This school year started on a rocky road. One beautiful afternoon, I received a visit from the superintendent. We walked the halls of my building discussing the manner in which our year started and I was questioned about my particular school and how I felt about the opening. I assured him that it was one of the smoothest beginnings that I have had the 6 years that I have been principal. Well, that led to the issue of funds. He told me that our state was beginning to chop funds (approx. $700,000) from our allotment. This would force us to make immediate cuts. Well, he also said that there was a strong possibility that we may have to let go of some certified and non certified staff members. This almost took me into panic mode. He left me with that thought and asked me to ponder over that and we would talk at our administrative meeting.
The next week, we had a meeting and we were charged to go back to our buildings and discuss ways that we could cut spending. Each school did just that. We went so far as to decline any professional development(out of town) trainings that we usually attend, decrease the amount of copy paper by copying front and back, removing the printers from each classroom, and even declining the state supplements that would be issued. These concerns were shared with the Board for review. Well, one thing led to another and we found ourselves listening to him tell us that a possible recommendation would be that a portion of our local supplement would be taken. Wrong move..the next thing I knew, we were engaged in public forums and in the National Education Association magazine!! The public forums that were held was something that must be done to satisfy legal requirements, but many ill tempers flew out!! There were retired teachers as well as non-tenured teachers screaming of how this act was an outrage. Some teachers were even saying that they wanted a copy of the line itemed budget to see where the money was coming from. Our Board and Superintendent handled both forums in a very professional manner and assured the speakers that their concerns would not be a reflection upon their teaching abilities.
We ended up not losing any personnel this year and our supplements were not cut. I hate to see how many employees we will have to cut this coming year because of additional cuts coming our way. Just recently we were reminded that we needed to review the teacher reduction policy that our local system had in place and be sure to share it with the teachers. This gave me an indication that there is a strong possibility that we many have cuts coming our way. We were also reminded that the policy clearly states that the teachers that we relieve does not have to be the last one that was hired. I am really glad that this information was not shared immediately after all of those forums because they would probably think that we are trying to make them all quit becuase of the lack of funds. Looks like we are in for a great ending, too! The teachers were happy, but there was a lot of information exposed during the forums. Especially with football and coaches!!! I just wonder if any other states are experiencing the cuts like GA???
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It seems cuts are happening all over the State of Georgia. I my system, each school had to cut five or six certified teachers. This was difficult because the system is not making AYP either and with the increased student to teacher ratio, making it in the near future seems impossible. I believe that the board and superintendents in the school systems in Georgia should look at not only the teaching salaries involved, but the salaries of the central office employees as well. There are wasted positions in many of these systems that where created as favors or politically that could be done away with. Raising the ration of students to teachers is not the answer when federal and state funding is dependent on this and the academic information it produces.
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