January 26, 2016
                     

Table of Contents
Creating Transparency in Budget Reporting
Voucher-Enabling Amendment Heard in Senate Government Overight Committee
More Information About the Governor's "3 Percent Raise"
Don't Miss the Vote!
 
Legislative Calendar

Wed, Jan. 27 -  Senate Education and Youth Committee - 1:00pm - 310 CLOB

Thurs, Jan. 28 - House Academic Achievement & Curriculum Subcommittee - 1:30pm - 415 CLOB 
 
 
Week in Review

CLICK HERE
to watch the latest Week in Review podcast to catch up on last week's action under the Gold Dome.
 
 
PAGE Day on
Capitol Hill

Tuesday, February 16th

Keynote Speaker: State School Superintendent Richard Woods

Morning Session:
Claire Suggs, GBPI

Dick Yarbrough, Columnist

CLICK HERE
for more details and registration.
PAGE Report From the Capitol
 Day 10       
Creating Transparency in Budget Reporting

Tuesday marked the first day of subcommittee hearings in the House as the House Academic Support Subcommittee chaired by Rep. Randy Nix (R-LaGrange) held a hearing on HB 659 by Rep. Dave Belton (R-Buckhead). This bill would require districts to provide an easily digestible breakdown of each school's budget. Rep. Belton cited the need for an apples-to-apples comparison tool and an increased focus on transparency as the main drivers of this bill. PAGE offered support to the idea of increasing transparency and will continue to work with Rep. Belton on refining the bill.
 
Gov. Nathan Deal's office has requested Belton move the deadline for the publication of this data from July to October to give schools and districts enough time to collect and organize the data.
Voucher-Enabling Amendment Heard in Senate Government Oversight Committee

SR 388, a constitutional amendment that is meant to prevent discrimination in the public funding of social services by allowing religious or faith-based organizations to receive public aid, directly or indirectly, for the provision of such services, was heard in the Senate Government Oversight Committee. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Bill Heath (R-Bremen) who also chairs the committee.
 
In reality, this controversial amendment would open the door for full-scale school vouchers by allowing public dollars to go directly to religious organizations and houses of worship for public health and social service programs -- including private schools. Sen. Heath mentioned both K-12 and Pre-K education as the types of services these programs could offer. There have been several attempts to pass this type of legislation in recent sessions.
 
The bill was held in committee as Sen. Elena Parent (D-Decatur) and Sen. Valencia Seay (D-Riverdale) each offered amendments to the bill, but not in written form. Since legal counsel was not present at the meeting, Sen. Heath requested they draw up formal amendments and the bill would be heard at a later date.
 
PAGE opposes any form of voucher program that transfers public funds to private entities for education and will oppose this amendment. Please contact members of the Senate Government Oversight Committee as soon as possible and ask that they not approve vouchers. Contact information can be found HERE.
More Information About the Governor's
"3 Percent Raise"
         
n his FY 2017 budget, Gov. Nathan Deal replaced $300 million more of the austerity cuts that have plagued public education in Georgia for years.  Because of these austerity cuts, districts have been forced to shorten school calendars, furlough teachers, raise class sizes, and cut programs. While many districts have been able to alleviate many of these shortfalls since the legislature has slowly replaced austerity cut dollars, many have not.  Forty districts still employ teachers less than the full 190-day work calendar and schedule fewer than 180 student instructional days. Additionally, many teachers have not received a raise in years.

In his State of the State address, Deal urged districts to use their share of the $300 million austerity reduction funds to provide employees with a 3 percent pay raise.  The reality, however, is that a lot of districts simply cannot restore all of the previously mentioned services and provide a pay raise.

Since 2009, the state salary schedule that determines the base rate for teacher pay has not increased.  This means that a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree in 2016-2017 will make the same $33,424 that a teacher hired in 2009 earned.  The $300 million will not be added back to the salary schedule; therefore, even those districts that do provide raises may not be able to sustain those raises in the future.  The raise is not guaranteed year-to-year as it would be had the money been added to the salary schedule.

While PAGE commends the governor for higher education funding through the reduction of the austerity cuts, we also continue to hammer home that there is still a long way to go.  Until the austerity cut is eliminated fully and new dollars are added to the budget, these issues will continue to linger to the detriment of our districts, educators and students statewide.

 
Don't Miss the Vote!
Register by Feb. 1 to Vote on March 1

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.

When encouraging your older students to register to vote, please note they must be 17.5 by Feb. 1 to register.  They must be 18 by March 1st, the presidential preference primary election date, to be eligible to participate.  The general primary election will be held on May 24.   
Josh Stephens - Legislative Policy Analyst
Margaret Ciccarelli - Director of Legislative Affairs [email protected]
  


PAGE's core business is to provide professional learning for educators that will enhance professional competence and confidence, build leadership qualities and lead to higher academic achievement for students, while providing the best in membership, legislative and legal services and support