Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog debated whether Gov. Nathan Deal’s education reform panel got it right on school funding. Here is a sampling of comments:
Bitcoined: To the socialists among us, the school funding mechanism is just another opportunity to redistribute wealth away from its makers to society's takers.
Mirva: This new "reform" movement is certainly going to be signed by Governor Deal, and it is certainly going to fail. There is not enough in the budget to pay contracted teachers. The new system wants to tie teacher pay to performance. It sounds so good — pay good teachers more. But good scores tend to be from white and Asian students, who tend to be in suburban schools that are staffed by mostly white teachers. This will certainly lead to a teacher shortage. When the teacher shortage happens, the state will lessen the teacher certification, allowing any yahoo to enter the classroom. This will lead to poor results and unhappy parents who will leave the public schools. This is happening right now in Kansas. This is open warfare on public education.
Jag: Do you remember when they allowed people with business degrees to get a provisional license and teach about 14 years ago? They all left after a couple of years, because they said the pay and workload were ridiculous. Georgia treats their teachers like crap. They are at the bottom of the barrel, and this won't help.
Milton: Atlanta Public Schools spend more per student than any other school district in the state, yet the dumbest students in the state call APS home. Spending more money is never the solution.
Georgian: Under the plan, gifted kids get more money than low-income kids. Is there a slight possibility that most gifted kids have higher household incomes and more educated parents than most kids? So higher IQ, higher household income, and more highly educated parents necessitates a need for higher school funding?
GG: Taxpayers in Georgia pay some of the lowest rates in the country for public schools. Whereas on a micro level one can argue more money does not equate to better education, until the citizens of this state are willing to understand the full cost of a highly educated populace, Georgia will continue to languish among the worst in the nation in public education standards. Stir the pot anyway you wish — QBE, Opportunity District, charter district, status quo, TKES/LKES — the outcomes will always be the same, because there is just not enough in the pot to begin with. Simply put, on a large scale, you get what you pay for.
AthensTeacher: The process of redesigning the funding formula needed more time, legitimate research and public input. Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of "House of Cards," but I believe at least the general parameters for the proposed funding formula were developed behind closed doors before the first Education Reform Commission meeting occurred.
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