School leaders worry about more budget cuts
Gov.-elect Nathan Deal ‘s predictions of more cuts to K-12 funding had school leaders scratching their heads Wednesday wondering how much they can take.
Deal’s forecast — though absent specifics — came as educators across the state are still adjusting to major changes — such as bigger classes, condensed school years and furloughs or layoffs — that many districts were forced to implement this year to trim budgets.
Budget cuts from the state are not new, partly because of declining revenue during the recession, as well as austerity cuts that have been in place since 2003. At least for the past five years, local school districts have been shorted millions that they were due under the Quality Basic Education Act, the state formula for funding public education.
For the current fiscal year, the districts were shorted a combined $915 million. That’s on top of state cuts of $654.1 million in fiscal 2010, $93 million in fiscal 2009, $143 million in fiscal 2008 and $170 million in fiscal 2007, according to records of the state Department of Education.
“We’ve seen a radical decline in state funding for public education over the last seven or eight years, to the point that the state’s QBE funding formula has little meaning anymore,” said Jay Dillon, a spokesman for the Cobb County School District. “At this point, there are few options remaining if the state again decides to cut funding for Cobb schools by tens of millions of dollars.”
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