Atlanta school system will now pay $1,000 bonus to employees after state superintendent’s criticism

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta’s school system on Thursday reversed itself and said it would now pay employees a $1,000 bonus announced Monday by Gov. Brian Kemp after Georgia’s state superintendent of education sent out a public letter lambasting the system for saying it wouldn’t pay the money.

Superintendent Richard Woods, in a letter to Atlanta Public Schools interim Superintendent Danielle Battle, said he was “baffled” by the Atlanta system’s claim that it had anticipated the bonus when it paid out a $1,000 “Mid-Year Holiday Retention Stipend” to its employees on Dec. 14, days before Kemp announced the plan for state money.

The 50,000-student system had originally said it would put the money in its bank account for other future priorities, but quickly changed its tune.

“We are committed to passing along any additional funds once funds are disbursed for the governor’s proposal and clarification is provided on which categories of employees should be covered by the bonus,” spokesperson Seth Coleman said in a statement.

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The district said it had seen the money coming and “preemptively” paid it out early, but Woods said anything less than another $1,000 payment would be a “disservice” to teachers and staff.

“Let me be very clear: the intent of the state’s $1,000 retention pay supplement is not to backfill the Atlanta Public Schools budget or ‘share in the cost’ of additional recognition already provided by districts to teachers,” Woods wrote.

The original position had prompted an uprising among teachers and employees in the Atlanta system, with many calling or emailing the state to complain.

Statewide, Kemp said 196,000 teachers and support staff would get the bonus, as well as state and university employees.

Woods earlier this week told superintendents in an email that the state department would send the money out in a special payment soon, and that districts could make the payments in January if they had already completed their December payroll. One issue is that it’s not exactly clear which positions will get the money. Woods said guidance would be sent out as soon as possible.