Cobb School Board Begins Tackling Budget

The Cobb Board of Education got its first look at a slice of the proposed fiscal year 2012 budget Tuesday, but estimates on the final spending figure and the amount of pain required to make up for deep deficit projections are far from complete. 

That's because a more precise accounting of anticipated property tax revenues and the amount of state funding is still in progress.

Tuesday's hearing was devoted to teacher and school personnel staffing expenses, including salary and benefit packages, as well as how they're allocated at the elementary, middle and high school levels. 

Cobb schools chief financial officer Mike Addison said in January that the anticipated budget shortfall is between , but that the figure is very "preliminary." That's still far less than the $126 million in cuts the school board made last summer in passing an $819 million fiscal year 2011 budget that included hundreds of teacher layoffs. 

Staffing estimates by outgoing school superintendent Fred Sanderson indicate large class sizes, especially from the fourth grade and up. in unincorporated Cobb near Vinings has the largest kindergarten classes in the county at 26. (see chart below for current elementary highs and lows)

Those student-teacher ratio formulas went up last year due to the teacher cuts. Projected ratios for the 2012 budget are as follows: 22-1 for kindergarten; 23-1 for grades 1-3; 30-1 for grades 4-5; 30-1 for middle school; and 32-1 for high school.

Teasley principal Joanne Robblee told Patch that the report indicating her school’s kindergarten class sizes were running as high as 26 were misleading, noting that kindergarten allotment for teachers each year is based on the number of students who were enrolled the previous year.

Enter in the mix are Early Intervention Program students who have been indentified in a pre-kindergarten screening process to possess needs to be taught in smaller classes. Teasley has one co-taught EIP classroom with 28 students being led by two teachers.

“There are also two inclusion classes in kindergarten,’’ Robblee wrote in an email. “Because of the special needs of some of the students in each of these classrooms, we have tried to keep them somewhat smaller.’’

The result is a balancing act of many factors, all with the goal to ensure the best education possible for all students. Wrote Robblee: “Every year schools do their best to respond to student enrollment, program requirements, and transiency.’’

School board members delved mostly into allocation questions. Some, like chairwoman Alison Bartlett, expressed concern about uneven staffing of specialist teachers, such as those teaching art at the middle school level, to cite one example. 

"When we have schools that don't offer art, that is an opportunity that isn't going to be offered," she said. "That's a child's future."

What wasn't discussed was the possibility of having to make more cuts in the number of teachers. 

"It's a dicey situation," said Connie Jackson, the president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, following the hearing. "There are a lot of nervous teachers, and that doesn't lead to a good atmosphere.

"We don't blame the county. It's reality. If you have less money, you have less teachers." 

The average teacher salary for the 2012 budget is $55,413 and $73,056 with benefits included. (see chart below for more salary breakdowns)

The school board will conduct another public hearing on Monday at 5 p.m., with transportation and food costs the main topics. 

AVG. ESTIMATED TEACHER, SCHOOL STAFF SALARIES FOR FY 2012 BUDGET

HIGHS AND LOWS IN CURRENT ES CLASS SIZE -- AS OF 2/23/2011

Sys.

Avg.