Schools

Schools Look to Cut Jobs, Calendar

The Bartow County system is facing a possible $2.1 million in budget cuts for the 2012-2013 school year.

At a Monday board retreat held at Rome's Berry College, Superintendent John Harper said the system is facing an additional $2.1 million shortfall in fiscal year 2013, and recommended the school board consider a number of changes, reports.

Those include employee layoffs by way of cuts to middle and high school programs; the program into elementary schools; and saving money on energy costs, including moving from a 180- to a 175-day calendar by starting school two days later and adding three days to Winter Break.

Students got two days off this year with a Winter Break day and a teacher work day.

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During the 2010-2011 school, the system found itself that locked down buses for a week.

The upcoming school year would be the third affected by cuts, and two years of teacher furloughs would continue. Haper's standing recommendation to continuing furloughs would carry over into next year, the newspaper reports.

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Following for certified staff and a continuing decline in state funding and property tax collections, Bartow Schools last fall and further trimmed .

Now school systems are facing another hitβ€”a 200 percent jump in health care costs for classified employees, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.


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