I am sure that everyone is aware of the budget passed by the Board of Education on June 21, 2012. There is no doubt that this budget was going to bring pain to many because of the size of its impact. Reducing $85 million from your budget is going to have impact on services rendered. It could have been better. A few of us asked for deeper probes. It appears that stones were left unturned because staff thought it to be unwise.

Knowing that many of our budgets had been wasting money for years, probably a decade or longer, made me really want to get it right. We needed to eliminate the extras that we cannot afford or anything that deviates money from going to children in the classroom. I believe we still have more work to do in cutting the central office. The Superintendent has made great impact here, but more work should be done.

We missed cutting in some obvious places that could make some difference. DOLA, middle school athletics, magnet transportation, and further central office cuts. The magnet transportation is left over from the days of the court order regarding segregation of DeKalb Schools. We have been removed from that order for several years now. $1.8 million that could go to the classroom. This is 30 teachers, 51 parapros, or all of the media specialists that were eliminated. I had been talking to the superintendent about offering the transportation for the magnets for a fee. I believe that would have offered a reasonable alternative and provide some convenience for our magnet students and parents.

I am also disturbed about the millage increase. Why do you give money to an entity that has misused it for so many years? That enables the “addict” to continue their behavior without modification. Had I felt that our budget was as tight as it could get, I could have supported a millage increase because then it really would be for the “kids”. Next year will be difficult at best. The most we can raise with a millage increase next year is $14.8 million. Of course the value of a mill will certainly decline leaving us even more revenue needy.

One interesting observation. Had we adopted the Superintendent’s alternate option without the tax increase we still would have covered the $85 million deficit and had a small reserve in the General Fund. Things that make you go HMMMMM……..

Where do we go from here? Many folks have asked me about fraud or some illegal aspect in our budget department and in human resources. I do not have the answers to that, but we should know something in the future. KPMG is conducting a forensic audit for us now. It should point out if the questions we all have are real or mythical. Their findings should point directly to where, if any, improprieties occurred. I am just like everyone else. I want to know WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY. It is at that time that we can ask investigations to take place with solid evidence behind us.

On a brighter note I attended our summer leadership conference this past week. Our leadership was there working hard with our principals and assistant principals. The work on our curriculum looks impressive. Dr. Howe has really tried to put things into our teachers hands that they can use from day one.
We have written a new and more rigorous curriculum aligned to common core standards. Teachers will go into classrooms next year with unit plans and model lesson plans. There will be an increased emphasis on reading.

Thank you everyone for your support. We need everyone to make this school system a formidable strength in our county. Please call or email.

Thanks,
Don

I would like to give everyone an update on the latest budget news. Late in the afternoon on June 11 the BOE found out from the county tax assessor that our property tax revenues would be down an additional 3%. That equates to an additional $12 million. That means the BOE shortfall is no longer $73 million, but $85 million. This news is really devastating. It leaves the BOE with few options to a balanced budget. Our problem is that the BOE cannot raise revenues it can only cut “overhead”. The news is not good and will take further belt tightening by all of us.

Some information on pertinent items that are pressing to many of you.

1. Pre-K Right now it seems that the proposal will be to keep Pre-K but fund it at the state level only. My feeling is that Pre-K will probably not be eliminated. I am supporting keeping the program but funding it at the state funded levels.

2. Fernbank. I had hopes that we could retain a more robust program at Fernbank. The additional $12 million shortfall made that option less likely. It appears that Fernbank will remain open, but its budget will be reduced substantially. The positive side of this is that the science center will remain to potentially rise again as our budget nightmare gradually subsides over time.

3. Magnet-Theme school transportation. I favor saving the the $1.8 million spent here. Providing this transportation to “choice” schools is a luxury we can no longer afford. The legal aspect of this is that we must provide transportation to neighborhood schools, but choice schools are outside of this requirement. This is money that can go into the classroom and to teachers and not in the fuel tank.

4. I would also like to get your opinions on whether we should save some of our $85,000 payment to SACS for school accreditation. If we cut back to just paying for the high school’s we will save what is equal to one teacher’s job.

Thank you everyone for hanging in there with us. Please send any ideas on the budget you think might make an impact. Even one idea out of hundreds could turn into a plus for our students and teachers.

On Wednesday June 12 the BOE will all be headed to Savannah, Ga. for the Georgia School Board Association’s state convention. This is part of our state mandated training. I have always found much of the training to be advantageous to me.

The BOE wil be meeting again on June 20 to further attack the budget and the options available to us.