Dade County schools react quickly to account for furlough

Even though Dade County School Superintendent Patty Priest planned for the possibility of furloughs, Gov. Sonny Perdue's request that teachers take three days off this year still took her by surprise.

"There was some talk about this in this legislative session, so our contracts are drawn up so we could furlough if we needed to do that," Mrs. Priest said Wednesday. "One piece that concerns me is the timing of this whole thing. We are getting ready to start school. I wish we'd known (sooner)."

Late Tuesday, Gov. Perdue told school officials that he will withhold three days' funding from school systems. He suggested teachers give up three training days to help make up the state's nearly $3 billion shortfall.

"It would be like an unpaid holiday," said Walker County Schools spokeswoman Elaine Womack.

Gov. Perdue also said each system must cut its budget by an additional 3 percent.

School budgets for 2010 already are in place in some districts. Area school officials said the last-minute change puts them in a difficult position.

"This is the second year Governor Perdue has reduced our revenue after we have prepared our budget," Catoosa County Superintendent Denia Reese said in a statement. "It is very challenging to have significant budget cuts when we are two weeks away from children returning to school."

Mrs. Reese's school board is scheduled to approve the final budget Tuesday. Walker and Whitfield's county school boards already have approved budgets and Dade is scheduled to finalize its budget on July 30.

Walker and Catoosa school leaders said they plan to have teachers take off training days, rather than instruction days, to meet the governor's request.

Mrs. Priest said she will work with the School Superintendents Association, the Georgia Department of Education and her school board to decide the best course of action.

Whitfield County spokesman Eric Beavers said his system's leaders are still absorbing the governor's announcement and will let the community know when they have a plan for mitigating the cuts.

"We are not going to hastily react to his announcement, but will take all the time necessary to make a wise decision that will have the least impact on student instruction," Mr. Beavers said in an e-mail Wednesday.

State officials are unsure how the governor's announcement will affect school systems.

"The superintendent (Kathy Cox) will be talking to the local districts via conference call in the next couple of days to begin the process of providing answers and gathering feedback," a state Department of Education spokesman said Wednesday in an e-mail.

Teachers could work fewer than the required 190 days if the state board waived the mandate. A new law allows students to attend fewer than 180 days of school if they attend the equivalent in hours.

But Department of Education spokesman Dana Tofig said he isn't sure yet how -- or if -- either of these rules may apply to the governor's request.

Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said he is disappointed and deeply concerned about the governor's announcement and its timing. He said teacher training and planning days are important.

He wants legislators to come back to Atlanta for a special session and consider giving up some tax-incentive or tax-free programs to make up revenue.

"It would be negligent to not look at methods to bring in much-needed tax monies, such as temporarily suspending the upcoming sales tax holiday," Mr. Hubbard said.

Georgia's sales tax holiday is July 30-Aug. 2.