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Legislature 2006: Lawmakers Meet With Task Force on Schools

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 00:00 CST

By Bridget Gutierrez, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jan. 24--A panel charged with creating a new way to fund Georgia's public schools met with lawmakers Monday as some education advocates continued to criticize Gov. Sonny Perdue's priorities in spending for schools.

The governor has announced what his supporters call an education-friendly budget that includes more than $1 billion in new education funding. But local school systems say they will continue to be underfunded under the formula that is supposed to determine the state's share of their costs.

None of the lawmakers at Monday's session questioned the governor's Education Finance Task Force about reductions to the state's funding formula or the financial impact of Perdue's education proposals.

But many school systems have criticized the $169.7 million "temporary reduction" in per-pupil spending that was included in Perdue's proposed 2007 budget as well as increased costs associated with reducing class sizes.

"I don't want to come across as totally negative," said Jeffrey Williams, director of the Consortium for Educational Research in Georgia, who has been advising the task force. "The governor has spent 72 percent of new money on education --- that's unprecedented. But there are many new requests that are going to . . . create a burden . . . and that disappoints me."

Other observers have questioned the pace and focus of the 23-member task force, which is not expected to issue a final recommendation until after statewide elections in November.

"I don't think the task force as yet . . . has come to grips with the very serious under-funding of education in Georgia," said Joe Martin, a former Atlanta school board member who helped create the state's current formula and is now suing to get it thrown out.

Task force members have been meeting for the past 17 months. In that time, they've held two statewide "community conversations" and hired a consultant to determine what it will cost to provide an "excellent" education for every student.

On Monday, the members met with the House and Senate education committees to update lawmakers, who will have to approve any changes.

"One of my goals is that we provide the best education in Georgia for every student regardless of where they live because you can't help where you're born," said Brooks Coleman, the Republican chairman of the House Education Committee. "That's what this [task force] is doing."

The panel has made a few recommendations for tweaking the current formula, but none dealt with restoring cutbacks to media centers, transportation and teacher training, which systems have been demanding.

"The fact of the matter is we need to do a better job [of funding schools]," said Dean Alford, chairman of the task force and a member of the state Board of Education. "But to simply spend more money without a . . . plan for how you're going to achieve success would be irresponsible."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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