DeKalb School Board Divided

The DeKalb County school board failed Wednesday to adopt a budget that includes cutting $85 million from school programs.

The board meeting stopped about three hours from its 1 p.m. start after the board was far apart on major issues.

The biggest surprise was when Board member Paul Womack broke from Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson's proposed budget, which calls for a 2-mill tax increase.

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He said that he would like to cut 10 teaching days from the school calendar to save - in theory - the district's $30 million in operating expenses for that period of time.

Womack's proposal appeared to have enough support to at least discuss the idea. The board broke to find supporting information on the proposal and decided to meet 6 p.m. June 21, Thursday, to again attempt to vote on the budget.

Most of the conversation centered around the cutting of the Fernbank Science Center and reducing transportation to magnet schools.

Atkinson's proposed budget would cut $3.2 million from the Fernbank Science Center, which would reduce the center's budget to $1.5 million. Atkinson said the bare-bones funding could be enough to keep the center running until it culd raise funds to sustain itself.

A tug-of-war issue is the $700,000 the district proposes cutting that is used to transport students to magnet programs. Some board members said the funding should be preserved because it's an important component of what the district offers - making sure kids get to the specialized programs.

Other board members said that the cuts should stand and that the mo ney is better spent on personnel than buses.