Vowing to

work with the Governor on education reform, the Coweta

County Board of Education passed its largest school

budgetTuesday night.

The $135

million budget features $98.6 million in general fund

expenditures, along with nearly $20 million in capital

projects. Six jobs in the Coweta County School System's

central office are being slashed as a result of Gov. Roy

Barnes' A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000.

"The

governor wants more emphasis put on the individual

schools and that's what we intend to do,"

Superintendent of Schools Bob Brooks said.

The system

also plans to transfer an undetermined number of people

in the central office back into the schools, Brooks

added.

Jobs being

cut at the central office include Director of Operations

and Public Information Officer.

Several

systems are grappling with funding issues under the

Education Reform Act and many systems are contemplating

cutting a number of their para-professionals. But so far,

Coweta's para-pros are safe.

"We're

probably going to have to reevaluate this in the summer

and see if all the figures turn out like we hope,"

the superintendent said.

"We're

going to have several new teachers this year, along with

construction costs stemming from building a new

elementary school," Brooks said.

All system

employees will receive a 3-percent pay raise and Brooks

said the difficulty in this year's budget process has

been waiting for final passage of the Education Reform

Act to see how local systems would fare.