ATLANTA - Education officials for months warned a panel reworking Georgia's formula for funding schools that changes would create "winning" and "losing" school districts.
On Wednesday, the group got its first look at who falls where under a proposed replacement - and the Gainesville City School System and Lumpkin County School District are two of the losers.
The rewrite could increase total education spending about 2.5 percent or around $234 million, compared to what schools will receive this year under Georgia's existing formula.
The changes would mean lower funding for nine schools districts and two virtual charter schools, ranging from a drop of 0.5 percent to 5.5 percent. Education officials said the districts have above-average percentages of students with disabilities, who receive education plans tailored to their needs.
Subcommittee members are part of Gov. Nathan Deal's appointed "Education Reform Commission," and began debating changes to Georgia's 18-part formula in February.
Tweaks still could be made to the proposal. The subcommittee plans to meet again Nov. 12, days before commission chairman Charles Knapp hopes the full commission will approve its report to the governor. The commission does have a scheduled December meeting, but Knapp has said he hopes the group will complete its work in November.
As the Great Recession hit, Georgia followed other states cutting millions from school funding. Some of those cuts have been restored under Deal, but critics point to a $500 million shortfall compared to what the state's existing funding formula recommends. Deal says that formula never has been funded completely.
The new funding proposal would increase education spending to about $8.4 billion, a large portion of the $21.8 billion the state contributes to a total $40 billion spending plan.
Critics of the overhaul backed by the Republican governor argue that the commission hasn't discussed how much a good education costs and is simply deciding how to split up a lower amount of money than schools need.
The proposed formula sets a starting dollar amount per student, with added money for specific characteristics including grade level, disabilities, and poverty measures.
It also would allow districts to make dramatic changes to the way teachers are paid in Georgia. Rather than the state's salary schedule determining when teachers are eligible for an increase, local officials would be encouraged to create their own system. Officials said that will give districts more control, for example to recruit teachers with the skill or subject expertise they need or incentivize jobs at struggling schools.
Districts and schools to lose some funding under the proposal, in addition to Gainesville City and Lumpkin County, are: Burke, Coffee, Crisp, Floyd, Haralson, Tattnall and Worth counties' school systems, and virtual charters Georgia Cyber Academy and Georgia Connections Academy.
Subcommittee members requested minor changes on Wednesday, with little impact on the bottom line for individual districts. But as the meeting closed, state Sen. Lindsey Tippins, a Republican from Marietta and chairman of the Senate's Education committee, asked why districts weren't getting additional funding for 4th and 5th grades to make sure students are proficient in math by then. The proposed formula includes additional funding for kindergarten through 3rd grade, to meet a similar reading goal.
"If we're serious about affecting the high school dropout rate and people being prepared for college or continuing education, I think you have to get the math teaching right and do it early on," Tippins said.
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Online: http://gov.georgia.gov/education-reform-commission
