Cherokee Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Petruzielo has raised concerns about numbers distributed by State Rep. Calvin Hill (R-Hickory Flat) that say the state has increased funding to education.
In a memo, Petruzielo contradicts the report Hill distributed to the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors that no reductions to Quality Basic Education funding, or QBE, were made for Georgia's fiscal year 2014 budget.
Petruzielo writes in his memo that the Cherokee County School District recently learned it will have to once again swallow $24.8 million in austerity cuts for the 2013-14 school year.
He also notes the county's equalization grant, which totals $500,000 has been eliminated.
The superintendent goes on to say that with the prediction that the county will see a "flat" year in its tax digest and the increased cost of providing non-certified employees with insurance through the State Health Benefit Plan, the district will see no funding relief to restore its calendar to 180 days, reduce class sizes and to repeal the eight furlough days for all employees.
The superintendent's memo comes on the heels of Hill last week releasing numbers that with state revenues growing by 3 percent, over $289 million in "new funds" have been assigned to education funding in the upcoming budget.
Hill stated House Bill 106 gave $146.5 million to fully fund Quality Basic Education, or QBE, growth from 1.4 percent for over 23,000 students. He also said the state increased equalization grants by $38.3 million to "reflect full funding of the required $474.4 million."
"We felt that providing Chamber of Commerce leaders with an accurate portrayal of our projected 2013-12 QBE funding and the extraordinary fiscal impact of continuing to provide non-certified employees with health insurance (and/or privatizing services that these employees currently provide for necessary benefit cost avoidance) was important, since the attached report is inaccurate and could lead the business community and others to believe the assertion that we are fully funded and that there was no reductions next year to the statutorily-required QBE state funding formula," Petruzielo writes at the end of his memo.
See the attached .PDF to read the memo as well as to read Hill's release to the chamber.
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