For the past two years, The Citizen has looked at the various expenses in the Fayette County School System. The reviews originated when it became apparent that expenditures outstripping revenues would lead to the need for several millions of dollars in cuts that now face the Fayette County Board of Education.
The review this time focuses on the number of assistant principals in the school system, the number paid by state funding and those paid by local property owners.
The school system has 44 assistant principal positions in the 29 public schools, with two of those currently vacant, according to information obtained from the school system. State funding pays for 35.6 of those positions while the remaining 8.4 positions are funded by county property taxes.
Salary information obtained at www.open.ga.gov for Fiscal Year 2010, the most recent available, showed 40 of the current assistant principals listed. Their salaries, not including benefits, totaled $3.046 million.
Of the 40 assistant principals listed, the low was $62,500 while the high was $95,700, for an average of $76,150.
The 8.4 positions not funded by the state and reliant on local property tax total $639,600 based on the $76,150 average.
The number of assistant principals assigned to the various schools may not figure in the budget discussions for the FY 2012-2013 school year that begins July 1. What will figure into the talks are the millions of dollars that must be cut from the budget in order to comply with state law by passing a balanced budget in June. Superintendent Jeff Bearden in previous statements estimated those reductions at $10 million.
For its part, the school system is looking at a number of ways to reduce the budget though virtually no recommendation has been forthcoming to date.
Meantime, school board Chairman Bob Todd several months ago asked Bearden to have the recommendations ready before the end of the calendar year while board member Janet Smola had preferred to wait until early 2012 to hear the recommendations.
Smola’s position prevailed, as no full recommendation for cutting more than $6 million has been forthcoming from Bearden.
