Cobb School Officials Rework Budget

Cobb County School District officials Wednesday presented a fresh set of options for balancing the fiscal year 2014 budget, but school board members rehashed familiar arguments for addressing a projected deficit of $86.4 million.

In a lengthy work session on Wednesday, chief financial officer Brad Johnson offered a new proposal that gets to an $838 million balance by ditching several suggested cuts board members didn't like.

Reductions in magnet school transportation and outsourcing custodial services have been placed below "a line" of 18 specific revenue and expense items that achieve a balance.

But that didn't satisfy some board members worried over increased class sizes, steep teaching reductions through attrition and other cuts they claim will affect academics and school safety.

Above that line remain five furlough days for all district employeees and using $22 million in reserve funds. Johnson's modifications include a mid-year salary increase for employees (as opposed to none) and cutting 226 instead of 295 teaching positions.

He also is projecting that $10 million in "lapse," or leftover funding from the current fiscal year 2013 be applied forward. An unexpected addition of $8.8 million from the state in Quality Basic Education Act funding has been worked into the revised budget, but Johnson said these are one-time revenue bumps.

"I would encourage the board to take a multi-year view of this, because we will be back again here next year," said Johnson, who said Cobb may likely start the fiscal year 2015 budget process $45 million in the red.

But board member David Banks, of Post 5 in Northeast Cobb, proposed his own budget, calling for using $28 million in reserves and projecting $23 million in lapse funding (the same as last year) without cuts to teachers and assistant principals.

The district has an estimated $98 million in reserve funds. The revised budget would draw that down to nearly $71 million, a month's contingency. But Banks has repeatedly suggested more money needs to be used right away to maintain instructional quality.

"Taxpayers gave us this money to use in the classroom, not to put in the bank and look at," said Banks, a Republican who has referred to the reserve balance as a "pot of gold."

That suggestion sparked a spirited discussion. Post 6 member Scott Sweeney, of East Cobb, warned against the district going below $71 million, calling it "fiscally irresponsible."

"If you go to the pot of gold on a regular basis, eventually it's not there," said Sweeney, also a Republican and a financial professional.

When board chairman Randy Scamihorn suggested board members are having "a philosophical difference about where we're starting," Sweeney emphasized his point.

"If we continue to go down this path, we're going to continue to hit that fund balance with no guarantee it's going to increase," Sweeney said. "That's not a philosophical difference -- it's a fact."

Post 3 board member Kathleen Angelucci of North Cobb reiterated her concerns about greater class size, even after she was told that elementary school classes would grow by one extra student, and by two students at the middle and high school levels.

"I want us to think about the climate our employees are working in," she said. "Every year, they get more kids in the classroom and and they're asked to do more with less. We've got to put a face to this."

Board members will meet again in a specially called budget meeting on Monday starting at 2 p.m. in the board room of the CCSD central office, 514 Glover Street, Marietta.