A lot has changed for Atlanta Public Schools in two years.
In 2021, the last time that Atlanta School Board seats were up for grabs, Lisa Herring was the Atlanta Public Schools superintendent, and the COVID-19 pandemic was still significantly disrupting classrooms. Now, as Atlanta voters decide who should fill five of the nine seats on Nov. 7, Herring has joined the U.S. Department of Education after the school board didn’t renew her contract, and COVID-19 is much less of a health threat in K-12 schools.
But there are still plenty of challenges to tackle. Here are several key issues that APS is facing for the 2023-24 school year and beyond.
The funding cliff
Educators around the country are wondering how steeply they’ll fall from the “funding cliff.”
The ominous phrase refers to the emergency federal COVID-19 relief money that schools have received since 2021. The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, has doled out $190 billion to U.S. public school districts, or nearly $4,000 per student, but those funds have to be used by Sept. 30, 2024.
APS’s share has been $300 million over the past three years, including $99 million for the 2023-2024 school year. The $1.66 billion APS budget is flush with COVID-19 funds for this year, but then what?
Superintendent shuffle
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s first big RICO case was back in 2013 when, as assistant district attorney, she convened a grand jury that indicted then-APS Superintendent Beverly Hall and other educators on allegations of changing students’ scores on standardized tests.
Meria Carstarphen took the APS superintendent job in 2014 but left in 2020 after the school board did not renew her contract. Herring only lasted two years as her replacement. Danielle Battle is the interim superintendent, until the board picks a permanent replacement. Many board candidates say Atlanta’s superintendent shuffle is costly and…
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