Atlanta Public Schools presents lean, balanced $1.3B FY2027 budget with $10M in tax relief

Atlanta Public Schools on April 16 presented a FY2027 budget proposal of approximately $1.3 billion that district leaders said is ‘‘lean but balanced’’ and will be brought to the Board for tentative adoption in May. Superintendent Dr. Brian Johnson and budget lead Dr. Bracken said the package includes a 0.2 mill reduction — from 20.5 to 20.3 mills — that the district estimates will return about $10 million to property owners and that the proposal uses no fund balance to balance the budget.

The budget narrative centers on constrained revenue assumptions and targeted tradeoffs. Dr. Bracken told the Budget Commission that local revenue makes up roughly 73% of the general fund and is projected to increase by about 2% next year while state QBE allocations remain provisional pending official QBE sheets. She said, “This is a 1.3 billion dollar budget that we will be bringing to you at the May Board meeting for tentative adoption,” and…