Dear Fulton County Faculty and Staff,
As you might have already heard in the news, Governor Perdue recommended yesterday that teachers and other employees be furloughed three days this school year. This announcement comes at an unfortunate time, especially as we prepare to begin a new school year in less than three weeks.
The school system’s 2009-10 budget already has reduced many employees’ workday calendars by 5-20 days as a cost-saving measure. With the governor’s announcement, we are now faced with implementing a similar furlough to our teachers and others who were not affected by the previous workday reductions. Employees who already have experienced workday reductions are not impacted by this new furlough.
I have communicated with school board members and other system leaders to determine how our expenditures can be reduced without negatively impacting our focus on students. Based on their input, I will be recommending to our school board that teachers take these three furlough days during preplanning week, August 3-7. The specific furlough days will be decided by each school’s principal to allow flexibility for the activities already scheduled. School administrators will contact teachers directly to share the week’s new schedule and start dates. Non-teaching staff who are impacted will have their furlough days decided by their principal. The school board is expected to take formal action on the new workday calendars next week.
The good news is that our 2009-10 budgeting process allowed us to keep most full-time staff employed and that we were able to avoid lay-offs and other personnel reductions faced by other metro Atlanta school systems. While not ideal, participating in this furlough will help keep our employment continuity.
Governor Perdue also plans to cut funding to school systems by an additional 3 percent this year. This represents a $7.6 million reduction in our Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding. While we understand the economy’s continuing effects on state funding, this requires that we again examine our spending and allocation of resources. I will be working with our school board and system leaders as to how this reduction will be addressed in our current budget.
Thank you for your support and understanding. We are doing everything possible to meet our school district’s budgetary needs with the least amount of impact on students and staff.
Sincerely,
Cindy Loe, Ph.D.
Superintendent
As you might have already heard in the news, Governor Perdue recommended yesterday that teachers and other employees be furloughed three days this school year. This announcement comes at an unfortunate time, especially as we prepare to begin a new school year in less than three weeks.
The school system’s 2009-10 budget already has reduced many employees’ workday calendars by 5-20 days as a cost-saving measure. With the governor’s announcement, we are now faced with implementing a similar furlough to our teachers and others who were not affected by the previous workday reductions. Employees who already have experienced workday reductions are not impacted by this new furlough.
I have communicated with school board members and other system leaders to determine how our expenditures can be reduced without negatively impacting our focus on students. Based on their input, I will be recommending to our school board that teachers take these three furlough days during preplanning week, August 3-7. The specific furlough days will be decided by each school’s principal to allow flexibility for the activities already scheduled. School administrators will contact teachers directly to share the week’s new schedule and start dates. Non-teaching staff who are impacted will have their furlough days decided by their principal. The school board is expected to take formal action on the new workday calendars next week.
The good news is that our 2009-10 budgeting process allowed us to keep most full-time staff employed and that we were able to avoid lay-offs and other personnel reductions faced by other metro Atlanta school systems. While not ideal, participating in this furlough will help keep our employment continuity.
Governor Perdue also plans to cut funding to school systems by an additional 3 percent this year. This represents a $7.6 million reduction in our Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding. While we understand the economy’s continuing effects on state funding, this requires that we again examine our spending and allocation of resources. I will be working with our school board and system leaders as to how this reduction will be addressed in our current budget.
Thank you for your support and understanding. We are doing everything possible to meet our school district’s budgetary needs with the least amount of impact on students and staff.
Sincerely,
Cindy Loe, Ph.D.
Superintendent
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