Proposed DeKalb Schools’ budget restores furloughs, pre-k program
- 5/2/11
- Categorized in: DeKalb News, Education
Furlough days will be eliminated and the pre-kindergarten program in the DeKalb County School System will be restored under a tentative 2011-12 budget adopted by the school board April 18.
The $1.16 billion budget, which is subject to change before overall approval by the board in July, has a list of approximately $42 million in improvements, including restoration of furlough days for 10-, 11- and 12-month employees.
Other significant restorations include pre-kindergarten programs, covering Advanced Placement exam costs, and money for fingerprinting and criminal background checks.
The board also discussed secondary math options for the system that were developed to help students who are struggling with high school curriculum. The secondary options were originally put forward by Georgia Department of Education on March 14.
“The whole point of the state coming back to local school districts and providing flexible options [is] so that we can provide pathways for these students that have been failing miserably in math, with the opportunity to put in two models,” Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson said.
If passed, the change in policy would allow students the choice to remain in the integrated program, which infuses the teaching of algebra, geometry, advanced algebra and pre-calculus, or take each subject separately.
“Some parents feel like their students will perform better if they could just focus on the algebra content at one time; then, you have some students who are doing very well with the integrated approach,” said Morcease Beasley, interim deputy superintendent of the department of teaching and learning.
“Therefore, we were presented with this option, this flexibility, and we had to really listen to everyone and try to do what’s in the best interest of all our students,” Beasley said.
Only students who are rising ninth graders, ninth graders who fail Mathematics 1 or Mathematics 1 Support or 10-12th graders who do not have any math credits would be eligible under the proposed policy change to opt-out of the integrated system.
The board also discussed the implementation of the STAR staffing formula, which will calculate the positions for assistant principal, counselor, media specialist, art, music and physical education by the enrollment size of each school.
“The STAR staffing formula is designed to bring clarity, equity and fairness to the process to provide each school with the appropriate number of [teachers],” DeKalb Schools Chief Financial Officer Marcus Turk said.
Tyson also discussed the efforts the school system is making to address the reasons it was placed on accreditation advisement by AdvancED, the parent corporation of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
AdvanceED identified eight required actions it said the system must address before Oct. 31 to be restored to full accreditation status.
“We have eight subcommittees that have [developed] an action plan that is now in progress and work is occurring on a daily basis within the subcommittees to ensure that the school district is responsive to all eight required actions,” Tyson said.
The full report issued by AdvancED offers a much more in-depth analysis and is available on the DeKalb County School System website at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us.
I see no rescue in sight and besides the Voters of DeKalb County will just re-elect the same ole dummies and crooks - Cause that's how they roll !!!
The only solution for a Prudent Person may be to move out of DeKalb !
I agree that the BOE should be able to find ways to reduce expenses, especially central office staff and the bloated non-classroom bureaucracy. However, this article doesn't indicate that expenses were actually reduced. Instead there are $42 million in "improvements," which to me translates into $42 million in new spending.
Also, this is not an election year for any board members. So re-election is not an immediate factor in their decision making.
Your last comment about paying a new superintendent $15 per hour is ridiculous. I'm no cheerleader for the BOE and the administration, but the idea that we should pay a superintendent wages equal to a call center customer service representative is silly. If you think what we have now is bad, then just wait and see what a $15 per hour leader gets us. What the DCSS needs are quality administrators. And good quality means good pay. However, good pay does not equal good quality, as can be seen by our current leadership.
Our current discussion about this proposed school system budget also needs to take into account the fact that CEO Ellis announced this week the tax assessor's office reported an overall 10 percent drop in property values this year. County officials factored only a 4 percent drop (despite the fact that an AJC analysis showed 2009 assessed values were 25 percent higher than fair market value). I don't know what percentage drop the BOE factored in to this proposed budget, but based on the level of foresight and competence found in our current board members, I expect that they will actually have less money than they anticipated, and that furloughs may once again be implemented.
The BOE can trim a lot of wasted fat from their budget if pushed against the wall. They can salaries, eliminate promotions and pork bonuses, save some gas money, etc.
The idea of further trimming remains to be seen. The BOE is off to a good start, and another way of saving a big chunk, is not giving a multi-thousand dollar contract to the new future superintendent, with lots of bells and whistles as added perks. Let the super work for $15.00 per hour like the rest of us before taxes.