Alpharetta Elementary PTA

Legislation and Publicity

The Legislation Committee serves as an information gathering source focusing on Fulton County educational issues and how they impact education at Alpharetta Elementary. People are needed to attend school board and community meetings. This committee also promotes school activities in our community by contacting the media about upcoming programs and projects taking place at Alpharetta Elementary.

Please contact Candy Waylock for questions related to school legislation or publicity.

July 2010 Legislative Update

Fulton County School Board approves $803M budget for FY 2011

Board recommends one mil increase to millage rate

BY CANDY WAYLOCK
After months of budget wrangling, program cuts and personnel reductions, the Fulton County Board of Education gave final approval to an $803.2 million general fund budget for the 2010-11 school year, effective July 1.

The budget includes a one mil increase which will bring in approximately $29 million annually and raise the millage rate to 18.502, still among the lowest among the large metro school systems.  One mil is assessed for each $1,000 of assessed valuation.

The adoption of the FY11 budget brings to an end several months of community dialogue and challenging financial decisions, spurred by a huge drop in tax revenues at the state and local level, noted school officials.

“The school system’s shortfall was a constantly moving target, making budget development more difficult than ever,” noted Allison Toller, director of Communications for Fulton Schools.

The FY2011 budget is a six percent decrease from the FY2010 budget passed last June. This is even more significant as the system will absorb the reduction along with an estimated 1,700 new students expected this coming school year.

At the onset of the budget season, the Fulton School System faced a potential deficit of $145 million, based on tax projections from state and county. That number was whittled to $100 million as the numbers came in—still a huge gap between revenues and expenditures in a budget comprised primarily of staff salaries and benefits.

“As school systems are required by law to have a balanced budget, some $72 million in cuts were necessary,” noted Toller. “The remaining gap [from the $100 million shortfall] is expected to be closed through a proposed millage increase as well as dipping slightly into reserve funds.”

Funding reductions included raising class sizes, trimming departmental budgets and programs, and school staff reductions, including hundreds of teachers and other personnel.

The most significant reductions came from the following areas: ·

• Eliminating positions due to restructuring ($39M)
• Furloughing all employees for three days ($10.4M)
• Cutting 10% of central office departmental budgets ($8M)
• Eliminating the elementary band and orchestra program ($4M)
• Reducing 63 central office positions ($3.3M)
• Holding CRCT Summer School in May instead of June ($1M)

Reducing the 2010-11 school year calendar from 180 days to 177 days ($1.1M)   Toller noted while budget constraints did force the conversion of the elementary band and orchestra program to an afterschool, fee-based program, Fulton School was able to keep all bus transportation intact, funding for the cost of Advanced Placement tests and the PSAT, as well as the writing tests for third and fifth grade.