State windfall could restore school austerity cuts

Published 9:00 am Thursday, March 29, 2018

ATLANTA – Georgia school districts will be fully funded for the first time since 2002 by a state spending plan buoyed by higher than expected revenue projections. 

The funding means more than $1 million for Lowndes County schools and more than $700,000 for Valdosta schools, according to state numbers.

Gov. Nathan Deal informed lawmakers this week the revenue projections for next year would be about $195 million higher statewide than initially thought. 

The term-limited governor, who took office in 2011, recommended the money first go toward a nagging education spending deficit that had forced local districts to make tough decisions through the years. 

All said, about $167 million will go toward erasing the so-called austerity cuts. 

Deal said in a statement that a lack of funding was an oft-cited barrier by educators for achieving success in the classroom. 

“This additional $167 million will ensure the state is fully doing its financial part to address their concerns,” Deal said. 

But the governor, who leaves office after this year, indicated there is more work to be done. 

“Fully funding QBE provides a stronger foundation to lawmakers and stakeholders to reform this outdated formula to accommodate the needs of today’s students and 21st century classrooms,” Deal said, referring to the Quality Basic Education formula that was created in 1980s.

In CNHI’s coverage areas – which include Dalton, Milledgeville, Moultrie, Tifton, Thomasville and Valdosta – the impact ranged from about $260,000 to nearly $1.5 million.

For Lowndes County schools, it would mean $1,022,236; for Valdosta schools, it would mean $757,774, according to state numbers.

“It’s a sizeable amount of money to most systems,” said Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

For some of his districts in southeast Georgia, Hill said ending the austerity cuts would amount to about a mill on the property tax rates.

The announcement came as lawmakers finalized next year’s budget in the waning days of the legislative session. Thursday marks the end of the session.

Lawmakers first imposed the austerity cuts 15 years ago and deepened them during the recession, shorting districts $1 billion in funding for five consecutive years at one point, according to Claire Suggs, senior education policy analyst with the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

Such steep cuts – which took place as local revenue also declined – caused district officials to cut school days, furlough teachers and staff, and eliminate programs. Class sizes also soared.

“The impact was profound,” Suggs said. 

Suggs said she hopes state officials would next take a hard look at the actual cost to educate young Georgians today.

“That’s what I hope the next stage of this is,” Suggs said. “Restoring this $167 million is absolutely a really promising step. But now we need that second conversation about doing a real, careful cost-assessment.”

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s newspapers and websites.