Atlanta Public Schools votes to abolish district and school-level positions

At a regularly scheduled board meeting last week, the Atlanta Board of Education voted unanimously to abolish several hundred district-level and school-based positions to align district priorities better.

Presented by Chief Human Resource Officer Nicole Lawson, the abolishment resulted from unfunded pension and healthcare, fluctuations in student enrollment, funding new initiatives with fidelity, and realignment and reorganizations within the central office in support of district initiatives.

The motion made by Cynthia Briscoe Brown and seconded by Katie Howard recommended that the abolishment results in the loss of 534 positions, 108 central offices, and 425 school-based positions, of which 332 are currently vacant.

This move comes during the 24-25 budget cycle when Atlanta Board schools are attempting to balance the budget due, and the deficit from COVID-era federal funding is leaving. School-based staff used enrollment numbers and master schedules to determine what positions would be abolished.

The positions cut include content positions from schools, the Division of Academics, Atlanta Virtual Schools, Operations, Information Technology, and the Office of Equity.

As a result, schools will lose 425 school-based positions (where 276 were already vacant), and 142 new positions will be created for the 24-25 school year. In the Central Office, 108 positions were recommended for abolishment (where 56 were already vacant), with a total of 27 new central administration positions created.

All abolished positions will be effective on July 1, 2024.