State Superintendent Mentions Testing
and Evaluation in his Budget Address
The annual post-MLK legislative budget hearings were held at the Capitol on Tuesday, January 19, 2016. In his opening comments, before the presentation of the GaDOE budget, State Superintendent Richard Woods described his department's recent survey of more than 53,000 Georgia educators who cited serious concerns over student testing and educator evaluation. Woods said that both GaDOE and the state legislature share a responsibility to reduce testing and that Georgia administers standardized tests at more than three times the rate required by the federal government. He suggested several reforms to Georgia's testing and evaluation programs and maintained his position that testing is compounding our state's growing teacher shortage when a legislator in the audience suggested during Q & A that teacher attrition rates are due to a natural post-recession workforce adjustment.
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New GaDOE CFO Walks Legislators
through FY 2017 Budget
After the address by the State Superintendent, Ted Beck, the new Chief Financial Officer at GaDOE, walked legislators through the Governor's proposed FY 2017 Budget, available HERE, (education starts on p.192). Highlights of Beck's presentation include: - Student enrollment growth of about 13,000 in 2016 is due in large part to the addition of more than 10,000 students in the greater metro area. Student growth has slowed over the last few years.
- After the proposed restoration of about $300 million which the Governor said in his State of the State Address should be used by local school districts to eliminate furloughs and give educators a 3 percent pay raise, the remaining ongoing QBE austerity cut for 2017 is approximately $167 million.
- In the current fiscal year, 40 school districts are still furloughing staff. Most districts are furloughing one to two days, though a handful are still furloughing for three or more days.
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Joint House and Senate Meeting
on AFY 2016 Education Budget
Wednesday marked legislative day six under the Gold Dome. A joint meeting of House and Senate Appropriations Education subcommittee members reviewed the FY 2016 Amended Budget. Education highlights include:
- A notable exchange between House Education Committee Chair and Retirement Committee Member Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) and a representative from the Employees' Retirement System (ERS), which covers state employees and some classified education staff. Several years ago, the legislature initiated controversial changes making ERS a hybrid retirement plan, combining aspects of a traditional pension/defined benefit plan with a defined contribution plan/401(k) plan. Coleman asked if pay raises promised in exchange for reduced retirement benefits under the hybrid plan have materialized. The ERC representative confirmed that the pay increases have not occurred to his knowledge.
- Announcement from the Department of Early Care and Learning of a 3 percent salary increase for Pre-K employees.
The full FY 2016 Amended budget can be found HERE.
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Social Studies and Science Georgia Standards
of Excellence Posted for Comments
The State Board of Education (SBOE) approved the posting of the new science and social studies Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) for public comment. These standards are set to replace current Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) in these two subject areas.
The changes in the standards for both subjects were initiated due to results of surveys of educators last summer. PAGE helped distribute those surveys to ensure feedback from members.
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Don't Miss the Vote!
Register by Feb. 1 to Vote on March 1
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 This is a big year in politics -- not only is it a presidential election year, but state and federal legislative seats will also be decided in the November general election. There are many education policies and initiatives being proposed this year in Georgia. Your voice counts and the best way to be heard is by voting. To cast your vote in the SEC Primary or for local issues, you must be registered or ensure your registration is current by Monday, Feb. 1. To make it easy for you, we have included the on-line links for registering, checking your registration, and to review your sample ballot. You can register here and you can check your registration here. These online tools are easy to use and the My Voter Page provides voter-specific information. Be aware that if you do not provide a copy of your state identification when registering, you will be asked to show it the first time you vote. Georgia also has an official app (GA Votes) which will allow you to register, find your polling location, see a sample ballot and more! Just search for GA Votes.
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