Gwinnett Schools' 2012 Budget: $1.7 Billion

Facing declining revenues, the Gwinnett County Public Schools are proposing to go through the 2012 fiscal year with a $1.7 billion budget, $111.2 million less than 2011.

Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks told school board members and those attending Tuesdays's District II area board meeting that the declining Gwinnett County tax digest and less state funding are responsible for reductions.

He reiterated that there will be no layoffs, but that there will be no cost of living increases so that the system, which is still adding students, can balance its books, as is required by law. "We can't spend our way out of a problem," Wilbanks said at Lanier High on Tuesday.

The system, Georgia's largest, projects adding 1,700 students in the next school year, giving it 162,450.

The system's general fund, which pays out most day-to-day expenses, is projected at $1.2 billion, a 3.1 percent decrease from 2011.

Board members will hold work sessions on the proposed budget on April 16 at the Suwanee headquarters and April 19 at Grayson High. Public hearings will be May 12 and May 19, at which final adoption is planned.

Other cost saving measures include two furlough days (except for bus drivers and school nutrition) and a hiring freeze (except for critical needs positions). Those measures would save $10.4 million and $4.3 million, respectively.

Wilbanks estimated a local revenue decline from property taxes at $42.3 million, putting a three-year decline at $97 million.

The budget devotes 73.7 percent of the general funds to instruction. Approximately 9,900 teaching positions are in the budget.

"It may be two or three years before the better times that we are looking for," Wilbanks said.

Wilbanks and board members came to Lanier High School in Suwanee as part of the district's annual area board meetings. These meetings are in addition to regular monthly board meetings. All of the meetings begin at 7 p.m.; refreshments are served at 6:30 p.m.

The remaining dates are:

• March 31: District 3, , 5300 Spalding Drive, Norcross
• April 12: District 4, , 1255 Dogwood Road, Snellville
• April 14: District 5, , 405 Pleasant Hill Road, Lilburn
• April 19: District 1, Grayson High School, 50 Hope Hollow Road, Loganville