Three staff furlough days worked into the current Cobb County School District budget would be reduced to two under a proposal by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. 

That item is on the discussion agenda near the end of Wednesday's Cobb Board of Education work session. The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. in the board room of CCSD central office at 514 Glover Street, Marietta. 

(For details on the full work session agenda, please see the accompanying PDF document.)

Eliminating a furlough day is possible now, according to the proposal, due to utility savings from last winter. 

The issue of furlough days was one of the most contentious parts of the school board's fiscal year 2013 budget deliberations in May. 

On May 17, at its scheduled business meeting, the board couldn't pass a budget because it rejected furloughs.

Four days later, the board called a special meeting and approved by a 4-3 vote what it had earlier turned down, designating three furlough days -- Dec. 21, Feb. 15, and May 30 -- for all CCSD staff, including teachers, in adopting an $841 million budget.

Also included in the budget cuts were 350 teaching positions, gained mostly through attrition.

SPLOST and overcrowding

The school board also is scheduled to hear more about a possible SPLOST IV referendum in early 2013.

In July the board heard an update of a consultant's report on future construction and maintenance needs and suggestions on selling a referendum to the public. 

The subject of class sizes, fewer teachers and the budget pinch was detailed in a report in The Marietta Daily Journal on on Friday.

In the story, the father of a student at East Cobb's popular East Side Elementary School said he wouldn't support a SPLOST extension if the funds wouldn't be used for reducing class sizes. 

The report also said Hinojosa will propose the hiring of 30 more teachers at Wednesday's work session. 

The school board is expected to hold public hearings this fall to help determine whether it will call for a referendum.

The current SPLOST III ends at the end of 2013.

To censure, or not? 

Also included on Wednesday's work session agenda is a discussion relating to board member Kathleen Angelucci's desire to censure fellow board member David Banks.

Angelucci alleged in July that Banks has routinely violated a number of board ethics policies, including improperly contacting officials at Lassiter High School, where the child of one of his political opponents is a student.

Angelucci was granted a delay in formalizing her proposal at the August work session.

Banks, who was re-elected in July, has hotly denied the charges.

School board attorney Clem Doyle said last month that the board's options on how it may proceed on censure depend on the specifics of Angelucci's proposal.