As PTA parents, we all want to be effective advocates for our children.  Certainly this includes being involved in the classroom, seeking feedback from the teachers, and working with your child at home to reach his or her full potential for academic success.  But advocacy doesn’t have to stop there!  The more you educate yourself on “the big picture” of how the school system works, the harder your voice can work not only for your own child but for all children in our community.  And in this time of struggle for public schools, I know many of you are interested in learning more about the education budget process.  Because when it comes to “the big picture,” the first thing we realize is that the FUNDING for our teachers, classroom resources, computers, and textbooks all has to come from somewhere!

Follow these links to learn more about this important issue:

State Resources

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget publishes the state budget for each department, including the Department of Education.  Follow the link below to view different budget documents published by the OPB.  You can view both the original budget for each fiscal year as well as each amended budget.  Within the budget, each department is included alphabetically so you’ll have to scroll through the document to get to the education section:

http://www.opb.state.ga.us/budget-information/budget-documents.aspx

Cherokee County School District Resources

The CCSD Financial Management Department publishes the budget for the Cherokee County school system as well as providing information on other financial matters for the schools.  Follow the link below to view the Executive Summary of the budget for 2009-10 and also to view a very helpful document entitled “Citizen’s Guide to the Budget”:

http://www.cherokee.k12.ga.us/departments/financial/default.aspx

PTA Resources

The Georgia PTA sponsors a department called “Capitol Watch” that closely tracks the movement of all state legislation that affects our children, including the progress of budget development.  Follow this link to read day-by-day summaries of what’s happening in our state legislature:

http://www.ciclt.net/sn/new/n_main.aspx?ClientCode=gapta

If after having read these materials you find you have more questions about the budget process, please email your questions to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will try to help you find the answers!

Kristi Eno

Legislative Chair