Monthly Archives: May 2016

DeKalb Schools Proposed 2016-2017 Budget

.pdf link icon  DCSD Proposed FY2017 Budget

General Operating Fund – Revenues and expenditures increased to $955 million.
Beginning Fund Balance – It is expected that the Beginning Fund Balance (Jul 2016) will be $124 million.
Total Expenditures – Total expenditures in all funds including the General fund, ESPLOST (capital outlay) and grants (special revenue), is $1.2 billion.
You can see more detail at the Proposed FY2017 Budget Presentation page.

The budget includes a 3% raise for all employees, the elimination of all furlough days as well as bonuses for new and current teachers.

Employee Salary Analysis
A market midpoint salary analysis for metro Atlanta was performed. 53.4% of employees are above or at market. With 3% salary increase, we would be at 65.7% at or above the market. Generally speaking, the seasoned employees are typically above market and new employees are typically below market.

Teacher Bonuses
A $500 retention bonus for teachers who are currently employed, and sign a contract to teach with DCSD in SY16-17. The retention bonus would be paid in October 2016.
Signing bonus amount for new teachers depends on the region and content area. The US Department of Education identified the following as hard to fill positions: Special Ed, Math, Science, Spanish Teachers
The signing bonus matrix is as follows:

“Classrooms First for Georgia” – Requires, at a minimum, 65% of a system’s total operating funds to be spent in the classroom.  DeKalb Schools has never been in compliance with this law.
65% rule is calculated on actuals. If we spend this budget as planned, then we will cross over the 65% threshold for the first time.
Millage rate relief –  In the height of the recession, the board increased the millage rate a full millage point to close the budget gap.  Last year it was lowered from 23.98 to 23.73 mills.  Dr. Green, “We have to be mindful of the liabilities, but we should be in a position to have a [millage rate reduction] discussion.”


Related Posts

Approved FY2017 Budget Highlights
June 22, 2016 – Here are the highlights for the budget and millage rate approved by the DeKalb County Board of Education last night. I was the lone dissenting vote for both the millage rate and the budget.

DeKalb Schools Proposed 2016-2017 Budget
May 13, 2016 – Total expenditures in all funds including the General fund, ESPLOST (capital outlay) and grants (special revenue), is $1.2 billion.

Milestones – The Aftermath of Widespread State Outages

Across Georgia this testing season, schools reported technology-related interruptions of online testing, especially Fulton County where widespread outages marred testing. On April 20th, the state experienced widespread issues causing 10 out of 108 DeKalb elementary and middle schools to have to stop and resume online testing the next day.
DeKalb has had no other widespread online testing issues – all DeKalb students who tested online have successfully been able to complete all of their assessments. High School End-of-Course assessments began on May 2nd with no school-wide outages. All DeKalb high school students have been able to complete their online assessments, as scheduled.
Earlier this month the State Board of Education granted a waiver for the second year in a row of promotion, placement, and retention requirements tied to the 2016 administration of the Georgia Milestones End of Grade (EOG) tests.
State law requires that 3rd grade students earn an At/Above Grade Level designation in reading to be promoted to 4th grade. In 5th and 8th grade, state law requires that students earn an At/Above Grade Level designation in reading, as well as score in the Developing Learner achievement level or above in mathematics to be promoted to the next grade. These are the promotion, placement, and retention requirements being waived for the 2016 EOG administration. Some local school systems have additional promotion criteria, and this waiver will not preclude school districts from applying local policies and protocols for promotion and retention decisions for individual students.
Pending the approval of the Educator Effectiveness Committee, student growth will be held harmless for the Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES)/Leader Keys Effectiveness System (LKES) this year, and will not count next year with the revised evaluation system. The Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards (TAPS) component of the TKES and the Leader Assessment on Performance Standards (LAPS) component of the LKES will continue to be the sole measure used to determine the performance rating of teachers of record and leaders reported by employing school systems and charter schools to the GaPSC for certification purposes.


Related Posts and Docs
 2015 Milestones Results – School Rankings
  Opting Out of the Georgia Milestones Tests (Apr 2016) – Last year was the first year for the new state standardized test, the Georgia Milestones.  On Tuesday DeKalb elementary and middle school students will begin 3 weeks of Georgia Milestones testing.
  Student Promotion – Whose Decision Is It? (Sept 2014) – Who should decide which students will be promoted and which students will be held back? The state, county, school council, principal, teacher, parent … what do you think?