APS Takes Steps to Reduce Spending for 2010-2011

            ATLANTA – APS is taking steps to reduce spending by $47.4 million for the 2010-2011 school year that includes increasing class size, two involuntary furlough days for all employees and a district-wide freeze on salary steps and cost of living increases.

            The projected district budget for the next school year is $588.6 million, which is down $47.4 million from the FY 2009-2010 budget.  Georgia school districts are required by law to have balanced budgets in place by the beginning of the new fiscal year.

            APS is funded by a combination of property tax revenues and state funding for education. Over the past seven years, state funding for APS has been cut $68.3 million.

            The district has made up for state education funding cuts and reductions in property tax revenues due to the economic downturn through a series of austerity measures.  Department budgets are being reduced an average of 10 percent next year, and district officials anticipate using approximately $9.5 million from the unrestricted fund balance to help meet next year’s budget.

            “These are tight financial times for all of us,” said Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall.  “Belt-tightening to make ends meet is a shared responsibility at APS, and all areas of the district are being asked to use our dwindling financial resources judiciously by prioritizing spending for those areas that are associated with teaching and learning and student academic performance.”

            APS plans to continue its decade-long school reform initiatives despite these funding challenges, including the middle and high school transformations.  There will also be no loss of instructional time for students.

            The first of two scheduled community meetings on the proposed FY11 budget is 6 p.m. Thursday, April 1 at Burgess-Peterson Elementary School, 480 Clifton St., SE Atlanta, 30316.  The second community meeting on the proposed budget is 6 p.m. Thursday, April 22 at Jean Childs Young Middle School, 3116 Benjamin E. Mays Dr., SW, Atlanta, 30311.