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 three of the four lawmakers who allegedly were called deny 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. Two other committee members — Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta and Randy Nix, R-LaGrange — also denied it. The fourth member whom PAGE said was called, Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
SB 364, by Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, passed the Senate by unanimous vote last month but has yet to emerge from the House Education committee for a vote by the full House.
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.
Amendments offered by the House Education committee today delete the part of Tippins’ bill that allows tests to count for less than 30 percent. The new version also increases the number of days a student must attend a teacher’s class to have the test score count for that teacher beyond the already-substantial increase Tippins proposed. It also adds the possibility for two school districts that were excluded from Tippins to participate in the changed evaluation scheme. Webster County and the City of Buford, in Gwinnett County, were excluded because they are the only two districts in Georgia that have not opted to become either a charter school system or a waiver system, which is like a charter system lite.
Every major education group in Georgia, including those that advocate for school superintendents, principals and teachers, are backing Tippins’ version of the bill. It’s unclear how they stand on the new amendments, which could affect the bill’s ultimate success.
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 it will be up to Tippins whether the committee votes on the amended bill. (You can find out what happened here.)
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