ATLANTA, Ga. - Educators have begun to lose their jobs, and the widespread terminations could cost taxpayers millions. Atlanta Public Schools tells FOX 5 they’re not sure how much they’ll have to spend to try to purge corrupt educators in the wake of the CRCT cheating scandal.
Interim superintendent Erroll Davis has vowed that none of the 178 educators implicated in the governor’s report on the CRCT cheating investigation will appear before students in his district again. But that process of purging educators from school could cost the district a pretty penny.
Several educators have already been removed from their positions, but for many, a pink slip doesn’t mean automatic termination. Many of those educators, including principals and teachers, will be entitled to administrative hearings, and that means the district must continue to pay them—while at the same time, paying for others to replace them in the schools.
FOX 5 has learned that the average salary for an APS principal is $109,256, while a teacher in the district makes an average of $65,904. Those implicated in the scandal who are removed from their jobs will continue to remain on the payroll until they are officially terminated, while the district will have to hire and pay others to do their jobs in the school system. It may easily become a costly proposition.
The district will also have to fund preparations of the cases against those educators, hiring experts and attorneys to make their cases.
Atlanta schools involved in the cheating scandal could have to pay back nearly a quarter of a million dollars in federal money. According to the state education department, 44 schools received up to $12,000 a year for their performance on federal benchmarks.
Attorney Michael McGonigle, legal services director for the Georgia Association of Educators, told FOX 5 it could take months to resolve some of the cases, based on past situations in other districts. McGonigle says there is no way around the cost, and the system has to safeguard the interests of both the district and the employees alike.
McGonigle also told FOX 5 he is getting lots of calls from educators who say there are errors in the report on the scandal, and he’s looking into those complaints.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/local_news/cheating-scandal-could-cost-taxpayers-millions-20110713-es
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 11:05 AM
