Memorandum from Mary Kay Murphy
Mary Kay Murphy, Ph.D. District 3  School Board Member and 2004 Chairman of the Board

April 18, 2004

"Doing More with Less" in FY05

   "Doing more with less" is required as the Gwinnett County Public School system faces its responsibility to educate all students who enroll in our public schools amidst a lagging economy, reductions in State funding, and increases in student enrollment. 

   Through FY03-04 and FY 04-05, the school system has deferred major purchases and declined to add many new programs. Many Central Office staff positions have been cut and incumbents returned to local schools.

    In FY04-05, we expect to lose approximately $44 million from the State of Georgia for support of the public schools in Gwinnett County. While our total FY04-05 budget is being decreased by $113 million from $1.421 billion to $1,3 billion, we must accommodate the 6,000 additional students who will enroll in our schools between May and August 2004. 

   Also, we must accommodate ten new schools that will help us serve 6,000 additional students-or a student body of 135,000 students-in August 2004. The budget also will include funding for more than 950 new staff positions needed to accommodate the growth of our student population as well as between a 2% and 5% salary increase for the school system's teachers and staff beginning in January 2005.

   In FY03-04, of the total revenue of $1,187 million available to Gwinnett County Public Schools, 52.9 %-or $627.6 million-came from Gwinnett County property taxes and the SPLOST sales tax. 

   The State of Georgia contributed $512.7 million-or 43.2 %-from the Quality Basic Education revenue, school lunch grants, State Capital Outlay grants, PreK-12 grants, and Post-Secondary Education Grants. 

   The Federal government contributed $46.4 million-or 3.9% of total revenue-for school lunch, Pre-K-12 grants, and Post-Secondary Education Grants.

   In FY04-05, it is projected that of the $1,472 million total revenue available to Gwinnett County Public Schools, 64.3%-or $946 million-will come from Gwinnett County property taxes and SPLOST sales taxes. The State of Georgia's contribution will be reduced to 31.9% of total revenue-or $469.6 million, while the Federal contribution will remain somewhat steady at 3.8% of the total-or $56.2 million. 

   As of May 1, 2004, the State of Georgia has not approved its FY04-05 budget. Governor Perdue will call a Special Session of the General Assembly to produce a final budget. Until that final approval, we will not have firm budget information about the FY04-05 Gwinnett County Public School budget. 

   State funding for public education in Georgia is based on the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula adopted in 1985 and again in 2002. The QBE formula provides a minimum or baseline of State support for public K-12 education. When it was originally designed, the State defined a "Quality Basic Education" as one funded by 80% from the State of Georgia and 20% from local school districts.

   The 20% contribution from the State's 180 public school systems is represented by the calculation of 5 mills of tax on each system's local property tax digest. In reality, many systems must go far beyond what the State of Georgia funds in order to provide a quality education for students in their schools.

   In Gwinnett, 18.87 mills of tax are currently levied to support public education. For FY04-05, it is projected that the State's share of funding for our General Fund (not our total revenue budget) will be 50.9%, while local funding will be 49.1%. As originally projected, the proportion was expected to be 80% from the State and 20% from the local property tax digest.

   Many low-wealth districts throughout Georgia cannot levy the 5-mill tax on their local school system's property tax digest. Under Governor Perdue's FY04-05 budget proposal, Gwinnett's Five-Mill Buy-In is estimated to be $111.9 million. This represents an increase from FY03-04 when Gwinnett County contributed $107.9 to equalize the earnings for 162 school systems throughout Georgia that do not have the local wealth or resources to tax their local property beyond the minimum of 5 mills 

   Every school system in the State must contribute to the Five-Mill Buy-In portion of the QBE formula. Statewide, this totals $1.2 billion for FY04-05, with the 162 school systems receiving equalization grants for a total statewide amount of $341 million. Gwinnett County will not receive any of these funds. Rather, it will be among the largest contributors to the fund.

   In 2004, Governor Perdue appointed a Task Force to address some of the funding issues related to the Quality Basic Education formula. Included as one of the on QBE Task Force's fifteen members is Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks of Gwinnett County Public Schools.

   Hopefully, the original QBE funding formula will be revised to benefit public education through Georgia, including the students, faculty, staff, parents, and community members throughout Gwinnett County.

042004

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