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Sonny's Education Plan Earns
an "A"
by Chip Rogers

State Representative for District 15.
(770) 516-0543
(770) 936-1967 (fax)
chiprogers@attbi.com

teachers by allowing their dismissal without a "Fair Hearing." The Perdue legislation establishes the Professional Standards Commission as an arbiter if dismissal problems cannot be solved at the local level.

4. Relax Student/Teacher Ratios. If this portion of the legislation does not pass we are in big trouble. Many school systems around the metro area, including Cherokee, say that without another year to implement the mandated ratios there will be a severe crises. For example, Cobb County would face an additional $17 million in operating expenses along with 200 additional portable classrooms.

5. Ratio Flexibility. This would set the student/teacher ratio for the entire system instead of every classroom. This is really common sense. It allows local school systems the flexibility to determine which schools need more teachers.

6. Funding Flexibility. The new legislation removes site based expenditure controls. It allows schools to spend money where it's needed instead of where it is dictated.

7. Instruction Flexibility. School systems will be given an opportunity to offer and require subjects they feel are necessary. This is at the heart of local control. Why should Atlanta tell Cherokee County what they can and cannot teach?

8. Change in School Councils. The School Council system was working very well in Cherokee County before the changes. The current law dictates seven members to each council and mandates the exact make-up of the council. Governor Perdue's legislation sets the minimum at seven and allows flexibility on membership. This will result in much greater participation from parents.

As you might imagine, this reform is a monumental task. It alters the philosophy of over 30 years of education policy. The Perdue reforms seek to make major changes in at least a dozen areas. The forces against these changes are entrenched and quite powerful, but their track record is dismal. In the last 10 years, education spending in Georgia has increased 130%. This increase is the largest percentage increase of any state in America and more than five times our school population increase. Yet we remain 50th in SAT scores and near the bottom in every other national comparison. It has become quite clear. A lack of money is not the problem.

Governor Perdue has decided our educational fate should rest in the hands of parents, teachers and principals. I agree. At the end of the day we should trust those who care most about our children. This is why we must now change "Local Control" from a campaign slogan to a permanent philosophy.

Benjamin Franklin once stated, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Isn't it about time we begin making a real investment in Georgia education? 

Ask any public school educator what they need to improve their school system. The one answer you will hear quite often is "Local Control!" Candidate Sonny Perdue promised local control in his campaign. I stressed it in my campaign. And now we see the start of this effort in legislation. Governor Perdue has introduced HB 515 and HB 516. These two bills form the beginning of a new direction in Georgia education policy, a policy that stresses local control with accountability.

Georgia educational achievement has long suffered when compared to the rest of America. Every Governor in my lifetime has promised to change these failures into success. Lester Maddox, Jimmy Carter, George Busbee, Joe Frank Harris, Zell Miller and Roy Barnes all made education their number one priority. The problem is they all had the same answer, more state control.

The logic behind state control of education has always seemed counter-intuitive. Could a bureaucrat in Atlanta really know how better to educate our children than we in Cherokee County? It only makes sense that the closer the education decision maker is to the child, the better the decisions. Governor Perdue has taken the first step in returning decision making back to our local school systems.

Here are some of the highlights of Governor Perdue's new education reform.

1.   Change in Tone. In one paragraph alone we see the words describing state control changed from require, mandate, and establish to facilitate, foster and recommend. It is essentially a change from "Do what we say!" to "How can we help?"

2. Return Power to Superintendent. The new legislation eliminates the Office of Education Accountability. This was the office set up by former Governor Barnes to take away power from the Republican elected School Superintendent. The powers of the office will rightly return to the duly elected State School Superintendent who is responsible to the voters.

3. Fair Dismissal for Teachers. Former Governor Barnes infuriated our