Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks asked the county’s legislative delegation Thursday for increased state funding to combat the challenges of teaching during the coronavirus pandemic although it has caused enrollment to decline.
Wilbanks briefed legislators during the annual pre-session meeting at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville.
The state Legislature was grappling with the pandemic’s impact on tax revenues when it cut $950 million from public schools in the summer, including $100 million from Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district. Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, asked Wilbanks whether teachers would be furloughed or laid off if the funding is not restored.
“Furloughs and those kinds of things, at some point in time, may have to happen,” Wilbanks said. “You just can’t ignore what impact that has on a budget.”
During the last recession, in 2009, the school district made cuts in maintenance, but expenses like roof replacements can only be put off so long, Wilbanks said.
“It’ll get you pretty soon,” he said. “That amount of money is going to touch schools.”
The district’s legislative priorities, which the school board approved just before Thanksgiving break, include funding for increased costs associated with the pandemic, such as personal protective equipment, virtual learning and other student services. The school district received about $32 million in emergency funding from the federal CARES Act for protective equipment, but the costs exceeded that amount, Wilbanks said.
The school district also asked legislators not to reduce the total amount of per-student funding that school districts receive although Gwinnett’s enrollment has dropped by about 3,000 students. Wilbanks estimated 75 percent of the decrease was in kindergarten, which is not mandatory in Georgia.
Kindergarteners struggle especially with digital learning, Wilbanks said.
“They need a relationship with teachers,” he said.
The school district also wants more state funding for early learning. In the past six to eight years, Wilbanks said, the number of children showing up for kindergarten academically unprepared has increased drastically.
“It’s a heavy lift for the kindergarten teachers,” Wilbanks said.
Other requests included increased funding for school counselors, social workers and transportation. Gwinnett buses about 137,000 students every day at a cost of $93 million, but the state only provided $5.8 million this year, Wilbanks said.
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