PTA
Georgia PTA & National PTA Updates
Give A Little, Take A Lot….....
by Stacy Hanley, Legislative Chair.
As required by the state constitution, Governor Nathan Deal delivered his budget recommendations to the General Assembly during the January snow jam week. There are two budgets: an amended budget for the current fiscal year 2011 which ends June 30 and another for the fiscal year 2012 beginning July 1.
The State contribution to education is based on the Quality Basic Education (“QBE”) formula which dates back to the 1980’s. Funding is based on the number of full-time equivalent (“FTE”) students and the programs they are in. Except for teacher salaries, there is no inflationary factor built into the formula. For example, the formula assumes that $40 is spent on textbooks per student. In actuality, one chemistry book for a student may cost $120.00. Additionally, since 2002 there have been $2.3 billion in austerity cuts to the QBE even though the QBE does not reflect the actual costs of providing state defined services.
With declining revenue, most of the changes to the QBE are reductions/deductions and very few additions. Most notably, there is an additional $60,896,146 in austerity cuts on top of the $2.3 billion we have had since 2002. To say these numbers are sobering is an understatement.
Below is a list of the additions and deletion to the QBE for 2011 and 2012.
FY 11, for fiscal year ending June 30, 2011
Change Description
$322,801- Agriculture Education
753,863- DOE Central Office
133,906- Charter School planning grants ($52,973) and facility grants ($80,933)
38,879- Communities in Schools, reduce local affiliate organizational funds
125,512- Curriculum Development, Eliminate GALILEO, a library contract
105,111- GA Virtual School, the DOE entity for HS courses
12,000- GA Youth Science and Technology which trains science teachers
44,677- GA Honors Program, personnel services cut
200,000- National Science Center and Foundation, eliminate
1,006,567- Non QBE Grants, Residential Treatment Centers, Sparsity grants, Special Need Scholarships and Migrant Education.
1,399,136- Nutrition supplemental funding
1,138,638- Preschool Handicapped
5,545,136- Pupil Transportation
83,024,414 K-12 enrollment growth
12,664,855 Newly certified math and science teachers
14,539,717- Federal ARRA funds transferred to the FY10 budget
432,665- Regional Education Service Agencies
371,665- School Improvement Initiative
1,099,980- School Nurses (reduces total appropriation to $26,399,520)
2,622,953- Severely Emotional Disturbed Students
641,319- Technology/Career Education
62,705- Tuition for Multi-handicapped, reimburse local school systems
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FY12, for fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011 and ending June 30, 2012
Change Description
77,758- Communities in Schools
125,512- Curriculum Development, eliminate GALILEO, a library contract
199,002- GA Virtual School, restructure teacher contracts
150,000- GA Youth Science and Technology, eliminate
106,363- Governor’s Honors Program, utilize other funds to support program
200,000- National Science Center and Foundation, eliminate
2,253,688- Non QBE Grants. Residential Treatment Centers, Sparsity Grants, Special Needs Scholarships, High Performing Principals and Migrant Education, reduce or eliminate.
2,510,626- Nutrition supplemental funding
284,659- Preschool Handicapped
8,317,704- Pupil Transportation
91,329,063 QBE enrollment growth of 0.57% and training and experience for teachers
60,890,146- Austerity Cut
2,240,628- RESAs. Eliminate Ed Tech Centers, Reduce Math Mentors and general services.
612,265- School Improvement initiative
2,749,950- School Nurses (reduces total appropriation to $24,749,550)
655,738- Severely Emotional Disturbed Students
226,216- State Schools for Deaf and Blind
1,291,432- Technology/Career Education
15,676- Tuition for Multi-Handicapped
What can you do?
1. Stay Informed. The Sarah Smith website now has links to the GA PTA website (http://www.georgiapta.org) as well as the National PTA (http://www.pta.org). You can sign up for legislative updates about laws and policies that affect children and education.
2. Become Involved. Your PTA membership not only helps Sarah Smith, but it also helps contribute to a powerful lobby trying to protect education dollars at the state and federal level.
3. Contact your local legislator to voice your opinion on the proposed budget. Representative Edward H. Lindsey - State House District 54 (Republican) Senator Vincent D. Fort - State Senate District 39 (Democratic)