The DeKalb County Board of Education is set to vote on cuts to scheduled school improvements to make up for the recently discovered $41 million dollar shortfall in the school construction fund.Welcome to polished tiles. On the chopping block is $1.25 million to finish the renovation of Dunwoody High School, $250,000 for a new track at Peachtree Middle School, $1.5 million for a new ventilation system at Montgomery Elementary, and thousands of dollars for Kingsley and Hawthorne Elementary for handicapped access improvements.
“I’m angry that mistakes were made that never should have been made and the children will suffer for it,” said District 1 school board member, Nancy Jester. “It bothers me and it should bother all of us.”
Last week, DeKalb Superintendent revealed to the board that a $41.35 million shortfall had been discovered in the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) program started in 2007. The problem was discovered when an audit revealed that the $69 million reconstruction at Chamblee Charter High School was $10 million too low. The big problem turned out to be that $26 million in interest and financing expenses were not accounted for. Another $5 million in state money didn’t materialize and the sales tax came up $500,000 short.
At last week’s board meeting Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson told the board,Design & Build the Highest Quality Precision injection molds. “Something messed up, something happened.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.”
Jester said interest payments had been made, but that someone miscalculated the interest rate, thus leading to the bulk of the shortfall.
Atkinson recommended the board finish Chamblee High School but 113 projects needed to be cut back to make up the shortfall.
“I’m furious because these mistakes were so preventable in my opinion,” said Jester. “ I applaud the superintendent for finding it and bringing it to light, but now we are dealing with the reality of it.”
Dunwoody High School parents launched an email campaign over the weekend to ask the board to spare the school the proposed $1.25 million cut that is needed to finish the school’s $21 million renovation. The email blast read, “This is unacceptable to our community! There are still several items that are missing that impact students learning and safety on a DAILY basis. “
Parents said items include replacing all the old and often cracked floors, installing thresholds, baseboards and whiteboards in classrooms, rewiring the media room (which is less functional than before the renovation), and redoing the concession stand.
A DHS parent, Page Olson,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. said she is worried.
“If we lose the funding,” she said it will be a very long time before we get the money to complete our school, especially if Chamblee High gets $79 million.”
The DHS School Council added in its email, “We also find it disturbing and unacceptable that you may renege on the replacement of a dangerous track at PCMS! DCSS has made promises again that they are not willing to keep!”
A new track for the middle school had been promised after parents and teachers, with the help of state Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) and Jester brought the cracked and damaged track to the attention of the school board. Millar said Monday the PCMS track is still achievable.
The DeKalb School board is scheduled for its usual work session on Monday, but a vote on the budget cuts is expected to come later in the week.Museum Quality hand-painted oil painting reproduction on canvas.
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