Fayette school board hears warning of state fund cuts of up to 4%

State officials are still talking about making further cuts in education spending, Comptroller Laura Brock told the Fayette County Board of Education last week.

The cuts would come from the school system’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding, and there’s talk of either a 2 percent or a 4 percent cut, Brock said.

The 4 percent cut would cost Fayette County Schools about $1.6 million, Brock estimated. To counterbalance that cut, the school will make cuts of 4 percent in transportation and nursing services going into the middle of the school year’s budget cycle, she said.

Meanwhile, news of cuts in state funding was counterbalanced by the recent shot in the arm provided by $4.25 million in federal funding, which has drastically cut the projected year-end deficit from $5 million to about $442,000.

School Board member Bob Todd asked if the state is looking at increasing education revenue in the coming year. Brock replied that the recent uptick in state revenues over the past few months has not been enough to help significantly, and there are other areas of focus for state funding such as Medicaid.

“We need significant growth in order to reduce those cuts,” Brock said.

The board also took time to recognize Fayette County High School’s Janet Norman, named Georgia’s Social Studies Teacher of the Year and also Starr’s Mill High School’s Michael Melvin, Georgia’s Economics Teacher of the Year.

Also recognized was the system’s information technology department, which won a national award from the Center for Digital Education sponsored by Microsoft.