Meeting held to discuss Cobb Co. School District budget woes

A grassroots effort brought out hundreds of people in Cobb County on Monday to weigh in on the school district's budget shortfall. They hope to pressure Georgia lawmakers to release more money for the Cobb County School District.

Funding Awareness Campaign for Education (FACE), an organization of school council members from the district, held the meeting at Dodgen Middle School to discuss the $80 budget deficit.

Organizers of the meeting said their effort is probing ways to address the district's money problems of its annual $830 million budget, including reaching out to lawmakers.

"Things that will help our legislators give us the power to solve our own problems," said David Schwartz of FACE.

Past cuts have left teachers with unpaid furlough days and larger classroom size, according to Scott Sweeney of the Cobb County School Board.

Brian Wilson, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Dodgen Middle School said overcrowding poses a big challenge.

"You come in here and you do what you can. You see the students in front of you and they need to learn," Wilson said.

The county has a special election on March 19 to decide whether to renew a 1-cent sales tax to raise money for education purposes. FACE organizers said they aren't counting on that tax completely and they'll continue their efforts to tackle the budget problems.