Will Georgia be charting a new course in Education?

This week the Legislature will determine the future direction of Common Core in Georgia. SB 167 is due to be considered again after testimony last week before the House Education Committee. If you are reading this you understand the importance of this Bill, unfortunately those forces wanting to implement the CCSS are counting on changing the discussion. After the hearing last week, it is not clear how SB 167 will be amended, what form it will take, or even if it makes it out of the House Education committee. There is no way of knowing until we see the legislation. Vigilance is required and an understanding of the language in the Bill. It could end up doing just the opposite of what it was intended to do.

The original intent of SB 167 was to move Georgia away from Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This would be the proper and principled direction in which Education in Georgia needs to move. If you believe, as I do, parents need to exercise the most control over the education of their children. The alternative of continuing down the road of implementation of CCSS will move control away from the local School Boards and towards centralization of control at the State level, which in turn will be influenced by Federal mandates and Federal dollars. SB 167 was intended to provide more flexibility on standards and safe guards for student’s privacy while moving Georgia away from CCSS.

Georgia has the talent and expertise to write our own standards that can be better than what we already have. It is a matter of control, as little by little decisions about resources spent to educate our children are slipping away from local the School Boards. This is too important an issue to leave to the State. We must go back and rework the QBE formula and empower the local School Boards to make good decisions in allocating our tax dollars. As citizens we must demand better stewardship of our tax dollars and for that to happen we need voters closest to the local school boards electing their representatives to oversee Education. It is clear that Education in Georgia has been headed the wrong direction for many years. We spend more money per student than the surrounding States and the results have not improved.

State                Students        Dollar per Student     Graduation Rate

Georgia              1,677,000          $9,259                   71.5%

Florida              2,643,000            $9,030                  75.6%

Alabama              755,000            $8,726                  80.0%

Tennessee          987,400            $8,484                  86.3%

North Carolina  1,490,000            $8,269                 82.5%

South Carolina     726,000           $8,903                  77.5%