A few weeks ago, our younger son Thomas graduated from preschool. Next month, he’ll join his brother Henry at our neighborhood public elementary school.
Like other parents across the state, we’re counting on our schools to help build our kids’ future. I believe that Georgia can — and must — be a state where those boys and their classmates get a good education and then go on to graduate to good jobs right here at home.
And I am running for governor to protect that future. Because while I know it is possible, I also know that the path we are on today will not take us there.
Gov. Deal has overseen the largest contraction of public education in our state’s modern history. This massive disinvestment will wreak havoc on our economy for years to come. In my family, we call that eating our seed corn. It might fill you up for one night, but next year you’re going to starve.
The results have been devastating:
• We have lost 9,000 teachers while the number of students has gone up. Ninety-five percent of school districts have had to increase class sizes.
• Two-thirds of school districts have cut instructional days, with some cutting as many as 30 days.
• We have the nation’s fourth-worst high school graduation rate.
• More than half of our school districts have had to raise local property taxes to deal with the state cuts.
And it’s not just our schoolchildren. Gov. Deal’s record on higher education is just as bad.
A new report shows that the cost of college has increased faster in Georgia than in all but one state in the country. While cutting funding to our colleges, Gov. Deal has also gutted the HOPE scholarship. In just two years, Georgia lost 80,000 HOPE recipients, and our technical colleges lost nearly a quarter of their enrolled students overnight. This threatens our future skilled workforce.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
As governor, my first priority will always be education — not just in an election year. I believe that education is economic development. It creates opportunity, it attracts businesses to the state, and it prepares our students for the best jobs.
A big part of the problem is that politicians in Atlanta promise support while continuing cuts. Since taking office, Gov. Deal has continued that shell game, underfunding public education by an average of $1 billion per year. He likes talking about his election-year funding increase, but the truth is he still missed the mark by three-quarters of a billion dollars. So his promise to “restore instructional days, eliminate teacher furloughs and increase teacher salaries” is simply a sham for far too many families and educators across Georgia.
My plan ends the shell game. As governor, I will propose a separate education budget — a trust fund that will keep the politicians in Atlanta from taking from our schools to pay for other things. The separate budget will hold politicians accountable and force them to put their money where their mouths are.
Of course, money alone won’t solve the problems. We have to stop the visionless political games that keep parents and students guessing with major change after change. And we must have a long-term, coherent focus on what drives educational success: our teachers.
As governor, I’ll focus every day on recruiting, retaining and supporting the best possible teachers for our students. My wife Kate is a public school teacher, and I know our teachers are tired of being treated like they’re the only problem instead of part of the solution. We all need to recognize that the strongest teacher workforce gives us our strongest chance to succeed.
Finally, we will restore the promise of HOPE by making sure we maximize the number of students who can afford to go to college and technical school. That’s an investment that will pay off not just for those students, but for the entire state as we reap the benefits of a highly skilled workforce.
When the bell rings next month and parents drop their kids back for the first day, we’ll all be counting on our schools to give our kids the best opportunities. That bright future is possible, and it starts with electing leaders who know what it takes to get us there.
