Over the past two weeks, much has been said and written about some early projections of scores on this year's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. As is often the case with standardized tests scores, there is some good news to celebrate as well as some news that causes concern. While most of the comments about the scores have been well-intentioned and made with our students' best interest in mind, regrettably, some Democratic leaders have tried to spin the results into a wholesale indictment of Georgia schools, teachers and students.

I think it is important to remember that these attacks are from the very people who controlled the state's education agenda for 130 years and left Georgia an educational embarrassment. They can try to score points with their wrongheaded and misleading assaults, but I will not allow partisan rhetoric to diminish the dramatic progress we have seen in our classrooms over the past few years.

As I traveled the state running for governor six years ago, I met parents and teachers who were fed up with decades of failed Democratic education policy. My predecessor had actually led our state backwards in student achievement, a feat many thought was not possible. On his watch, we went from 48th in the country in SAT scores to dead last. Georgians supported my campaign en masse because education is simply the most important issue facing our state.

Democratic policies, like those recently espoused in editorials by former Gov. Roy Barnes and state Rep. Rob Teilhet, are a rehash of past failures. Those policies resulted in failing schools and politically motivated decision making, rather than an agenda driven by sound policy. They are from a time when funding was assigned on the basis of political favors owed rather than where it could be best invested, a time when teachers were blamed and maligned rather than supported and inspired.

Instead of working with us in a bipartisan manner, our political opponents have again chosen to play the blame game, taking a page out of their old, worn-out playbook. Unfortunately for them, their attacks would fail any math and history test in a Georgia classroom.

Education spending hits record

The opposition continues to falsely claim the state has cut education funding, but the facts show a different story. This year, we will spend $1.7 billion more than the state did in the final year of the previous administration. In per pupil spending, we will spend approximately $680 more per student than in 2002, an increase of 19 percent. These are record amounts for the state, despite the continual accusations of "cuts" from the Democratic Party.

These claims of "cuts" are merely projections from a 23-year-old formula based on where educators thought dollars should be spent back in 1985. There were 3 million fewer Georgians in 1985, before the advent of laptop computers, wireless Internet or even cellphones. The formula is quite simply outdated and does not reflect real, modern educational priorities.

Additionally, this Byzantine funding scheme that my backward friends across the political aisle cling to doesn't account for the tens of millions of dollars spent each year in targeted programs that are designed to achieve specific results.

For example, we placed graduation coaches in middle and high schools to identify at-risk students and create targeted, strategic plans to steer them to high school graduation. After just one year of our graduation coaches being in place, the number of high school dropouts in Georgia decreased by 10 percent —- 2,200 fewer than the year before. Our graduation rate is up 8 percentage points since 2003 to more than 70 percent, the highest in state history.

We have also funded programs that better prepare our students for the SAT, and since 2003, the gap between Georgia and the national average on the verbal and math sections has shrunk by 14 points. From 2003-2007, Georgia's verbal and math scores have increased by 5 points while the average across the country has dropped by 9 points.

I am particularly encouraged that Georgia's minority students are outpacing their counterparts around the nation with higher scores in most areas of the test. This rising tide of momentum is especially impressive given that our student participation rate is more than 20 percentage points higher than the national average.

We have also ensured that younger students get the help they need to become better at reading, a fundamental building block for increased learning ability. For the first time ever, Georgia's fourth-grade students are on par with the nation in reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Old priorities favored politics

Several years ago, I was proud to support a Democratic proposal that required students to be able to read by the end of their third-grade year in order to be promoted to fourth grade. This law passed during Gov. Barnes' first term but was conveniently scheduled for implementation after his re-election attempt, which was ultimately unsuccessful, leaving Republicans to apply the new standard. Incredibly, many Democrats worked against implementing this new rule, again proving their mixed-up priorities favor politics over progress.

Eighth-grade reading NAEP scores also went up as we continue to make gains on the rest of the country. Our scaled score is now just two points behind the nation, and the percentage of students at basic reading proficiency or above is now at 70 percent, also only two points behind the national average.

The overall results we are seeing reflect the real progress being made, and along with state School Superintendent Kathy Cox, we have set a course for sustainable change in our schools that will yield even more improvement. As we change policies, promote academic rigor and attempt to affect behavior that has been reinforced for more than 100 years, we must have the cooperation of teachers, students and parents.

Performance name of the game

Issuing royal edicts from Atlanta on what will be mandated in Georgia schools does not encourage, motivate or inspire. Turning around an education ship that had been floating aimlessly downstream for 130 years takes buy-in from all oarsmen.

That is why this year we passed legislation that completely redefines the relationship between the state and local schools from a compliance-based system to performance-based. Local systems will be able to opt out of many state mandates and restrictions on spending in exchange for a contractual commitment to improving student achievement.

We are proud that, for once, all education policy stakeholders are working toward the same goals: increasing high school graduation and college enrollment rates; strengthening teacher quality, recruitment and retention; improving work force readiness skills; developing strong education leaders; and improving Georgia's SAT/ACT scores.

Since 2003, we have dramatically altered the way we view public education in the state of Georgia. Under the old way of thinking, we inched our students forward year by year, giving them high marks along the way and feigning shock when our SAT scores were at the bottom of the rankings. Students who were not deemed to be college-prep worthy were simply not challenged with tough course work. When those students then showed up to take the test, many were not prepared, and our SAT rankings sank.

It was clear to me, and most parents as well, that our students needed to be challenged with a more rigorous curriculum that would better prepare them to face an increasingly competitive world. While a comprehensive change in our state's curriculum is not easy, it was the right thing to do. Our new Georgia Performance Standards curriculum has been ranked in the top five in the nation, and studies have repeatedly shown a link between strong state standards and student gains on national assessments.

Courses, standards raise the bar

This year, for the first time, all of Georgia's eighth-grade students were taught and tested on the new math standards, which are equivalent to Algebra I along with some course work in geometry and statistics.

We have also dramatically increased the access of Advanced Placement courses for students across the state. Fewer than 20 percent of Georgia students participated in AP courses in 2002, and now that number is up to 28.6 percent. Georgia also has one of the highest rates of participation in AP courses in the nation among minority students.

When I took office, 11.2 percent of graduating seniors had scored at mastery in an AP exam, below the national average. Yet in 2007, more than 15 percent of our graduating seniors had mastered an AP exam, which eclipses the national average. These upward trends will continue as we increase AP teacher training, pay for students to take these exams and offer more AP classes through our Georgia Virtual School.

We will not apologize for challenging our students with more rigorous course work and tougher tests. This challenging curriculum is necessary to prepare our students for the 21st-century global economy that grows more competitive each day.

To come back now and criticize our efforts to help students strengthen and sharpen their skills is disingenuous at best. Democrats had their chance, and Georgians have rejected their antiquated beliefs. The results are in, and the facts are clear. We are finally making progress, reversing 13 decades of failed policies. Why would we ever go back?

> Sonny Perdue is governor of Georgia.