State funding pays for 147 days of school. Districts are on their own for the remaining 33.
It is clear the state school Superintendent Kathy Cox is leaving her post in a few weeks. (She announced last week that she is resigning to head a think tank in D.C. and is no longer seeing election to a third term running Georgia’s schools.) Her criticisms of state cuts to education are growing more forthright, including a statement this week that the Legislature only approved enough funding next year to cover 147 days of the mandated 180-day school year.
Outgoing schools Superintendent Kathy Cox says state is shortchanging school districts by 33 days.
That means the local communities are paying the full freight for the 33 remaining days, which seems — at least to me — a failure by the state of Georgia to live up to its constitutional obligation to fund education. (Cox did the basic math of dividing the number of schools days by the allotted state funding, which has been dramatically and possibly fatally cut. And you folks don’t think the new math curriculum works. )
The rural lawsuit was scuttled on a technicality but I think Cox’s statement is damning evidence of the state’s dereliction of duty.
Speaking of Cox, word is that the business community is not thrilled with the field of candidates to replace her as school superintendent and was thinking about finding and funding an independent candidate for the post. There is still no word on her replacement; Gov. Sonny Perdue is apparently keeping this deliberation close to the vest, although I am not sure why.
Whoever fills out the remaining six months of Cox’s term will only be a caretaker. There are plenty of strong administrators in the deputy ranks of the DOE. I have already suggested the very capable and proven Martha Reichrath, deputy state superintendent for standards, instruction, and assessment.
I would also recommend Garry McGiboney, associate superintendent, policy, external affairs, and charter schools.
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113 comments Add your comment
ChristieS.
May 25th, 2010
4:03 pm
JJ, I live in a rural county and own a home. On a $134K house, I’m paying just shy of $1700 a year in property taxes. Is this low compared to other areas?
Northview (Ex)Teacher
May 25th, 2010
4:18 pm
Dose of Reality,
Parroting right-wing talking points is NOT a model of critical thinking. It’s painfully obvious that you don’t know the first thing about schools.
Students are students. Let me repeat that really slow for you: students-are-students. Students are not customers. Such a claim belies a distinct lack of critical thinking on your part. Taxpayers are stakeholders, not shareholders. But, again, one has to be able to think abstractly to understand such a point.
People like you are the greatest obstacle to education in this state. Get back to your cube, rat.
Economicwoes
May 25th, 2010
4:24 pm
Dose of Reality is right, anyone who has worked in a central office and is critical would agree. Alvin never reviewed his staff critically or honestly. He has the same people advising him, irregardless of mistakes they have made. No one gets fired (unless you are a minority).
In Scottdale, a 1200 square foot brick home, is taxed at $400 per year. I am assuming this guy was over 70 years old.
historydawg
May 25th, 2010
4:26 pm
Dose, will privatizing education help make the schools more like all the companies bailed out by our government? They certainly had the best brains in the business world balancing those budgets. Wow, that’s efficient. Please study a little history and learn why we have public education in the United States. Your ignorance is bliss for you, but horrific for the children of Georgia.
David
May 25th, 2010
4:30 pm
@Dose of Reality – Just because you have only one model to work with in your brain does not mean that is the only model. No business even comes close to serving a communuty the way public schools and school systems do. Is there any business that is required by law to serve every child in a community, no matter what their ability? Not just every child (or any other group you want to plug in) that happens to walk through the doors of the business, but responsible for every student in the community. I can’t think of any that would dare take it on.
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
4:33 pm
Northview- Students are absolutely customers, and teachers like you are not delivering the product! The status quo where you receive a pay increase annually irregardless of your performance is beyond laughable. The “pulse for pass” principle applied to the students must be the result of a trickle down effect related to the “pulse for raise” that’s been applied to teachers. The reality is that teachers, for the most part, are lazy. How many times does your tired, ineffective, recycled lesson plans have to miss the connection with the students before you wake up and realize that you’ve failed your students? Clearly, pride in a good day’s work is not something that comes easily for most teachers. Sure, I know a small handful of teachers that take a tremendous amount of pride in their chosen career field, but the rest of you need a swift kick in the backside. In my opinion, that swift kick must come in the form of a merit-based pay system. You don’t deserve a raise just because you’ve retained your pulse for another year! The students entering college are further and further behind, to the point that colleges are having to take most of incoming students’ freshman and sophomore years to remediate deficiencies from inadaquate middle and high school educations. As is usually the case, this will fall on the ignorant ears of educators who truly know nothing about fiscal responsibility. You’ll continue to live in your utopian world where educators are all brilliant perfectionists, who know everything about everything.
David
May 25th, 2010
4:36 pm
@Dose of Reality – You say it is parents who are responsible for “…dumbing down the curriculum and making it nearly impossible to effectively discipline students.” As a parent I know for sure I don’t fit that ugly generalization, but regardless, let me ask – what exactly would you change in the schools that would allow them to “effectively discipline students”?
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
4:39 pm
David- As I said earlier, inadaquate business leadership and fiscal responsibility is only part of the equation of failure. The lack of discipline and inability to provide a lesson plan that promotes strong core academics and responsibility as a result of capitulating to parents plays an equally critical part of the educational system’s failure. Teachers need to be able to have more authority regarding discipline in order to enhance the classroom atmosphere. Furthermore, teachers need to be able to enforce assignment due dates and not be forced to accept late work. It’s absurd that a student can be assigned a task in August, and still be able to submit it in June for full credit. Forget the whiny parents and do right by your students.
David
May 25th, 2010
4:42 pm
@historydawg – what a great comment – billions upon billions upon billions (just in this lastest mess) thrown away, lost, stolen, whatever they claim happened it is all gone – and we should trust these people as fiscally responsible????? Not a chance!!!!!!
David
May 25th, 2010
4:48 pm
@Dose, I completely agree, as I suspect most parents would (with this last comment) but it’s easy to throw things like this up in the air (teacher’s need to do this; teachers need to stop the other…). Doing something constructive to make changes in the system and in people is quite another thing. I happen to think that most teachers and most parents are doing the very best they can in sometimes very difficult situations and some guy insulting all teachers and all parents is pretty much just making things worse.
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
4:51 pm
David- I would take things back to when intensive, work-based ISS and OSS were invoked and enforced. Expulsion would also be invoked and enforced for habitual offenders (of course, more youth detention-style schools would be needed). Students who didn’t deserve to pass would actually be held back a year, whether it be because of academics or discipline. Parents would be barred from manipulating their child’s discipline plan. In short, a zero tolerance policy with real ramifications and support from administrators and the district is essential. Unfortunately, teachers are generally thrown under the bus by administrators when parents get involved. Administrators will do everything they can to stay out of the newspaper or a unwarranted lawsuit, even if it means losing a good teacher.
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
4:52 pm
David, you’re confusing “insult” with statements of fact based on my first hand accounts as a former teacher.
Intruder
May 25th, 2010
5:13 pm
Let me see if I have this right. 33 days of parents actually having to feed their children breakfast instead of relying on the government schools to do so. That also means 33 days of having to funish the urchins lunch, too, without the aid of the government schools. I guess they could leave the supervision to the public libraries. Why not forget the 33 days of school, give the kids some money and send them to the Varsity? It would cost taxpayers like me a lot less money and the little kiddies probably will learn just as much as if they had gone to school . . .
Northview (Ex)Teacher
May 25th, 2010
5:24 pm
Why do republicans, some of the least insightful and worst-educated people in the history of the world, think that they know educators need to do?
Nice little hissy fit there, Dose. Take some pride in the fact that people who “think” like you have been in control in our state for eight years, and everything is falling apart.
Before I worked as a teacher, I was a consultant for major companies around town. Being a teacher is much harder than being a cube rat, and almost all teachers work harder than corporate wage-slaves (not that I blame them doing as little as possible: I sure tried to do as little as I could get away with).
You are the lazy one, a person who stands on the sidelines and comments on the efforts of those who are trying to make a difference. Only a fool thinks that the clock somehow can be moved back to a time he found better than the present.
flipper
May 25th, 2010
5:24 pm
Intruder, I feed my kids breakfast daily and pack their lunches every day of the year. I would never let them eat that horse s_it they spoon out at public schools.
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
5:25 pm
Really? Your business acumen is severly lacking if you believe the “bailout” companies were/are run by the best of the best. You’re out of your league on this arguement.
Lee
May 25th, 2010
5:30 pm
Hey Northview, let me type r-e-a-l s-l-o-w where you can understand. There are school systems with budgets in excess of $1 BILLION dollars. You better have someone in charge with a smidgeon of business acumen.
You think Bush was bad. Wait until we have had four years of One Bad A55 Mistake America.
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
5:40 pm
Northview- classy, professional post. A picture of pride for all educators past & present. I can’t imagine why “former” or “ex” precedes your entire employment history.
Science Teacher
May 25th, 2010
5:41 pm
Lee – You are the slow one, not Northview. Bush screwed up this Country. The republicans have screwed up this State.
You were right about one thing – we don’t need four years of President Obama….. we need eight years, at least! That’s how long it’ll take to get this Country back on track after what Bush and the republicans have done!!!
M
May 25th, 2010
5:45 pm
I don’t understand why the teachers just can’t work the extra days. TeacherPortal ranked Georgia the 3rd highest state in terms of comfort (salary and cost of living) for teachers in 2009. Maybe it’s time to give back to the community in terms of continuing to work the days to teach the kids. Show you have a calling.
cricket
May 25th, 2010
5:52 pm
If we are so broke, why have MORE Smartboards, at least 10 $500 Rigby Reading Assessments Kits, (you can do a running record with a #2 pencil and a few copies), more “clicker” response class sets, and God knows what else, just been delivered via Fedex at my elementary school? We don’t need it even if we could afford it. Of course, I am sure someone would tell me that it was bought with Title 1 money. Isn’t money -money? I know teachers can be paid with Title funds because I was for several years. The schools have flushed money down the toilet of McGraw Hill / Person / Harcourt for years and years. Now SMART Technologies is bleeding us dry. Does the education system exist simply to funnel money to these companies? If not, why do school systems keep buying all this expensive stuff at the same time I am being told I’ll have to purchase pencils for my students to take the CRCT? The school doesn’t have anymore in supply? Then get some! I am so glad I decided to get out of this joke we call education. I am not sure what it is all about but I can say with certainty that it is NOT about the kids.
Science Teacher
May 25th, 2010
5:53 pm
Dose of Reality –
You are so mis-informed about the teaching profession! Please learn a little first, and THEN form an opinion – it works best in that order.
Teachers currently and historically in GA do have to perform their job well. There are established reviews that happen each and every year. New teachers have more reviews than senior teachers. Since I am now a teacher and was in the business world for a dozen years, I can firmly state that the teacher reviews are more strict and more thorough than any review that I had as an employee of Coca-Cola USA, or Genuine Parts Company (both Fortune 500 companys that I worked for).
As a teacher, I don’t view students as my ‘customers’ but as my ‘raw material’ and then my ‘product.’ As with a factory, a teacher cannot take low quality raw material and turn it into some gold standard product – it ain’t gonna happen. The raw material is the limitation that the teacher must accept – we have no option. The best a teacher can do is to improve upon the raw material to produce the best product possible – that’s it.
It is the parent’s responsibility to provide me with quality raw material. However, I have noticed that parents rarely pay attention to their raw material and complain about the factory. It is always the teachers fault no matter what else. And, the State of GA (namely republican politicans) side with the parents on that perspective.
To solve that misguided perspective, the State DOE dictates more and more about exactly what a teacher should do day to day inside a classroom. This makes a professional teachers ability to help the individual student and to tailor lessons absolutely useless. And, they want to somehow link the raw materials short-falls to teacher pay. Can you image doing that to a real factory – making pay of workers linked to the sorry raw material?????
As long as that misguided perspective prevails by the GA republicans and the people of GA continue to elect republicans, education cannot and will not improve to any great extent in GA.
Science Teacher
May 25th, 2010
5:56 pm
M – What would you do and how would you feel if your boss told you that you must work all of next week without pay? Just asking….
Northview (Ex)Teacher
May 25th, 2010
5:58 pm
Well-stated, Science Teacher. I, too, am sick and tired of all this constant right-wing crap we have to put up with in this benighted state.
Counting down the days!
For Fairness
May 25th, 2010
5:58 pm
Anybody dumb enough to elect a Republican to any office in this State is out for themselves, the rich and the elite. Education has been almost totally destroyed in this State by the Republicans.
just wondering
May 25th, 2010
6:01 pm
Does of Reality – where did you teach, what grade/subject, and for how long? Most importantly, why did you leave?
My does of reality – I teach at a school that my children attended. My coworkers (for the most part) are not lazy and do have pride in their work. It’s pretty arrogant of you to paint with such a broad brush (and then go on to insult parents, too). Some of your points are valid, but if you taught, you should know that many of the policies you criticize do not come from teachers. I find that the majority of problems in school today come not from the teachers, but from bad interpretation and implementation of any cure du jour that is “research-based.” It comes from politicizing and polarizing something that should be a community effort of parents, teachers, and students working together, not at odds with one another. Every time we blame a teacher (or a parent) for a student’s failing, we give that student carte blanche to continue to abdicate their responsibility for their learning.
For the record – there is no such word as irregardless.
momoftwo
May 25th, 2010
6:26 pm
I am curious, did the school districts now this news about number of days the legislature would fund when they did the latest round of budget cuts or is this new news and means another round of massive cuts from all the districts. Could someone let me know.
GA Teach
May 25th, 2010
7:01 pm
Just so everyone understands this….it is not Republicans alone that have created this mess. Have you looked at Race to the Top…….It was created by both republicans and democrats……It is an Obama agenda…..It is an unfunded mandate….
School systems are the best example of socialism……We educate everyone no matter what…..Guess what we should educate everyone…..If you kick a kid out of school….you are just sending him home so he can cause chaos outside of school….he is a home while you are at work…..Oh well…..they found a new tv and laptop….Wait they stole it from your house because the were expelled from school. We have to educate the future no matter what and reach them any way possible……..
This not a new formula…..it hurts the schools that rely on equalization grants and who used there rainy day fund. It is only going to get worst next year federal stimulus runs out and we reduced property taxes. The only thing the school boards can do is raise the millage rate.
Remember teachers, coaches, and sponsors will due less if they get paid less. The cuts will affect the students and their communities.
We have to work together to fix this…….Funny most of the school board members across the state are not educators but business leaders…..not career educators…….Maybe that is the problem……They are no longer educators once they leave the profession……unless they retire and run for office…..
By the way every might want to remember the Roy Barnes daughter is a teacher……I
Dose of Reality
May 25th, 2010
7:09 pm
8th grade math. I left for more money and more control. I was tired of my administration capitulating to parents regarding discipline and grades/advancement. I was tired of teachers being treated like students by the administration, however given some of the childish posts by teachers, I can see the administration’s point of view.
Speaking of BS...
May 25th, 2010
8:14 pm
I don’t think that what is happening to public education is simply the result of bad management. I see a well thought out effort to discredit public education, demoralize current teachers and discourage young people from even wanting to learn to teach. How else can you explain the “improvements” and “standards” that literally dominate the day with “prove you teach” hoops to jump through for people with clipboards who don’t have a clue what you are teaching and kids taking one standardized test after another (in my system testing time is now equal to teaching time) at the same time being reduced to “finding a way to pass them” this additional distraction takes the teacher away from what they signed on to do. The end goal is to destroy public confidence in public education for the purpose of eliminating it. Oh, but first parents will be able to get vouchers and move their child from an “NI” school to a “good school”, eventually all schools will reach that stupid benchmark of 100% graduation rate to make AYP or all will fail. Then there will be a cry from the ruling class: “Public education doesn’t work. It’s a waste of money. We need to amend the constitution and make it the parents’ responsibility to pay for their child’s education.” We’ll be back to the days when the ruling class (the rich) could afford to educate their privileged children and the peasants would do what peasants do…what the educated ruling class says they should do. I can hear “let them eat cake” somewhere in the background.
Nothing We Can Do
May 25th, 2010
8:18 pm
I sat in a meeting yesterday during which we were told that we had little if any control over the students. We can’t punish them for absences, tardies, or much of anything else. The board want allow it. NCLB and the absurdity of AYP have created a system where the lunatics run the asylum.
Nothing We Can Do
May 25th, 2010
8:20 pm
Speaking of BS hit the nail on the head. This is really the premise behind the Republican blather over vouchers. They want to “re-segregate” schools, just this time it won’t be just on race, but on wealth.
What's going on?
May 25th, 2010
8:20 pm
Surely Maureen or the AJC reporters have the scoop on the missing test scores by now. What’s going on?
Atlanta mom
May 25th, 2010
8:47 pm
We’re number 50, we’re number 50!!!!
WOO HOO
irisheyes
May 25th, 2010
8:59 pm
I am so sick and tired of everyone else thinking that they can do it better. I’m tired of people accusing teachers of being lazy and worthless. This is why GA is almost dead last in education. Instead of spending time insulting teachers and all of the hard work they put in every single day, offer solutions. Sure, schools are a business, but I can’t make more money by working harder. We are funded by politicians, and they seem to think that teachers can work in classes with huge numbers, no money, and more “coaches” and administrators walking around telling us how to do our jobs better. Whatever. Thank goodness tomorrow is the last day of school. Rather than putting in 50 hours at school (and more at home), I can take some time to recharge, read, work on my master’s, and plan for the next year. And yes, I do like having summers off. It is one of the (few) perks of being a teacher, and I’m not going to apologize for it.
Tony
May 25th, 2010
9:10 pm
The state has shirked its constitutional duty to provide adequately for public education in Georgia. And this has all been backed by our legislature composed of many parents who send their children to private schools.
To all of you who are blaming educational woes entirely upon the right, please be aware that our current federal leaders are planning to impose more restrictive and harsh measures upon schools and teachers. There are calls for more testing, more “accountability”, more uniform standards, and merit pay. This is coming from left-wing liberals.
Joy In Teaching
May 25th, 2010
9:18 pm
It’s almost as if Kathy Cox had no dog in this fight whatsoever. Say…what exactly DOES a state school superintendent do, anyways? She apparently didn’t have anything to do with any of our problems…
plc
May 25th, 2010
9:27 pm
Which state rep was it that said teachers weren’t getting anything because we weren’t begging for it?
PAGE and GAE are clearly not working as lobbyists for us. We need parents, students, and teachers working together to demand the education budget students deserve.
Until then, keep on arguing over the small stuff, but it’s only hurting us more in the long run.
Atlanta mom
May 25th, 2010
9:30 pm
Here’s a thought. Did Kathy do teachers and students a favor? By only funding 147 days, did she intentionally open the door for a lawsuit based on Georgia’s constititution?
bootney farnsworth
May 25th, 2010
9:32 pm
Nothing more pathetic than a bunch of educators
acting like 4 years olds.
Jesus folks, get a stinking clue and stop with the
useless whinning. This is not a GOP issue, a democrat
issue, this is a Georgia issue.
Anyone who’s stupid enough to think we got here by the
actions of one party alone should be run out of teaching
for the inability to use critical thinking skills.
This is a long time building, with more than enough blame
to go around to everybody.
Maureen Downey
May 25th, 2010
9:32 pm
@pic. State Sen. Seth Harp. He is now running for insurance commissioner.
Maureen
bootney farnsworth
May 25th, 2010
9:36 pm
@Atl mom,
I don’t think Kathy did us any favors except by stepping down.
That said, I think there might be an opporunity here. We can
-if we choose to – look at how we can restructure the educational
experience.
4 days weeks, year round education, there are potentials here
if we can find a way to seize them
bootney farnsworth
May 25th, 2010
9:40 pm
@ pic,
GPC now has a staff member who’s primary job is to lobby
the legislature.
that’s how broken the system has become.
just wondering
May 25th, 2010
9:55 pm
So, Dose of Reality, you don’t see the irony in your reasons for leaving (”I left for more money and more control. I was tired of my administration capitulating to parents regarding discipline and grades/advancement. I was tired of teachers being treated like students by the administration”) and your complaints ABOUT teachers in your post?
I have done both the private and the public sector gig – I’m currently teaching, but giving serious consideration to moving back to the private sector – and it’s not because of the kids! I’d say about 5% of the kids cause 95% of the problems – and I think that number is pretty consistent – 5% of the teachers cause 95% of the bad headlines – I’d pretty much say about 5% of any given group causes 95% of their problems. So let’s get away from bashing the kids, parents, and administrators and start talking about how education is funded, structured, managed, and prepared for as being fundamentally flawed in this day and age.
Let’s get rid of age-based grouping and one-size-fits-all curriculum. Let’s start culling and retraining early. Let’s fundamentally change how teachers are prepared for the career. Let’s look at revenue streams other than property taxes, and let’s think about ways other than geographic for creating a school population. All other talk about “school reform” is just that – TALK. Same old, same old political pablum for the masses unhappy about paying taxes for schools that the media says are bad, even though their personal experience says are pretty good.
Cere
May 25th, 2010
10:35 pm
Wow. Incredible. Somehow, I imagine that they will be able to find enough money to build all the prisons we’re going to need in the next decade though.
HS Teacher
May 25th, 2010
10:39 pm
Yes, this is a GA issue. But, GA has been lead overwhelmingly by right wing republicans for many many years. In GA, the republicans have made no secret of their agenda to move towards a voucher system. In order to accomplish this, they must convince the general population that public education in its current form is not working. Let’s see….. how to do this….
1. Confuse the curriculum – we’ll release ‘new’ standands that don’t make sense and frustrate the teachers and students (see the new math curriculum).
2. Decrease pay – we’ll make teachers work for free (furlough days) and refuse to award them step increases that were promised.
3. Decrease benefits – we’ll stop contributing to retirement (see DeKalb County) and switch insurance to the cheapest one around.
4. Decrease school budgets – yeah, let’s not give the money needed for basic school supplies like board markers, erasers, copy paper. That’s all luxury stuff anyway.
5. Lay Off Teachers – we need to make darn sure that no one worthy would ever consider being a teacher, so we need to axe enough budget to ensure that the newest and brightest teachers are let go.
6. Books – Of course, without money, there is no way they can afford any books or other resources. After a couple of years, the kiddies won’t have anything!
And, just to rub salt in the wound, let’s increase the adminstrative staff in the State DOE by 25%. Hire my loser brother, my nephew, and don’t forget my poor aunt.
Anything else we can do to ‘break’ public education in GA? Get those vouchers ready! My son is going to private school and we could use the voucher to help pay for our summer vacation.
dasgrove
May 25th, 2010
10:42 pm
For those of you claiming that it is time for teacher’s to “give back” and work unpaid, would you do the same at your job? If the state and local governments continue to cut my salary, I will have to give back several things – my car, my house, etc. Eventually I will have to leave the profession. When good teachers who care deeply about your children and work hard to educate them must leave the profession in order to feed their own families, the system will truly be broken. When this generation reaches adulthood without the necessary skills, who will be blamed then?
God Bless the Teacher!
May 26th, 2010
6:58 am
Dose and M – Using the business model, may I punch in to work each day and get paid for my over time? How about work on weekends and holidays? Would any business allow a customer to remain in said business if the customer was beligerent or refused to comply with the expectations of the business? Businesses have a product to SELL. Public schools can’t sell anything. We supply everything to the customer FREE OF CHARGE. Are businesses expected to provide extracurricular activities for their customers?
Maybe we could solve some of our financial woes by requiring students to purchase textbooks (MILLIONS of dollars saved!) each year. I know you’re going to say that taxpayers pay for the books and taxpayers are parents of children. But parents get a tax break each year for each child. Do away with that tax break and…wait a minute…we’d have probably hundreds of millions, if not billions more in tax revenue with which to fund our unfunded mandates forced on public education! The extra income could also help address aging infrastructure that is further taxed by offspring. If you want to return to the good old days, then why don’t more businesses train their workers like in the days of apprenticeships (early 20th century)? Seems to still be working in countries that are ahead of the U.S. in educating their citizenry.
I think the structure of public education must radically change before anything improves. Drop the increased credit requirements for graduation, drop the 12th grade, return the responsibility of training students for the work force to the work place, and stop letting colleges and the ivory tower of education dictate and continue driving to lower grades the course content that used to be covered in freshman year of college. Test students after 6th grade for career interests and competencies appropriate for that age level, and send the cherubs on one of multiple tracks for appropriate and rigorous preparation for a productive future and not necessarily one dictated by folks who think only a college education makes one worth anything.
Public School Parent
May 26th, 2010
7:51 am
Maureen, this is dreadful news. Is this part of the “austerity cuts” that have been going on throughout the Cox/Perdue tenure, or are these new cuts? More important, is there a way to publish which GA legislators voted for it or against it? Or is the education budget just buried deep inside the entire state budget so legislators will claim they did not realize how this would effect the funding of public education?
chris
May 26th, 2010
8:25 am
I one sense we don’t have all the facts. I can’t see the budget restraints, but Sonny seems have no problem with no funding federal mandated public education. If you want County government to pay for education you have allow them to tax for it. Or least give more then 2 months to figure it out. Sadly, I really think the number of days of school must change if the state govenment is not funding education. With this economy do we really believe these counties have surplus of funds to make up for the lack of funding. Public education in Georgia is poor for a reason and has nothing to do with professional educators.