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DEL.ICIO.USCagle on an aviation school, the CRCT mess, and transportation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle talked to the Marietta Kiwanis Club on Thursday — the most politically connected civic group in Cobb County. Judges, city council members, mayors, future and current candidates for office filled the room.
Two years ago, in the very same room, Cagle made one of his first campaign appearances in his race against Ralph Reed.
In 2006, the candidate’s topic was what he’d do if elected. This time, Cagle was asked about what Republicans haven’t done. Uncomfortable questions for someone likely to enter the 2010 race for governor later this year.
The lieutenant governor was questioned about Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto — for the second time — of an $8 million expenditure to build a charter school connected to a planned aviation museum near the Lockheed Martin plant and Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta.
Cagle supported the expenditure as a means of increasing the state’s supply of science and math students.
“I’m disappointed that we’ve tried twice to get it done, and yet the governor has vetoed it. I am very committed to making it happen, and I’ve told everyone involved. We fought hard, and we came up short,” Cagle said. He talked of using “other avenues” to find funding for the project.
One audience member also quizzed Cagle about last week’s debacle with the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test — tossed out by School Superintendent Kathy Cox. Educators had plenty of warning that a large majority of students would fail the social studies test. Even so, school officials maintained their disastrous course.
The questioner put it bluntly: Something is aromatic in Denmark.
Said Cagle:
“Your point’s very well taken. What I’ll say to you is the system’s broke. What we have today in education, truly, is a bureaucratic maze that micro-manages the entire process.
“We’ve gotten away from allowing teachers to truly teach. That doesn’t exist. We’ve tied the hands of teachers. We’ve allowed a funding formula to drive everything that goes on in the classroom. That’s the problem.”
Note that in each of the above cases, Cagle tried to separate himself from the governor and the school superintendent. In neither case did he throw them under the bus.
Cagle has received the most criticism for his handling this month of a transportation bill that failed on the final day of this year’s legislative session.
The lieutenant governor says he’ll pitch a new package within two months. Cagle’s first priority — matching one espoused by the governor — will be reinventing the state Department of Transportation.
Secondly, he wants to look at private-public partnerships when it comes to construction.
But thirdly, and most important to Georgia’s business community, Cagle said it would “focus on new revenue streams that are going to assist our communities, particularly in a regional capacity.”
That’s as specific as Cagle got about new tax money to address congestion — and even state lawmakers in the audience weren’t sure exactly what the lieutenant governor meant.
Photo credit: John Spink/AJC
Comments
By Nick
May 29, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
Just how qualified is some one who has no college degree to tell us how to reform our education system? Isn’t that the problem with the system, politicians with no knowledge of what goes on in a class room making rules for educators?
By R U Kidding
May 29, 2008 6:43 PM | Link to this
Sounds like typical Cagle - always trys to play the middle, doesn’t committ.
Can’t believe he is even thinking about running in 2010 for Gov.
By jackpot
May 29, 2008 8:06 PM | Link to this
What is it about the uneducated and state government? Could lack of higher education be why state government leaders are having such a hard time fulfilling their responsibilities to Georgia citizens? Someone should put these questions to our most eminent high school graduates, Casey Cagle and Karen Handel. Must be nice to skip college and land a $120k job anyways.
By RJ
May 29, 2008 8:41 PM | Link to this
This ruling bunch of Republicans, state and federal, have been a dismal disappointment. What a golden opportunity they have missed and what damage their ineptness has done to Georgia.
Well, just like personnel decisions, choosing electing officials is not an exact science. Thank goodness we have an opportunity to get it right the next election. We disappointed Rebpublicans and Democrats alike must express our dissatisfaction at the ballot box.
By TW
May 29, 2008 10:00 PM | Link to this
The Republicans were given the keys to the city, but have done nothing but trash the place. Squandering a golden opportunity, their disastrous attmepts at leadership will usher in a liberal tidal wave. What a waste, all the way from Bush down to Chip Rogers…what a waste.
By CobbSchools
May 29, 2008 10:13 PM | Link to this
Our educational system is a mess. office Central office employees are more worried about giving tests than teaching. In Cobb County, for example, the directive has been given to high school social studies teachers to give the same test to all students per each school. Dr. Eddie Bennett the author of this directive, must have his head up some dark hole. To give each student the same test in social studies, despite the fact that each teacher may stress different points. This is just another way to increase the failure rate among students. Forget about teaching lets just test and test and test. Cobb social studies testing indcludes this calendar in a 18 week period: A pre-test followed by unit tests followed by the EOCT followed by the graduation test followed by A.P. exams followed by a Final is not teaching. It is only an attempt to CYA so that no one gets any blame.
By Confederate F*
May 29, 2008 11:31 PM | Link to this
Bring back the bars, stripes, and defense of marriage act from the same GOP queers who brought u toe tapping
By JimFrank
May 30, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
The problems in Georgia’s education system are not new. In 1967, I completed 5th grade in Cobb County (Mableton Elementary) and then moved to Pike County, a much more rural area than Cobb. I did not see anything new for three years. That is how far behind they were back then from Cobb.
The entire Georgia school system needs to be redesigned from the ground up. We need better training for teachers. Testing should be used as a teaching tool first.
We do need more standardization across the 159 counties if we ever hope to produce competitive graduates from across the state. We need to be using today’s technology to supplement education more effectively. And we also need to provide better for our teachers, with free education (even web-based), with standardized lesson plans and materials, and with bonuses for those working in challenging locations.
The system is horribly broken. We must rebuild it from the ground up, if we ever want to think of a bright future for the children of Georgia.
By SharonH
May 30, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
But what did he say? He didn’t say anything!!!!!!!!!! I don’t understand, somebody help………
By DentureDan
May 30, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this
When’s the next secret stairwell meeting?
By Aviation Schools
July 9, 2008 9:20 AM | Link to this
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