The Fulton

County School Board is still looking at ways to balance this year's budget,

without sacrificing many programs.

At last week's

workshop, the board voted for several programs, including:

·Continuing

all locally funded pre-kindergarten classes for 2002-03.Overruling a staff

recommendation, theboard decided to provide funding for these classes

at least for the next year, using the reserve from its general fund, at

a cost of $1.1 million.

Fulton County

Schools currently funds 23 of the 75 pre-k classes from local revenues.

The state lottery funds 75 percent of the other 52 classes.

According to

board member Gail Dean, students have already registered forpre-k classes,

and any reduction at this time will cause a hardship for those children.

"It is

the intent of the Board to continue our locally funded pre-kindergarten

classes, above and beyond that funded by state lottery dollars.Pre-K is

one of our strategies for improving student performance, and the Board

plans to do everything to maintain this successful program," she

concluded.

·Reducing

class size in elementary schools.In anticipation of state-mandated class

size reduction to be implemented by 2003-04, the board directed the administration

to include funds in the FY03 budget to reduce class sizes in kindergarten

from 22 to 18 and in grades 1 to 3 from 22 to 21. The cost for these reductions

is approximately $6 million.

The board continues

to work on several issues regarding the budget. The next public meetings

is May 16 at 7 p.m. at the Administrative Center.