Education funding reform starts to take shape
Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission has reached a “preliminary consensus” on a key mechanism in the proposed overhaul of school funding.
Students in grades 4-8 would be considered the “base weight” and schools would get straight funding for them from the state. But younger and older students would count for more, due to requisites like smaller class sizes for younger children and special labs for older students, said Charles Knapp, commission chairman.
Other student characteristics, including disabilities and a lack of English fluency, would also multiply the amount of money schools would draw from the state.
Much still needs to be determined before recommendations are due Dec. 18. Lawmakers on the commission have pushed for an analysis of what it costs to educate each student. They want some logical basis for determining how much to fund each “base” student, for instance. Knapp has said the governor doesn’t want an analysis of cost, but relented somewhat Tuesday, when presenting the early consensus of the funding committee to the whole education commission. But he said there may be some “middle ground,” such as calculating the cost of teaching students with disabilities or teaching young students to read.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
