MAJOR NEWS: Education to be fully funded for the first time ever! (Atlanta: sales, 2014)

[Born 2 Roll]

Wow! Because of an unforeseen budget windfall, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal is proposing to fully fund the State of Georgia's QBE (Quality Basic Education) formula for what appears may be the first time ever since the formula was created 33 years ago back in 1985.

As part of his fiscal year 2019 budget proposal, Gov. Nathan Deal has allocated an additional $166 million toward the state’s education budget. The amount would fully fund the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula for the first time since the recession.

"Deal Proposes Fully Funding Education Formula" (WABE-FM 90.1 Atlanta)
https://www.wabe.org/deal-proposes-f...la-first-time/

Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Amendment Letter (State of Georgia, Office of the Governor)
https://gov.georgia.gov/sites/gov.ge...20Letter_0.pdf

"Deal announces additional funding for education, transit in FY19 budget" (Governor Nathan Deal, Office of the Governor)
https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releas...it-fy19-budget

This is really major news because this appears to possibly be the first time ever that Georgia state government has fully funded its share of education.

This increase in funding also reverses roughly about 16 straight years of austerity cuts to education, with the worst cuts coming in the aftermath of the Great Recession in the years from 2010 through 2014 when the cuts to the state's share of education reached as high as $1 billion per year.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Wow! Because of an unforeseen budget windfall, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal is proposing to fully fund the State of Georgia's QBE (Quality Basic Education) formula for what appears may be the first time ever since the formula was created 33 years ago back in 1985.



"Deal Proposes Fully Funding Education Formula" (WABE-FM 90.1 Atlanta)
https://www.wabe.org/deal-proposes-f...la-first-time/

Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Amendment Letter (State of Georgia, Office of the Governor)
https://gov.georgia.gov/sites/gov.ge...20Letter_0.pdf

"Deal announces additional funding for education, transit in FY19 budget" (Governor Nathan Deal, Office of the Governor)
https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releas...it-fy19-budget

This is really major news because this appears to possibly be the first time ever that Georgia state government has fully funded its share of education.

This increase in funding also reverses roughly about 16 straight years of austerity cuts to education, with the worst cuts coming in the aftermath of the Great Recession in the years from 2010 through 2014 when the cuts to the state's share of education reached as high as $1 billion per year.

Wow, fantastic news! Thanks for sharing B2R!

[lorilove]

Once again Nathan Deal comes through with wise choices!

[arjay57]

Well done, Gov. Deal!

[ATLTJL]

Quick question:

I'm seeing news of teacher walk outs in places like West Virginia and Oklahoma as their states address teacher salaries.

I always thought teacher salaries were paid by the counties (if not, what is that huge county property tax I pay earmarked education going toward???).

In Georgia, does the state budget allocate teacher salaries?

[Forhall]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Quick question:

I'm seeing news of teacher walk outs in places like West Virginia and Oklahoma as their states address teacher salaries.

I always thought teacher salaries were paid by the counties (if not, what is that huge county property tax I pay earmarked education going toward???).

In Georgia, does the state budget allocate teacher salaries?

Usually a base state salary and counties offer a supplement. Large cities offer a supplement as well, such as APS.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Quick question:

I'm seeing news of teacher walk outs in places like West Virginia and Oklahoma as their states address teacher salaries.

I always thought teacher salaries were paid by the counties (if not, what is that huge county property tax I pay earmarked education going toward???).

In Georgia, does the state budget allocate teacher salaries?

The majority of a teacher’s salary is paid for through the state education budget, which makes up the largest portion of the overall state budget. The state’s base “step salary schedule” determines how much is paid for every level of instructional employment (from librarians and parapros to teachers and administrators) depending on education level (BA to PHD) and years of experience (you get a huge jump every three years). That money is then allocated to each county based on enrollment — so many dollars per each student. That portion of local property taxes (millage) allocated for individual city and county school districts is used to supplement the state base salaries, as well as fund general operations like utilities, facilities maintainance, etc. The state education budget also includes a funding mechanism for school transportation (buses) with so much money going to each county based on enrollment and miles driven (I think) as well as the purchase of textbooks.

While the state does contribute SOME funding for construction, most of that is paid for at the local level through ESPLOST and other means. In fact, instruction (salaries etc) and operations (facilities) are two separate budgets with two completely separate funding sources, and the money can’t be mixed (state teacher money can’t be used to build buildings, and local sales tax money can’t be used to pay teachers).

All this helps explain why historically, the larger, wealthier, urban systems (with greater taxable resources) had higher overall salaries and better overall facilities than smaller, poorer, rural districts. The state QBE funding formula does “rob Peter to pay Paul” to some degree by diverting funds from wealthier counties to poorer ones, which has always drawn complaints and makes the entire school funding process such a political hot potato.

Just as an example of how this works at the local level (that I’m familiar with anyway) ... the Fayette County Board of Education has for many years taxed local property at the highest millage rate possible (20 mils) because they fund a whole bunch more stuff than the state budget allows. Fayette maintains a lower per teacher classroom size than the state requires or funds, meaning that Fayette ends up paying 100 percent of the salaries for some teachers (and administrators). Fayette also provides door-to-door (or driveway to driveway) transportation for all students, while the state only funds transportion beyond 1.5 miles of a school. This means that Fayette operates more buses and more bus routes than the state says is necessary, and ends up spending a couple million dollars more a year than the state gives them. Ditto parapros in every K-3 classroom, and string orchestra programs from kindergarten through high school. These are just some examples of how local school districts supplement their budgets above and beyond what the state education budget sends them, using local property tax dollars.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

The majority of a teacher’s salary is paid for through the state education budget, which makes up the largest portion of the overall state budget. The base “step salary schedule” for every level of instructional employment (from aides and parapros to teachers and administrators) is allocated to each county based on enrollment — so many dollars per each student. The portion of local property taxes (millage) collected and allocated for individual city and county school districts is used to supplement the state base salaries, as well as fund general operations, academic instruction, utlities, facilities maintainance, etc. The state education budget also includes a funding mechanism for school transportation (buses) with so funding going to each county based on enrollment (and I think actual ridership numbers).

While the state does contribute SOME funding for construction, most of that is paid for at the local level through ESPLOST and other means. In fact, operations (salaries etc) and capital spending (facilities) are two separate budgets with two completely separate funding sources, and the money can’t be mixed (state teacher money can’t be used to build buildings, and local sales tax money can’t be used to pay teachers).

All this helps explain why historically, the larger, wealthier, urban systems (with greater taxable resources) had higher overall salaries and better overall facilities than smaller, poorer, rural districts. The state QBE funding formula does “rob Peter to pay Paul” to some degree by diverting funds from wealthier counties to poorer ones, which has always drawn complaints and makes the entire school funding process such a political hot potato.

Perfect breakdown and explanation of how the system works, Newsboy! Spoken like a true native that's been paying attention forever. One of my closest friends has been teaching in Gwinnett for years, and just landed a job as an Administrator. He's been keeping me up to speed on this since I've lived here.

And I never thought I would say this 8 years ago, but I am really sorry to see Nathan Deal have to go.

[toll_booth]

Economic times aren't too bad for Georgia, particularly metro Atlanta, but at least some of these funds are going to education where they belong.

[ATLTJL]

Thanks, Newsboy....

But I'm still baffled. The VAST majority of my property taxes (Gwinnett county) are earmarked for education. The state pays for teacher minus the supplement and any extra teachers beyond the mandated minimum. The state also pays for bus routes except door-to-door (which I don't think we have), and the SPLOST that we do have funds construction. I believe we have another SPLOST for textbooks, technology, etc.

How in the world does whatever is left over cost more to fund than fire departments, transportation, police, etc. COMBINED???

Is there corruption going on somewhere? Are there big, fat pensions that we are having to fund? I'm all for high quality schools, but it just doesn't seem right that education is THAT huge of a line item in the county's budget.