FY
04 State Budget Update
By Lasa Joiner
The House passed the supplemental budget February 18th as submitted
by the
Appropriations Committee.
Education lost $200,000 in this budget -- the loss came from
the $300,000 that was deleted for training teachers in the new
revised curriculum. $100,000 was added to the 3 O’clock
Program and the remaining $200,000 from the cut was placed elsewhere
in the budget.
Rumor is now going around the capitol from the Senate side that
education is not going to get the new found money as promised
by the House leadership and reported in the Atlanta paper. So
now the battle begins.
Call your legislators – especially House members –
right away to encourage them to restore the expenditure controls
on media funds to ensure that school libraries have necessary
materials. Talk with them about the impact of the new curriculum
on our collections.
Editor’s Note: at press time HB 1190 passed
in a last-minute vote with the following provisions directly relating
to expenditure controls:
20-2-167.1 Expenditure Controls (Amend)
(a) Provides that this Code section shall not expire on July
1, 2004 but shall continue relating to the application of 20-2-167
until July 1, 2005, at which time it will be automatically repealed.
(1) Provides that 100 percent of funds earned for direct instruction
must be spent on direct instruction at the system level.
(2) Provides that 100 percent of funds earned for the Early Intervention
Program must be expended for that purpose at the system level
with no requirement that the school system spend any specific
portion at the site where earned.
(3) Requires that 100 percent of media center and media materials
costs be spent at the system level.
(4) Provides that 90 percent of staff development funds must
be spent for staff and professional developments costs at the
system level.
(5) Requires each system to report to the Department of Education
its budgets and expenditures based in the preceding school year
for each school site as a part of its report in October for the
FTE count and on March 15.