Wednesday, May 21, 2003
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Wednesday, May 21, 2003 |
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BOE budget: Teachers' raises drop to a half % By J. FRANK LYNCH
In a case of "two steps forward, one step back," Fayette school system administrators and board of education members continued down the difficult path of balancing the budget for the coming school year at Monday's regular meeting. The good news: Any increase in school taxes will likely come in under 1 mill, comptroller James Stephens told the board, and projected revenues next year from the county tax digest are now looking up as the economy brightens. But salaries and benefits to school district employees will remain flat, with an earlier proposed pay increase of 1 percent to all system employees cut to just one-half a percent. That's barely $5 a week to the average employee, said board member Janet Smola, and after Uncle Sam gets a bite, what's the point? "I'd like to find a more creative way to put more money into the hands of our classroom teachers," she said. It could have been worse. Superintendent John DeCotis said the county is paying the employee share of a $10 a month increase in medical insurance benefits, and is still committed to seeing all teachers due a scheduled step increase get that raise though the state is not funding them. "So if we weren't paying the extra in insurance, even with the half-percent increase in pay, our teachers would be getting a pay cut?" asked Chairman Terri Smith. The board's newest member, Lee Wright, questioned planned expenditures this summer on the Fayette County High track and similar projects. The track replacement alone is budgeted at $200,000. "Can't this $200,000 go for salaries?" he asked. Mike Satterfield, head of facilities services, said the track desperately needs replacing and has been on the needs list for four years. What's more, the work at FCHS will include fixing longtime drainage problems and replacing the visitors-side bleachers. Satterfield had a list of annual maintenance projects and the like that have already been bid out by his staff but needed final board approval to proceed as soon as school is out next week. Included is renovation of the LaFayette Education Center's "D" building to make it usable by the freshman class of Whitewater High next fall. The board broke those agreed-to items off from the overall FY' 04 and gave the OK to proceed. Stephens said the budget is "very close" and asked if board members wanted to speed up the formal adoption, but they agreed to stick by an earlier schedule that allows for another workshop on next year's funding. By law, the budget must be adopted by June 30, but it will likely be approved at the June 16 meeting. Also Monday, the board approved the appointments of business representatives to serve on the school councils at each campus. Under the state's new educational accountability guidelines, schools are required by law to have advisory panels made up of members of its community, DeCotis explained. Half of Fayette's schools had them this year, and the remainder come online in the fall. Approved were: Trip Copeland, Georgia School Equipment, Braelinn Elementary; Kathy Hughes, South Towne Chick-fil-A, Brooks Elementary; Steve Webb, Georgia Institutional Furnishings, Cleveland Elementary; Bonnie Smith, Region's Bank, Kedron Elementary; Forrest Cate, Andy's Nursery, and Ron Sanford, T-Square Remodeling, Sara Harp Elementary; Will Griffin, Homebanc Mortgage, Rising Starr Middle; Doug Barnett, Towne Center Chick-fil-A, Starr's Mill High; Mike Holmes, Peachtree City Chick-fil-A, Crabapple Lane Elementary; and Doug Mickey, Fayetteville Chick-fil-A, Fayetteville Intermediate. In other business Monday, the board: ·Approved yet another round of staff reassignments and new hires, most all of them at the classroom level.. ·Heard from a concerned Peachtree City parent, Susan Adcox, about safety issues at her neighborhood's bus stop, but took no action and deferred to Deputy Superintendent Fred Oliver to find a solution. ·Spent 40 minutes honoring more than 100 students from throughout the county for various honors and awards earned in the school year, which ends Friday.
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