budget crisis in GA schools?
Good Lord, man, what ARE you talking about?
Ok, so I refuse to anymore engage in a battle of whits with unarmed opponent. Why don’t you go back and get your argument together and let me know what you come up with.
Don I-I
May 22nd, 2012
10:22 am
The National Education Association, which declares itself a union and spends mountains of money to elect Democrats statewide and nationwide—will be in Georgia so long as its local GAE/NEA members obligingly cough up their extra $168 in yearly NEA dues.
ref: http://www.nea.org/home/18469.htm
ref: http://goo.gl/rtJIZ
ref: http://goo.gl/bNdPt
Don I-I
May 22nd, 2012
10:30 am
You also possess “whits” Jordan? Readers are, of course, by now readily aware of your abilities in rudeness.
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
10:34 am
Again, Don, you haven’t answered HOW the fact that the NEA has an office here in GA affects the budget crisis at all. I will make this very simple for you.
1. The NEA/ GAE may be union under name but they are not “union” under purpose. They have no collective bargain rights: they can not assemble, strike, or demand.
2. This negates your idea that unions elect officials. They have no “teeth” with which to ploy electable parties because they have no power. They have no way to “spend mountains of money to elect Democrats,” because not enough people are members here.
3. They are not representative of teachers in GA because not enough teachers join them. Not enough people are members because they have no power to get anything done. They don’t get anything done because it is a right to work state and does not allow for collective bargaining.
So while your anti-teacher slant might work in states like NY where there are actual teachers’ unions, it holds no water here in GA.
Reposting the same three links does not answer the question:
Don, how do unions (and actually you started by just blaming teachers as a group) in GA contribute to the budget crisis?
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
10:36 am
Don’t call me rude just because I call your bluff, Don.
You tell teachers “to get ready for real life,” and I will respond in kind. Rudeness begets rudeness.
Let your argument do your talking for you.
Long Time Cobb Resident & Cobb Graduate
May 22nd, 2012
11:08 am
Great job CCSD. Way to kick our teachers & kids once again. I ask you 4 questions:
1) when was the last time Home Office positions were cut?
2) has anyone discussed why High Schools require 4-5 Assistant Principals?
3) Is it really wise to attend an out of state conference on the County’s Dime? There are these new things called Webinars… AMAZING that Corporate America has embraced them to REDUCE COSTS.
4) has any one visited the Heating / Cooling costs of the schools? Making schools cooler in the winter (IE Dont blast the heat!!) should seriously reduce costs.
The expression “Too many Chiefs” comes to mind. It’s time to start taking care of the TEACHERS. Before we dont have any left.
Just A Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
11:18 am
@ Elizabeth . . . And when we are having trouble finding warm bodies ( much less, REAL teachers) to fill babysitting positions in the classrooms, We will realize what we have done: driven out the professionals and brought in the babysitters.
Thank you for saying what needs to be said. I am a 17 year veteran teacher, and I now regret my career choice because I know that people like me (those who believe that education is very important to a person’s quality of life) are a very small minority of the population. It is a thankless job with no financial return on my investment in my own education. I would never recommend that anyone become a public school teacher. No matter how good you are at your job or how hard you work, you will always be despised by the general public and the state legislature.
Abused taxpayer?
May 22nd, 2012
11:30 am
Hey, did anyone see this? I must have missed AJC coverage of this taxpayer abuse. The NY Times sure does a lot of investigative work in Georgia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/education/scholarship-funds-meant-for-needy-benefit-private-schools.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120522&pagewanted=all This is fiscal conservatism at work, at the expense of my child’s public education. Maybe I should have gotten on this gravy train. Could have used the missing $50M in Georgia schools, not providing tax credit subsidies for private school tuition.
Maureen Downey
May 22nd, 2012
11:40 am
@abused. It is a great piece and I did post on it
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/05/22/georgias-private-school-scholarships-neovouchers/
Maureen
Just A Teacher
May 22nd, 2012
12:02 pm
“The new normal” is the state of Georgia declaring war on its own children. It has decided that they are no longer worth an investment in their futures. It really is that simple. If you are not wealthy, you simply do not count for anything with those currently in power in this state. But there is enough blame to go around here. Until Georgians stand up to the fat cats calling the shots at the state capital, the children will continue to be shortchanged in the name of providing corporate tax breaks. If you want your children to receive a good education in this state, you will have to vote the bums in the state legislature out of office.
C Jae of EAV
May 22nd, 2012
1:13 pm
@Jordan K – The arguement as I’ve interpeted it, seems to be that the NEA (presumably through the GAE) works to lobby lawmakers in support of public policy agenda related to education as espoused by its collective membership.
Certainly it possible for the NEA/GAE to make its lobby presence felt in support of its legislative interests absent the power to engage in collective bargining on behalf of membership in the state.
The extent of that influence is debatable, which is how I’m interpeting your essence of your rebuttal back to @Don I-I.
Jordan Kohanim
May 22nd, 2012
1:22 pm
C Jae- I think that is a fair assessment of the debate thus far. “The extent of that influence is debatable,” I would argue that influence is not enough to create the entire budgeting crisis that Georgia now faces.