If they have over $30 MILLION in reserves, why are they furloughing teachers? AJC article here. Douglas County’s reserve amount is in the table at the bottom of the article.
If they have over $30 MILLION in reserves, why are they furloughing teachers? AJC article here. Douglas County’s reserve amount is in the table at the bottom of the article.
This is from the 2009 Senior class. I found this in an Excel file on the Georgia Department of Education website (located at very bottom of page). Congrats to Alexander for getting the highest scores.
| District | School | Test Takers | Reading | Math | Writing | Total |
| Douglas County | Chapel Hill High School | 250 | 457 | 446 | 444 | 1347 |
| Douglas County | Douglas County High School | 153 | 444 | 437 | 429 | 1310 |
| Douglas County | Lithia Springs High School | 181 | 442 | 448 | 431 | 1321 |
| Douglas County | Robert S. Alexander Comprehensive High School | 181 | 488 | 473 | 473 | 1434 |
Congrats to both of them–the teachers who go above and beyond in their teaching need to be recognized. Congrats to Amy Caro and Kim Engleson. You can find the video at http://www.11alive.com/news/education/class_act/default.aspx
Thought this was interesting. Not going to list names or the salary amount, will list title and percentage increase from 2007 (current year on opengeorgia.gov is the 2008 fiscal year). I couldn’t include the cents, so the percentages are actually a little higher than the ones listed below.
Superintendent: 5.027%
Associate Superintendent: 2.495%
Secretary to the Associate Superintendent: 2.661%
General Administration Secretary: 2.99%
Chief Financial Officer: 2.733%
Coordinator of Business Services: 36.007% (not sure if this is right, but it was an increase of over $20,000.)
Procurement Manager: 3.001%
Senior Accountant: 8.792%
Director of Professional Learning: 2.976%
Director of Human Resources: 4.659%
Assistant Director of Human Resources: 20.575% (an increase of almost $12,000)
Associate Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction: 2.692%
The total increase of these twelve positions is a 94.608% increase from 2007 to 2008.
Buried in this “balanced scorecard”–you can find them by going here and then clicking on the Strategic Dashboard hyperlink on the right side of the page.
According to an article in today’s Times-Georgian, they used $70,000 from their RESERVE account and $167,000 from cuts in “other areas” to reduce the number of furlough days from three to 2.5. They are also converting two teacher work days to furlough days. According to the calendar on the DC School System website, there is only one teacher work day on January 5–but there are a total of eight days in which either the high schools, middle schools, or elementary schools get released after 1/2 a day. Why? I think I mentioned in an earlier post that DC has $38 million in reserves and has said they will not be dipping into those reserves. Yet Carroll County is.
This comes from the Dublin Courier Herald.
FY 2010 Net State Earnings: $95,264,054
Estimated 3 Days Furlough: $1,504,169
Estimated 3% Reduction: $2,869,353
Total Reduction: $4,373,523
This comes, I believe, 100% from teacher salaries. I have heard we have a $38 million reserve in place. We could more than cover this–perhaps the furlough cuts should be optional IF the county schools have enough money to pay for it. And why does the BOE insist on not spending any of this $38 million?
In the process of going to Douglasville yesterday I approached the old Bill Arp Elementary School and watched as one bus was stopped in my lane to let two out of the Bill Arp bus barn. I wasn’t following them (I swear–it’s the same route I use to go to town) but they drove on Hwy 5, down Central Church, down Stewart Mill Road, and turned left onto Chapel Hill Road…I assumed they were going to DCHS to pick up students. They also averaged about 35-40mph the entire way. Isn’t this a HUGE waste of gas, having to go from the former Bill Arp Elementary to DCHS, then do their route, then go back to BAES? Is the bus barn so overcrowded with buses that they can’t park there?
From Tuesday’s Sentinel:
Douglas County school teachers will have to take three unpaid furlough days between now and January, the Board of Education (BOE) decided by unanimous vote Monday night.
Meanwhile, School Superintendent Don Remillard warned that additional furlough days could come early next year if state revenues don’t improve.
The furloughs come on the heels of an announcement last week by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue that the state would cut three days of salary funding from the school districts and called for the furlough days.
The county vote came at a 6:30 p.m. called BOE meeting at the school central office conference room. The meeting was already scheduled for a final public comment and approval of the Fiscal Year 2010 millage rate.
The first furlough date will come next Monday, Aug. 3, a date that had been scheduled for teacher pre-school planning work. The other furlough dates are Oct. 13 and Jan. 4.
“I hate to do this,” Remillard told the board. “I totally regret this had to happen. We just can’t absorb this (cut) without going dangerously into our reserves. There’s a likelihood we could have more after the first of the year. We’ve been notified by the state that it’s likely if revenues don’t improve.”
For employees who work more than 190 days, they will work with their supervisors to select furlough days between July 28 through Jan. 4, Remillard said.
Board member Larry Barnes questioned why the state didn’t do away with the sales tax free holidays instead of furlough days and member Sam Haskell said the state should cut certain tax breaks or raise taxes on wealthy individuals.
Remillard said he is disappointed that the General Assembly didn’t go back into session when they realized there would be a huge revenue shortfall.
“Come January, they’ll have to deal with it,” he said.
Board Chairman Jimmy Bartlett noted that Remillard has been “sounding the warning bell” all spring about coming state cuts and recently when debating the millage rate.
“This board would do well to heed the leadership of Mr. Remillard from this time forward,” Bartlett said.
The board decided to hold the maintenance and operation (M&O) millage rate at the current 18.35 mills rather than roll it up to the amount that would have matched last year’s tax revenues.
Georgia Highlands College plans to start using the former Cub Foods building as their local campus starting in spring 2010. This fall they’ll use trailers behind Chapel Hill High School. This is, I think, the PERFECT use for the building–and I wish it would be on a permanent basis. It might be possible to even add a second floor if they wanted to use it permanently (which they don’t). I wish more people would think about using vacant buildings that are already there instead of building a brand new building which they might eventually be vacating if business doesn’t go well.
