Schools

GCPS General Fund Budget Down 4.8% for FY2013

Total figure of $1.7 billion is virtually same as 2012, thanks to E-SPLOST.

Updated 12:57 p.m., March 27

The proposed total budget for the Gwinnett County school system will be virtually unchanged for fiscal year 2013, at $1.73 billion. However, the general fund budget, which is "the crux of day to day business" for the system, will decline by $60.6 million, or 4.8 percent, in the coming year, Chief Financial Officer Rick Cost said Tuesday in Suwanee.

Officials had to overcome an $89 million shortfall to balance the budget as required by law, with increased costs ($53 million) and the continued decline in the Gwinnett property tax digest ($36 million) the chief reasons.

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The E-SPLOST measure approved by voters last November is the reason the overall budget is largely unchanged from FY 2012. However, those monies can only be used for capital projects, such as new schools or additions to existing schools, and not for such things as teacher salaries. E-SPLOST funds go into the Capital Projects Fund, which will increase by $101.2 million in FY '13. As in past years, the GCPS will "front-load" these funds, noted Sloan Roach, GCPS spokesperson.

There will be no layoffs of teachers or contracted personnel, but no salary increases. There also will be two furlough days, same as the current year.

Find out what's happening in Lilburn-Mountain Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

GCPS, the state's largest system, projects 163,000 students for 2013, an increase from 2012. This is roughly 10 percent of all public school students in Georgia.

The average expenditure per student also will decline, by $405 per student, to $7,391.

GCPS plans public hearings on the budget on May 10 and May 17 at the Instructional Support Center in Suwanee. The school board will vote on the budget at the May 17 meeting. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Also, school officials will be discussing the budget at the area board meetings, which begin Tuesday at South Gwinnett High in Snellville.

Patch will have more coverage on the Gwinnett County schools' budget soon.


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