During the budget development process, board members expressed their

commitment to a no tax increase budget. While the �nal millage rates

will not be adopted until June 21, the board intends to roll back the

millage to an amount that offsets increases in property reassessments.

The net result of the millage reduction will be no school tax increase.

This will be the �fth consecutive year that the Fulton County Board of

Education has given a full or partial millage rollback.

"The board was very clear in its expectations that we have a full

millage rollback," said Superintendent Michael Vanairsdale. "The

job of the administration was to present a budget that meets the needs

of our students and also honors the boards commitment to their citizens,

who are the real owners of the school system."

In developing the budget, the Board asked for programs and ideas that

bene�t students and improve academic achievement. Among the instructional

items approved:

-Expansion of elementary foreign language programs and programs

for talented and gifted students.

-Maintaining the current class sizes and school support staf�ng

guidelines.

-Providing additional support to the Early Intervention Program,

-Enhancements to the ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages)

program.

-Implementation of additional e-learning opportunities.

-Improvements to programs that serve special needs students.

-Expansion of the successful CheckPoints program begun in 2004.

-Redesign of summer and night school programs.

Revenues from local, state, and federal sources are expected to generate

$621 million for Fulton schools. The board will use $16.2 million currently

held in reserve to make up the difference between projected expenditures

and revenues.

"We are fortunate to have a very healthy reserve fund balance," said

Vanairsdale. "The FY 05 budget allows us to maintain a high level

of reserves that falls within recommended accounting practices. Even

though we are using some of our reserves next year, our reserve balances

will remain above those of other metro systems."

In FY 2004, Fulton County employees received raises, but no experience

step increases. The board agreed to a recovery step, effective at the

beginning of the contract year for employees who would have been eligible

for a step in 2003-2004 had it been awarded. This will correct inequities

that had existed in the systems current salary schedules. In addition,

all eligible employees will receive a step increase effective January

1, 2005.

Salary schedules for Fulton teachers are the highest in the metropolitan

area and among the highest in the Southeast. The step increases should

continue to give the system a competitive edge in not only recruiting,

but also retaining quality instructional staff.

A $3.3 million enhancement in the Fulton School Employees Pension Fund

will bene�t those who retired from Fulton County Schools prior to 1988

(the year Fulton transferred to the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia)

and also will bene�t current support staff employees who are not under

the TRS plan.

The majority of new funds are tied to students and enrollment growth.

As an example, transportation will receive funding for nine additional

bus drivers to serve new routes as the result of opening �ve new schools

in August 2004. Approximately $2.4 million also is budgeted for increased

water, sewer, electricity and natural gas costs attributed to the 1.15

million additional square feet in new schools and the increases in energy

costs.

The Board will hold a called meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. at Dunwoody

Springs Elementary School, 8100 Roberts Drive, to set the FY 2005 millage

rates. The current total millage is at 18.056. With the millage rollback,

this �gure will be lowered.

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