Friday, May 17, 2013
The $856.3 million budget approved Thursday includes 5 furlough days and 182 teacher cuts through attrition.
The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday approved a fiscal year 2014 budget that includes five furlough days for teachers and staff, a reduction of 182 teaching positions through attrition, a half-year step increase for employees and taking $41 million from reserves to reach a balance. After the board voted down three other budget proposals -- including an amended version of the tentative budget with a full-year step increase for Cobb County School District employees -- it went back to something it could pass. The $856.3 million budget, which takes effect July 1, is similar to the package that the board tentatively approved on April 29 and closes a deficit of $86.4 million. But it took the board more than two hours of discussion Thursday to…
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
"You're going to destroy the county if you don't fix the problem," educators told school board members Wednesday.
Only a small handful of people turned out for a public hearing on the proposed Cobb County School District fiscal year 2014 budget Tuesday. But they packed a raw, emotional punch. Several teachers and coaches at East Cobb's Walton High School were very vocal about budget proposals that they said would increase morale problems and stress levels that have been building up for several years. Among the proposals included in a tentatively adopted budget (see green column in attached PDF) include 182 teacher position cuts through attrition, a mid-year cost-of-living increase, higher insurance costs for teachers, larger classroom sizes and five furlough days. Those components are part of a budget plan that addresses an estimated deficit of $86.4 …
Monday, May 13, 2013
The public is invited to comment on the tentative fiscal year 2014 budget.
The Cobb Board of Education will hold a public hearing Tuesday on the proposed fiscal year 2014 budget. The hearing takes place at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta. A salary hearing will precede the hearing at 6:30 p.m. A public hearing is required before the board formally votes to adopt the budget. On April 29 the board tentatively adopted a budget (see attached PDF) that includes numerous spending cuts, staff and teacher reductions, borrowing reserve funds and furloughs to eliminate an $86.4 million deficit. The school district also has prepared a page on its website with more detailed budget information, including a place for members of the Cobb public to …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Additional changes have been proposed to the $894 million budget approved by a 4-3 vote Monday.
The Cobb Board of Education has tentatively approved an $894 million fiscal year 2014 budget that includes additional revisions and is likely to be altered further before final passage next month. By a 4-3 vote, the school board on Monday adopted a budget plan that retains five furlough days for all Cobb County School District employees, including teachers, but further reduces the number of proposed teacher cuts through attrition. The tentative budget also calls for taking more out of reserve funds than originally recommended and makes a more generous assumption about the upcoming Cobb tax digest than the county tax assessor. Voting in favor of the tentative budget were board chairman Randy Scamihorn of North Cobb, vice chairman Brad …
Monday, April 29, 2013
The board of education is scheduled to take an initial vote at Monday's called work session.
After two grueling work sessions, the Cobb Board of Education has scheduled another one for Monday as it faces a deadline for tentative approval of the fiscal year 2014 budget. A special meeting has been called for 1 p.m. Monday as the school board continues to work to close a projected deficit of $86.4 million. Monday's work session will take place in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office at 514 Glover Street, Marietta. The meeting also will be live-streamed on the CCSD website. The board is expected to vote for tentative approval, which it is required by law to do in order to advertise a public hearing on the budget. That public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m., and final budget …
Friday, April 26, 2013
Opposition to Common Core curriculum standards resulted in 4-3 votes against new texts for 2013-14 academic year.
The battle against Common Core curriculum standards came to Cobb County on Thursday. Opponents of the federally-embraced guidelines filled the Cobb Board of Education board room to strongly protest spending $7.5 million for new mathematics textbooks in the Cobb County School District. And after some heated debate, and by 4-3 votes in two separate votes, the board made those opponents happy in rejecting the measures. They were at their most vocal right before the votes, when board member Kathleen Angelucci of Northeast Cobb pleaded for more time due to a "groundswell" of concern about the new standards in numerous states, including Georgia. "When Common Core was adopted, nobody knew what was in it," she said. "It's like Obamacare. You vote …
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Tentative approval of the fiscal year 2014 budget has been pushed back to next Monday.
Members of the Cobb Board of Education remain far apart on how to close a serious budget deficit and have delayed an initial vote on a fiscal year 2014 spending plan for the Cobb County School District. At the end of a nearly four-hour work session on Monday, the board agreed, in a 5-2 vote, to conduct another budget meeting next Monday, April 29, at 1 p.m. The board was to slated adopt a tentative budget Thursday, an action that meets a legal requirement to advertise a public hearing. That hearing, scheduled for May 14, must be publicly advertised 14 days in advance. Next Monday's work session is 15 days ahead of the hearing. The board has scheduled May 16 for final budget approval. But Monday's work session further revealed sharp …
Monday, April 22, 2013
The Board of Education continues its discussions at a 2 p.m. special meeting.
After getting a newly revised set of options for balancing the fiscal year 2014 budget last week, the Cobb Board of Education will hold a special budget meeting on Monday. The meeting takes place at 2 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District Central Office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta. Last Wednesday, the board received requested changes in the budget proposal that would restore some proposed teacher reductions through attrition, provide a mid-year cost-of-living increase for district employees and carry over $10 million in fiscal year 2013 leftover funding to reach an $838 million balance. The proposal still calls for five furlough days for all district employees and using $22 million in district reserves. The district's …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The Northeast Cobb board member wants to use $28 million in reserves to maintain classroom quality.
Cobb County School District officials presented a fresh set of options for balancing the fiscal year 2014 budget on Wednesday, but school board members rehashed familiar arguments for addressing a projected deficit of $86.4 million. In a lengthy work session Wednesday, chief financial officer Brad Johnson offered a new proposal that gets to an $838 million balance by ditching several suggested cuts board members didn't like. Reductions in magnet school transportation and outsourcing custodial services have been placed below "a line" of 18 specific revenue and expense items that achieve a balance. But that didn't satisfy some board members worried over increased class sizes, steep teaching reductions through attrition and other cuts they …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Details of suggested cuts to close an $86.4 million budget deficit weren't received well at a work session Wednesday.
Getting used to what's being called "the new normal" isn't going to be easy for the Cobb Board of Education. After absorbing more details of a proposed fiscal year 2014 budget that recommends deep cuts in several key areas, school board members on Wednesday demanded more options as they address a projected $86.4 million deficit. That's because many of the suggestions provided by Cobb County School District officials were hardly to their liking. During a long and at times heated work session, school board members told Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and the district's chief financial officer, Brad Johnson, that they weren't happy with a 13-point list of proposed cuts and changes to achieve a balanced budget. "This board needs to be firmly …
Tonya
6:10 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013
I'm glad they postponed this. I hope while they are waiting on time to vote that they have a change of heart and don't do any of the things that are brought in front of them. more ›