School Board to Vote on 2012-13 Budget for Athens Schools

The Clarke County Board of Education meets tonight to vote on a tentative budget for the upcoming school year. One that reflects the $9 million shortfall in revenue the district office is addressing.

Please come to tonight's meeting, which starts at 6:30pm, but don't expect to speak. Public comment isn't taken during special called meetings or the agenda-setting meetings. You may speak at the May 10th board meeting, but you need to contact Terry McNamara, the superintendent's assistant, before 4pm the day of the board meeting to be on the agenda.

The proposed budget from Superintendent Philip Lanoue calls for elminating 32 parapros from first grade classrooms, a proposal that brought parents roiling out in protest when it was raised a few years ago. It also calls for reducing the number of full-time teachers and other positions in the system, and increasing the number of furlough days.

But the budget proposed by Dr. Lanoue on April 12 isn't the final budget, officials said. There will be ample opportunity for parents and supporters of the school system to weigh in on the budget, on what they want preserved or cut, or how they would prefer the board to slice off a million here, a million there.

You can talk to your school board representative, send emails to him or her, attend one of the public meetings on the budget. These are scheduled for May.15 at Alps Road Elementary, May 22 at Gaines Elementary and May 29 at the district office.