Georgia's largest teacher advocacy group claims Gov. Nathan Deal is secretly trying to suppress a legislative overhaul of student testing and teacher evaluations.
The Professional Association of Georgia Educators emailed an alert to more than 70,000 of its members early Tuesday, warning that Deal was calling members of the House Education committee about
Senate Bill 364.
The governor "pressed them to hold SB 364 and to raise the emphasis of standardized testing in educator evaluation," the email from PAGE said. It said the governor "apparently" threatened to veto the bill.
The governor's office declined to comment about "anything surrounding pending legislation," but a lawmaker who allegedly was called denies it happened.
"That is the biggest lie I have ever heard. No I have not heard from the governor or his staff," said Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, the chairman of the House Education committee.
The legislation reduces the number of state-mandated tests and lowers their weight in teacher evaluations. Currently, the results of student tests count for at least half of each job review. SB 364 reduces that to 30 percent or less.
Every major education group in Georgia, including those that advocate for school superintendents, principals and teachers, are backing the bill.
The House Education committee meets today at 2 p.m. for what Coleman says will be an hours long hearing on the bill. He said the House has amended it slightly and that copies of the changes will be available this morning. He said it will be up to Tippins whether the committee votes on the amended bill.
