Cobb schools budget includes $1,000 for counselors of the year

Spending plan also allocates $15 million for COVID-19 expenses.

The best counselors working for the Cobb County School District will receive a financial reward as part of the fiscal year 2021 budget adopted Thursday.

The $1.3 billion budget, unanimously approved by the school board, will allocate a $1,000 stipend to each staff member named an elementary, middle or high school counselor of the year. The stipends are similar to what the county’s Teachers of the Year receive.

The district budget also includes an additional $15 million in expenditures related to the COVID-19 pandemic and funds 13 new custodian and 24 instructional support positions.

The budget also allocates costs for new staffing positions at the Clay Harmony Leland Early Learning Center and the Cobb Innovation and Technology Academy, which are set to open this school year.

Cobb’s 2021 budget does not include pay cuts for teachers and staff, despite the district having to reduce spending by 10% due to loss of state funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cobb schools began its 202021 school year with remote learning due to the pandemic, but has introduced a phased approach to reopening classrooms.

The current starting pay for Cobb County School District teachers is $46,942, and can go as high as $98,912 for educators with doctorate degrees and decades of experience, according to district documents.

The 107,000-student school system employs about 18,000 people.

The proposed budget calls for holding the school property tax rate steady, but if home values increase, tax bills will, too.

CONTRIBUTED Palmer Middle School counselor Barbara Truluck was named the Georgia Counselor of the Year in 2019.