| Legislative Update |
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| Tuesday, March 09 2010 08:40 | |||
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With Monday’s announcement from the Georgia Department of Revenue that the state’s revenue has continued to decline, it becomes increasingly clear that the budget projections for both the current fiscal year and FY2011 are going from bad to worse. February 2010 revenue is reportedly down 9.9% as compared with the month of February 2009; this means that the budget gap for the current year is even larger than projected in the FY2010 amended budget. What does this mean for public schools? Our legislators may feel forced to make even further cuts to education in order to balance Georgia’s budget as required by our state Constitution. The primary sources of state revenue are state income taxes, state sales taxes, and fees charged for state services. For a brief summary on the history of these revenue sources, I encourage you to read the helpful article published by Sally Fitzgerald entitled “Taxes – A Brief Primer” found on the Georgia PTA Capitol Watch website. The only ways to affect the budget crisis are to add more money to the budget, in the form of tax or fee increases, or reduce spending. Presently the legislature seems focused on looking for ways to cut spending rather than ways to increase revenue. The Georgia PTA is pushing the legislature to focus on alternatives that don’t diminish the educational services offered to Georgia students. But despite their advocacy, there is an ever-increasing likelihood that the final budget will directly impact our kids in the form of a reduction in the average educational dollars spent per student, increased student/teacher ratios, increased class sizes, and/or modified instructional time. For example, school districts are presently required to provide students with instructional hours equivalent to 180 days of instruction. One local district (in Peach County, Georgia) has already moved to a four-day school week, and other counties have modified their calendars to lengthen the school day in order to “shorten” the school year and thereby save on operational and transportation costs. These same types of hard budgeting decisions may face our local school board if the state further cuts the amount of money Cherokee County receives for education. The Georgia PTA is aggressively advocating on behalf of our children to prevent education budget cuts. By becoming a member of the PTA, you are demonstrating that you want to be a part of the “one voice” that represents the needs of “every child.” But your advocacy opportunity doesn’t have to stop here - YOU are the most knowledgeable when it comes to the day to day needs of the students in your family; take your personal story and concerns directly to your state and local government representatives and do all you can to be an advocate for YOUR child! Contact information for your state legislators is available here on our site, and you can also link to the district site to review the schedule for our local school board meetings. Get involved and make a difference! Kristi Eno Legislative Chair
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