Budgeting - Executive Summary

 

School district budgets are not just about dollars and cents. They are about how well the district allocates its limited resources to the benefit of student achievement and outcomes. Therefore, a budget cannot just outline revenues and expenditures, it must set out the direction for the district. Here at APS, budgets are about increasing equity, instructional quality and efficiency while assuring the district reaches the mission to graduate every child, so they are prepared for college and career.

 

The fiscal year 2024 general fund budget not only outlines the APS revenue and expenditure plan for school year 2023-2024 but will also continue to follow a student-focused funding model that provides resources based on student attributes and continue a zero-based budgeting model to the district departments to promote focus on key priorities. Both the Student Success Funding (SSF) and zero-based budgeting models, empower school-based decision-making to effectively use resources that align with the APS strategic priorities set forth.

 

As the district prepares for FY2024 and beyond, we are positioning to take on challenges we are likely to encounter. Student success is our top priority, and our students and programs are seeing initial movement and are making headlines for improvements. Some of our most notable successes include:

 

• Aligning with our districts Strategic Priorities by allocating millions in support of investments in quality early childhood education (PAACT), leadership development, whole-child development, and investments in Pre-K through third grade to ensure all students are reading by the end of third grade

• APS compensation and retention efforts: General pay increase to salary schedules and step raises for all eligible full-time employees on non-teacher pay grade (5%), general pay increase to salary schedules and step raises for all eligible full-time employees on instructional pay scale (3%), increase base pay for all teachers in alignment with State’s proposal to increase pay by $2,000, $1,000 to all part time/hourly and substitutes

• Atlanta Public Schools (APS) achieved an 83.1% graduation rate for cohort 2021, according to graduation data released today by the Georgia Department of Education. By achieving its all-time high graduation rate, APS has narrowed the gap with the state rate of 83.7% by 2.9 percentage points to a difference of 0.6 percentage points.



The FY2024 budget has been developed around certain expenditure parameters that align with the goals/guardrails developed and set forth by the Board. This budget strives to sustain and support changes in school enrollments, new schools, changes in school designs, and shifts in school programs, as recommended, and approved through the facilities master planning process. The budget supports a compensation strategy and central office structure that aligns district initiatives with the recommendations from internal and external reviews and audits.

 

 

The FY2024 budget also contemplates federally funded programs and positions, especially those funded through CARES, and begins the process of folding in or rolling off those expenditures as appropriate. In addition, the budget has taken into consideration the increase in the cost of services due to inflation. The FY2024 budget also supports enhancements to the school nutrition program.

 

 

The final adopted FY2024 budget includes an investment of approximately $59.3 million dollars in employee compensation and rewards. The adopted budget for FY2024, contains pay increases to recognize and reward our hardworking staff, including but not limited to:

 

  • New Base Salary pay structure for all employee groups incorporating 2023 Compensation Study findings and State-of-Georgia budget adjustments including the proposed $2000 increase to the State’s salary scale for Teachers,
  • Market Salary Scale increases for all employee groups and step increments for all eligible employees on a pay grade/step (ranges from 6.5% to 8.4%),
  • $3,000 one-time payment for employees not eligible for step increments.
  • Reinstate the doctorate degree band for the instructional support pay grade,
  • $3,000 retention stipends for special education, mathematics, dual language immersion, ESOL teachers,
  • $500 - $2,000 retention stipends for all staff in high-poverty schools (with >65% direct certification),
  • $3,000 strategic early hiring incentives for Special Education, World Language, Dual Language Immersion, Art, and CTAE Teachers,
  • $3,000 retention stipend for Turnaround School Teachers,
  • $5,000 retention stipend for Turnaround School Principals, and
  • Funding to sponsor teacher recruits seeking H1-B VISA sponsorship

 

Additional Highlights of Atlanta Public Schools’ FY2024 budget include:

 

School Highlights

 

  • Increases to Special Education by $9.2 million
  • Increases to Extended Learning programs by $1.9 million
  • Increases to Counseling services by $685,000 (Up 7%)
  • Increases to K- 5 Grade Level by $1.8 million
  • Increases to Math by $1.3 million
  • Increases to Reading and ELA by $1.2 million
  • Increases to Social Workers by $872,000 (Up 12%)
  • Increases to Signature Programs by $880,000
  • Increases to the fine arts programs including Art, Music, PE, World Language, etc. by $2 million

 

Other Operational Enhancements

 

  • An Increase of $4.5 million for safety and security including $800,000 for SRO’s.
  • $1 million for the continuation of Athletic trainers
  • Increases in Academic Supports including Special Education contracted services ($700k), Fine Arts transportation ($425k), Learning Dev ($495k), PAACT ($1m), Reading/ ELA ($530k)
  • Increases for Software purchases and system upgrades $2.6 million)
  • A little over $4 million for Board elections
  • An additional $10 million to support inflationary costs on contracts and facility supplies.

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