“If you’re a big business, if you’re a political deal maker or you are one of the governor’s friends, chances are, things are going well for you in Georgia. But if you’re a small business or regular middle-class family, chances are, you’re feeling forgotten. Groceries. Gas. Local property taxes. Underfunded schools and larger class sizes. The cost of a college education. It is getting harder and harder for middle class people in Georgia to make it.”
“Governor Deal … is bursting with pride that some magazine has rated Georgia the best place to do business. You can’t tell that to the 363,000 Georgians still looking for work. Our state ranks 40th in the nation in its unemployment rate. Twenty-seven percent of Georgia’s children are living in poverty. That’s one out of every four kids, and the 6th-worst poverty rate in the country. And we have a child welfare system that has shamefully failed to protect the children in its care.”
“Adjusted for inflation, the average Georgia family in effect makes $6,000 less than the average family did 10 years ago. That’s a real pay cut. In 2002, Georgia ranked 15th in median household income; today, we rank 33rd. That means that middle-class income has dropped twice as fast in Georgia as it has in the rest of the country. I believe in creating a strong climate for business. But you can’t have a strong economy if you leave the middle class and small business behind.”
“The single biggest failure of Georgia’s current leadership – and the biggest drain on our economy – is the dismantling of our education system. … Since 2008, Georgia’s public schools have lost more than 9,000 classroom teachers, while the number of students has gone up. As a result, 95 percent of school districts have had to increase class sizes. And Georgia now ranks among the worst in the country in how many educators we have to teach our students. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Georgia has the 4th worst high school graduation rate. Almost three-quarters of our school districts have stopped teaching students the full 180 days per year. There is simply less educating going on in our state.”
“I believe we need a separate education budget. … Every year, the Legislature would be forced to consider the state budget in two parts. The first part would be our budget for education. That’s our seed corn; our investment in the future. Then once the education budget has been approved, we move on to funding the rest of the government. And we balance the budget every year as we are required to do. Today our education budget is a shell game. A separate education fund will make our investment in education the state’s top priority.”
“It’s not conservative to cut funding for education at the state level — and then watch property taxes go up. Governor Deal will say he hasn’t raised taxes. But take a look at your property tax bill and tell me if you think that’s true. His cuts in education have become local tax increases.”
Jason Carter is a Democratic state senator representing Atlanta.
