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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 …

Continue reading To cope with budget, Cobb shortens school year, raises class size and cuts teachers. Welcome to the new normal »

Rick Diguette teaches English at a local college. He is also a great op-ed writer. Here is a new piece by him.

By Rick Diguette

At the large community college where I teach, we face challenges that go to the heart of our mission as a gateway institution of higher education. Although student needs have remained relatively constant over the years, today the business of effectively meeting those needs is fraught with uncertainty. That uncertainty is driven by the struggling U. S. economy and by the fact that higher education, like it or not, is a business. Community colleges across the country, not just here in Georgia, are under increasing pressure to show that capital expenditures will translate into tangible future benefits, or degrees awarded.

The educator in me knows that the number of degrees awarded tells only part of the story. Community colleges have always served a wide variety of educational needs. Our open enrollment policies have seen to that. Some argue, …

Continue reading The mission of community colleges is under siege »

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.

According to the AJC:

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 …

Continue reading Gwinnett schools: Furlough days, larger classes and 585 unfilled jobs »

A judge has granted an injunction allowing Jake Zimmerman, one of the East Paulding students arrested for a senior prank that escalated to costly vandalism, to attend his graduation ceremony. The judge overruled the school board, which voted last month to bar the student from attending.

Class president, Zimmerman admitted painting a skull and crossbones on the road outside the school, saying it was an annual tradition for seniors. But he said he left the scene before fellow pranksters moved to the school and painted vehicles and buildings, causing $7,500 in damage.

The school system suspended him for the duration of his high school career, banishing him to an alternative school. Unlike most of the teens, he appealed the decision, but the school board denied his appeal last month. Then, a school board member made a motion to heap on more punishment: prohibiting Zimmerman from attending his graduation ceremony. The teen said Wednesday that the board voted 6-1 in favor of …

Continue reading Judge shows more mercy toward accused East Paulding High vandal than school board »

The state Department of Education released its list of Alert Schools today.

The new DOE accountability designations — priority schools, focus schools and reward schools — replace the “needs improvement” label in No Child Left Behind that educators deemed unclear and unhelpful. These three designations target  “Title I” schools that have a high percentage of low-income students. DOE also designated a fourth category, “alert schools,” so the state can focus on struggling schools that do not necessarily have a high percentage of low-income students.

DOE defines Alert Schools are those that need to raise student achievement on statewide assessments in the areas of graduation rate for high schools and subgroup performance and subject performance for elementary and middle schools. Alert Schools can be Title I Schools or Non-Title I Schools.

The criteria used to identify Alert Schools are:

(1) Graduation Alert Schools: High Schools whose subgroup graduation rate falls at …

Continue reading State DOE releases list of Alert Schools today »

Today is the day for interesting research findings. Here is a summary of a study that looked at whether children fared better in a country with a wider safety net than the United States.

Researchers compared child outcomes in the U.S. and Great Britain, which offers families and children a broader range of social services.

Their conclusion: It didn’t seem to make any difference. The risk factors for behavioral problems did not appear to be  mitigated by stronger social services, affirming the researchers’ earlier findings of the critical role of parents to healthy child development.

I find this interesting because there is a lot of effort in this country to provide more public supports to children from fractured or troubled households. But can those supports compensate for what Gov. Roy Barnes used to describe as “sorry parents”?

I have found that the kids who thrive despite tough home lives often have one of two things in their favor: Inner resilience or a caring …

Continue reading Study: A wider social services safety net does not guarantee fewer children slip »

Atlanta joined other metro school systems in announcing plans to lay off employees to cope with a worsening budget crisis.

Gwinnett is planning for 585 fewer employees, Cobb is planning for 250 fewer, Henry is planning to cut 200, DeKalb is planning for 133 fewer, and Clayton and Fayette might have to work with roughly 100 fewer employees.

The AJC reports that the APS board is looking at cutting up to 475 jobs, including about 230 teachers, 90 custodians and 14 bus drivers and transportation staffers. Some of the layoffs are a result of a recent school redistricting, others because of declining revenue.

According to the AJC:

“We’re going to rethink almost everything we do, from the classroom to central offices,” said Chuck Burbridge, APS’ chief financial officer.

Revenue from property taxes has dropped 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 …

Continue reading APS joins the club: May cut 475 jobs to deal with budget »

Here is a letter from former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin on behalf of Drew Charter School’s request to expand to a high school, a request opposed by APS school chief Erroll Davis.

Davis argues that a new 600-student high school at Drew dilutes the system’s effort to reinvent the nearby Maynard Jackson High school — $40 million has been budgeted for the transformation — and exacerbates Atlanta’s already costly problem of too many empty high school seats.

Dear Chairman McDaniel and Members of the Board:

Some of you will remember that in 1999 I helped establish Drew Charter School and served as Chair of the Drew board of directors until I became mayor. Two of you, Emmett Johnson and Brenda Muhammad, were part of the Board that unanimously approved Drew’s charter. And five of you have voted to renew Drew’s charter at least once since that time. In the thirteen years since the Atlanta Board of Education took a chance on a dramatic new idea in public education – Drew was the …

Continue reading Shirley Franklin asks APS board to overrule school chief and approve Drew high school »

UPDATE at noon: From Jay Dillon, Cobb spokesman: “I just got off the phone with Harrison Principal Donnie Griggers. He told me that the Roswell High School girls lacrosse coach has agreed to move back the start time of their playoff game against Harrison, allowing the girls championship soccer game between Mill Creek and Harrison to start at 1:00 p.m. The lacrosse game will now start at 3:00-3:30, or as soon as possible following the soccer game. Some of the Roswell lacrosse players have graduation parties to attend Saturday night as well, but they should be able to make it work out. A big thank you to Roswell lacrosse coach Sue Scheer for being accommodating so the soccer game could be moved and the Mill Creek students can attend their prom, and also to Mr. Griggers and Harrison soccer coach Steve Riccard for working so hard to find a resolution.

Hard to believe there wasn’t a solution to this problem: The girls soccer teams from Cobb’s Harrison High School and …

Continue reading Playoff vs. prom: Still think Gwinnett and Cobb could have worked this out. Now, they have. »

The opposition of APS superintendent Erroll Davis to a new high school at Charles Drew Charter School disappoints the plan’s proponents, but does not dissuade them.

I met with the principal and the chairman of the board Thursday at the east Atlanta campus. They are in the midst of a campaign to mobilize the school’s many supporters, including corporate sponsors and former Mayor Shirley Franklin.

“It is going to be an all-out communications campaign to get everyone on board to support this great opportunity,” said Cynthia Kuhlman, chairman of the board of Drew Charter School, Inc.

Opened 12 years ago, Drew now has 880 students and goes through eighth grade. The school serves as a central component of the revitalization of the East Lake neighborhood, which was once home to Atlanta’s most notorious and dangerous public housing development, East Lake Meadows. The vision of developer Tom Cousins transformed the barb-wired high-rise complex into a mixed-income model community that …

Continue reading Proponents of new high school at Drew Charter gear up to win support »