My overarching priority for the 2014 legislative session is to ensure that we build a strong educational foundation for every student in our state.
That’s why my budget calls for the addition of $547 million for k-12 education, the largest single increase in k-12 funding in seven years. Though the state budget has not included teacher furloughs or decreased instructional days since I took office, this additional funding will provide our local school systems with the resources and flexibility to address the most critical needs of their students and teachers.
In the Great Recession, state revenues dropped 19 percent, meaning I came into my term during hard times when much of the savings of low-hanging fruit had already been plucked. Since spending on education has always been the largest part of our state budget, representing more than half of all spending, we had to fight and use creativity to hold this line on education funding.
Total state funding for k-12 education has increased each year I have been in office. Funding for Quality Basic Education, the outdated formula that allocates revenue to the local school districts, has increased roughly 13 percent since my first year in office. In the last two years, nearly 50 cents of every dollar of new revenues has been dedicated to education.
My budget includes an additional $10 million to redevelop the state’s standardized tests for grades 3-12. Student performance over the last three years shows modest improvement across all core subjects on state standardized tests, but a recent study by Harvard professor Paul Peterson found that Georgia has the lowest expectations for determining student proficiency in the nation. These additional funds will be used to develop more rigorous assessments, an investment in an accurate reflection of how students are performing.
Since I became governor, it has been my goal to provide every child in any classroom in our state with access to the best instruction possible. I created the Digital Learning Task Force in April 2012 and asked a group of teachers, superintendents, principals, business leaders, legislators and subject matter experts for recommendations to improve the educational achievement of our students through digital learning.
In keeping with the task force’s final recommendations, my budget provides $49.8 million in state general and bond funding to support high-speed broadband access at every public school and wireless connectivity in every classroom. Students must develop technical literacy in order to attain 21st century skills and enter the workforce prepared to succeed — the ultimate goal.
We know that by 2020, more than 60 percent of jobs in Georgia will require some form of post-secondary degree. We need more of our citizens to acquire education and skills beyond high school in order to fill the needs of a growing economy. To encourage this, I have proposed a new Zell Miller HOPE Grant for students in our technical college system. This grant will cover 100 percent of tuition for those who maintain a 3.5 GPA.
My budget includes additional funding for the Accel program, which provides a tuition scholarship to high school students jointly enrolled in postsecondary courses. And finally, I have also proposed expanding the Strategic Industries Workforce Development Grant to incentivize technical college students to pursue degrees in high-demand fields.
Since taking office, I have worked with the General Assembly to budget conservatively, downsize state government, implement real tax reform and create approximately 217,000 private-sector jobs as we’ve rebuilt from the Great Recession. It is through these measures that we now have the opportunity to better fund our state’s education priorities.
