Fulton County Tax Revenue Adjustment to Benefit APS by $7.5 Million

This Revenue Adjustment is Pending a Public Hearing Process and Board Approval

After receiving and analyzing the Fulton County Tax Digest this week, Atlanta Public Schools’ (APS) administration will recommend to the Atlanta Board of Education to adjust its local revenue assumptions up by $7.5 million or 1.3%, based on stronger than anticipated growth.  This increase will allow APS to fund most of the remaining unfunded priorities of the FY20 budget, including the full $3,000 raise for teachers which is part of the full compensation package the administration recommended. The compensation recommendations, if approved by the Board, are highlighted below:

·       Teacher pay raises increase from average 3.3% (about $2,000) to average 4.85% (about $3,000)

·       Instructional support pay raises increase from average 2.3% to average 3.2%

·       One-time payment for eligible teacher and instructional support employees who are off step increases from $1,000 to $3,000

·       Non-Teacher pay grades 125-150 receive a 1% increase in addition to the step raise previously approved (total = 2.2%)

·       Non-Teacher pay grades 111-124 still receive the same step and 1% pay raise previously approved (total = $2.45%)

·       One-time payment for eligible non-teaching employees who are off step increases from $700 to $1,000

·       Teacher career pathway stipends increase for department chair (middle school and high school), grade level team lead (elementary) and cooperating teacher; new stipend for lead campus-based mentor

·       Implement remaining pay parity recommendations for JROTC local supplement and stipend adjustments and converting 42 hourly bus monitors and 38 special education paraprofessionals to full time with benefits.

“This is great news because we can honor our district’s promise to our educators to pay the raise as soon as we had the resources and without further delay. It means we don’t have to wait on the payment from the City on our tax allocation district settlement agreement to get started on giving the full raises to teachers,” said APS Superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen. “Thank you to our taxpayers for making this possible for our hardworking educators! We are so grateful for your support, investment and commitment to our district and City. There’s still work to do in following the process, including holding three public hearings, adopting the millage rate and receiving Board approval in order to bring these adjustments to fruition. My hope is that with an aggressive timeline for this process, our teachers and other non-annual employees will receive their raises by the end of August and our remaining staff will receive their additional compensation and retro pay by the end of September.”

APS is required to advertise a tax increase of 1.54%, even though the millage rate will stay the same. The district is working to schedule the three public hearings required in the month of July before the millage rate can be adopted in late July or early August.

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