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APS proposes balanced FY27 budget with small millage cut, $10M for special education and $37M for curriculum over five years
Summary
Chief financial officer Lisa Bracken told the board the FY27 proposal is a $1.66 billion consolidated budget described as balanced without use of fund balance, proposes reducing the millage from 20.5 to 20.3, and earmarks $10 million for exceptional education and about $37 million over five years for curriculum and literacy investments.
Atlanta Public Schools’ chief financial officer presented the district’s FY27 proposed budget Wednesday and described it as the first balanced budget since FY2023 and as the package the board would be asked to adopt later that evening.
Lisa Bracken told the board collections through April showed roughly 89.75% of total resources were in and that district spending to date aligned with normal seasonal patterns. She said the FY27 recommendation totals about $1.66 billion across consolidated funds and includes a general fund of approximately $1.3 billion.
Key takeaways, Bracken said, include a target millage reduction that would return $10 million to taxpayers by lowering the mill rate from 20.5 to 20.3, a $10 million ongoing investment in exceptional education, additional step increases and a cost-of-living increase (roughly 2–2.5%) that raises salary spending by about $19 million, and more than $37 million earmarked for curriculum and literacy investments over the next five years.
Bracken described the budget as cautious on revenue projections—anticipating modest local growth plus roughly 4% QBE increase from the state—and said the district intends to aim future investments at high-quality universal pre-K, community hubs and individualized student success plans if revenues permit. She also noted APS’s internal fund-balance target of about 12.5% (policy target range is 7.5–15%) and estimated ending fund balance around 11.58% of expenditures in the coming year.
Board members asked for cost estimates tied to specific strategic initiatives; Bracken offered rough operational figures (community hub operations roughly $1 million per hub per year; a universal pre-K operational expansion on the order of $2 million annually depending on scale) and said detailed school- or program-level sheets are available on the APS budget website. Several board members expressed appreciation the proposal is balanced and requested further detail on phased investments and measurable outcome tracking.
Next steps: the FY27 budget was scheduled for a final adoption vote that evening; staff will provide supplemental materials and school-specific cost sheets on request.
