MARIETTA, GA. -- Cobb County has rehired most of the 700 teachers it laid off last spring after finding excess money available to help close a budget gap.

Cobb County schools spokesman Jay Dillon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that 565 teachers have been hired back to the suburban Atlanta school district. And he said the districts needs another 66 teachers, mostly in high school math.

The district laid off more than 1,000 employees to close a $126.7 million deficit for next year. But the board has found a surplus of $23 million in a fund designed to reduce the county's millage rate, which the school board voted not to change.

School start Aug. 5 for the 106,000-student district, the second largest in the state.