Fayette classrooms bear brunt of 73 personnel cuts, but Central Office almost untouched

— School board’s plan cuts 70 school positions, 3 central office slots as ‘bureaucracy motors on’— 

More details of the plan to reduce headcount came out at the April 8, 2024 School Board “Working Session.”

During a discussion about 2024-2025 school year allotments, it was announced that there would be a reduction of 73 positions with 70 of them coming from our excellent schools and 3 from the central office. For more detail with individual schools see the numbers below or on the BoE’s website: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S=4067&AID=1631293&MID=116538

The system is forecast to have 217 less students next year or 1.1% less. The 70 reduced school based positions is from a workforce of 2,182 positions or 3.2% less. The Central Office is cutting 2-and-a-half positions out of almost 200 positions (or 0.6%) with the half position filled by an already retired person who was collecting salary on top of their full retirement.

Reasonable people should be disappointed by this information.

While the recording of the meeting is not available at the writing of this article — which is 48 hours after the meeting — it’s hard to believe there is sound rationale behind this plan.

Having been part of teams that have had to reduce costs and people, the work is never easy nor fun when people’s livelihoods are on the line. However, the customer has always been focus number one.

In this case, it appears to me the opposite is true. The classroom is bearing the brunt of the reductions while the bureaucracy motors on. To be clear, central office work is often necessary, but classroom work is vital. If we could not reduce central office work, how can the central office team rationally say that our already heavily taxed teachers can do more?

What data requests. documentation demands, PLC presentation, and other duties are going to go away to offset the work of larger class sizes? In recent years many of our schools have come to offer “remediation” where students can hand in late work for at least partial credit and students not happy with a test grade can request a retest. This is all creates more work for our excellent teachers and now they have more students.

The administration can claim that this is all a math exercise and enrollment allocations drove the numbers. That may be true, but it is odd, that while Fayette County High School is projected to have 53 more students and loses 3 staff and Sandy Creek High School gains 44 and loses 4 teachers, McIntosh gains 19 and loses only one-half person for staff allocation.

Some will argue that the homestead exemption voted by the taxpayers is a key cause of our current situation. Whatever, the explanation, the question is how do we use our money to provide the best schools for Fayette’s students.

It’s never feels good when someone loses their job and these decisions are very tough, however, it is hard to believe that this is the best plan anyone can come up with to best serve our schools given the problem has been openly discussed since August.

[Neil Sullivan is a finance/accounting executive and CPA. He has lived in Peachtree City over 20 years with his wife Jennifer, who has taught in the Fayette County School System, and son Jackson, a student at Erskine College. He has been active in public school related issues in Fayette County, leading three E-SPLOST initiatives as chairman of Fayette Citizens for Children.]