The Fulton County School Board of Education met on Thursday, November 17, for its regularly scheduled board meeting at the South Learning Center. Following are highlights of some of the more highly discussed topics, with the full agenda available online. Other topics discussed or approved are available via BoardDocs. Summaries of board actions can be found here and board policy updates can be found here.
Superintendent's Report
Superintendent Mike Looney thanked students, families and FCS team members, as well as municipal partners and community organizations, for their efforts and support this school year. He noted that students have been making great progress despite the challenges since COVID-19, and that positive indicators such as graduation rates and testing data show students and staff are moving forward.
Additional Items
Redistricting
Deputy Chief Operations Officer Yngrid Huff presented the Superintendent’s final recommendation for redistricting in North Fulton, including recommending changes limited to the elementary school level. The school board accepted the recommendation for the North Fulton attendance zone redistricting plan, which can be viewed here.
Additionally, Huff reminded the school board that South Fulton school attendance boundaries needed to be adjusted to correct an imbalance of enrollment and classroom capacity at schools in the region. Per the criteria outlined in school board policy and based upon input gathered from the community, the school board accepted the Superintendent’s recommendation. Click here to see the final South Fulton redistricting plan.
Both items were submitted for first read and will be brought to the December school board meetings for final action. Impacted families will receive notification in January 2023 and changes go into effect with the 2023-24 school year.
Instructional Calendars
After careful consideration, the school board approved the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 instructional calendars as recommended by the Superintendent. Each calendar aims to honor the instructional calendar parameters voted on by the Board in September 2022. Of note, the calendars provide one of the longest summer breaks for students and staff in the metro Atlanta area and ensure alignment of spring break with metro Atlanta districts (April 1-5 in 2023-24, March 31-April 4 in 2024-25). Additionally, FCS continues to offer a full week-long holiday for Thanksgiving.
Moving forward, Dr. Looney added that FCS will convene and engage a stakeholder committee to provide input as future calendars are being developed.
Click here to see the 2023-2024 instructional calendar. The 2024-2025 instructional calendar can be found here.
Crisis Alert System
In support of the recommendation made by the FCS School Safety Committee, the school board accepted a contract with Centegix, an incident alerting solution that empowers staff to act and respond with confidence in crisis situations. Also known as “Crisis Alert,” Centegix allows for immediate staff alerts as well as immediate lockdown alerts by all staff and teachers wearing a Centegix badge. This is a districtwide solution helping students and staff feel safe and secure, thus allowing them to focus on our primary goal of education. The innovative crisis management platform contract is for one year (December 1, 2022 - November 30, 2023).
Monthly Capital Report
During the approved monthly capital report, Chief Operations Officer Noel Maloof shared positive news regarding Capital Plan 2022. According to Maloof, the district has more than $42 million in uncommitted funds that can be considered for reallocation from reserves. Some of the projects and improvements to which the money will be allocated include rebuilding Conley Hills Elementary School and undertaking a major LED lighting project throughout the district.
School Allotment Guidelines
As directed by the school board, each year FCS develops allotment formulas and guidelines for all schools within the district. School-based budget outputs are based on these allotment guidelines, which are developed with principal input. For FY2024, FCS continues to focus on aligning budget requests and outcomes to the district’s priorities. This approach allows FCS to continue using an all-inclusive and open budget development process so school-based programs throughout the district are sufficiently and equitably funded. The FY2024 School Allotment Guidelines do not reflect any changes from the FY2023 school year. Dr. Looney will bring proposed changes for the FY2024 School Allotment Guidelines to the school board in January 2023.
FY 2024 Budget Parameters
As the school board continues to focus on aligning the budget to the district’s priorities while maintaining strong fiscal responsibility, the proposed budget parameters have been approved for FY2024:
- Seek alternative funding sources
- Continue to maximize revenue from State QBE via improving FTE count coding
- Allocate at least 75% of General Fund to schools
- Identify opportunities for cost efficiencies
- Maintain a competitive compensation structure
- To extent possible be revenue neutral as defined by the tax rollback form
- Maintain at least two months of fund balance
- Continue with a transparent Modified Zero-Based Budgeting Process
- Continue to demonstrate sustainability related to budget recommendations
- Provide a path to transition to less federal support (ESSER, etc.).
The following individual was approved for a new position at the November 17 meeting:
- Charity Trowbridge | Director of Attendance Improvement
Original source can be found here.
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