State Cuts Hittin g Schools at All Levels
March 18, 2010
Georgia educators are still trying to absorb even more cuts to state funding.
Education is one of the areas hit hardest by state cuts, and the effects are being felt in schools of every level.
The Camden County School System expects another $7.4 million in state funding cuts this year, bringing the total reduction in state money to $10 million over the last two years.
"Financial challenges facing Georgia will have a significant impact on Camden County Schools," finance director Angela Eason said. "State cuts have compelled the administration to collaboratively plan a remedy that respects the vision, mission, beliefs and the five strategic focus areas prescribed by the board."
The school system proposes to absorb the cuts by reducing instruction funding by $3.2 million, student services by $431,753, school administration by $400,134 and transportation by $87,741.
"The decisions regarding actual changes to the programs have not yet been finalized," Eason said.
At the post-secondary level, educators were faced with a "worst case scenario" last month when the state asked the University System of Georgia to outline how the system would absorb $300 million in cuts.
A proposal submitted March 1 to state higher education subcommittees would eliminate the University of Georgia 4-H program and close half of the school’s extension offices.
The proposal also makes significant cuts to programs at other colleges and universities acr oss the state, including the College of Coastal Georgia (CCG), which operates a campus in Camden County.
If faced with the $300 million in cuts, the college would be forced to halt its conversion to a state college and to eliminate baccalaureate and upper-division courses.
The college offered its first baccalaureate classes in fall 2009.
"We don’t have an over-abundance of resources to cut from," said Elizabeth Weatherly, CCG chief advancement officer.
Luckily, the university system will not be faced with cutting $300 million. Instead, the state has reduced that number to $117 million, Weatherly said.
Federal stimulus funding will allow the college to continue offering bachelor’s degrees, though measures have still been taken to reduce its operating budget.
"We have furloughed employees," Weatherly said, adding that administrators have also consolidated classes and increased class sizes to help save money.
Students from across Georgia gathered Monday at the state capitol in Atlanta to protest the $117 million in cuts, according to an article in the Gainesville (Ga.) Times.
Later that day, university system chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. announced that the $117 million in cuts would be made up by the federal stimulus funds.
"The institutions therefore will be able to continue operating at their current funding levels," Davis said in the legislative update released Monday.
Education is not the only area to be hit with fiscal cutbacks. The Georgia Department of Family and Child ren Services and judicial circuits were also forced to furlough employees this year, and hospitals serving Medicaid patients are now facing 10-percent cuts in state funding. Law enforcement agencies are also concerned by proposed cuts to state training budgets.