Policy Report Reveals Trouble for Georgia School Districts – Part 2
A report from the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute shows financial cuts to the state’s school districts are one reason at least 92 percent of the systems are experiencing overcrowding in their classrooms.
This week, WABE takes an in-depth look at the policy report; Survey Says: Trouble for Schools, Cuts in Education Spending Mean Fewer Schools Days and More Crowded Classrooms.
This news report looks at the impact of declining local revenue.
The report shows Georgia school districts are assuming an increasing share of the funding for their schools because of cuts to the state education budget.
Taifa Butler is the deputy director of the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute.
“For ten years the education system has been cut through austerity measures.”
That equates to $5.6 billion state dollars that Georgia K-12 public schools have missed since 2003.
And that’s added to the fact many are already dealing with shrinking local property tax revenue.
Butler says rural school systems are especially hard hit.
“The tax digest was so much less when you looked at their ability to accommodate the loss in state revenue whether that was being able to raise the millage rate or raise local revenue from other sources,” says Butler.
Here in metro Atlanta, an example is Clayton County Public Schools.
Local revenues fell from $175 million in 2008 to $146 million last year.
That’s a 17% decline.
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