Audio clip
Jim Barrett
Educators and others concerned about public education in Georgia are bound for Atlanta on Saturday to rally against funding cuts at the state Capitol.
Jim Barrett, president of the Walker Association of Educators and an eighth-grade teacher at LaFayette Middle School, said he will join other education supporters to make sure lawmakers know they want education cuts to stop.
"We're going to have teachers from all over the state rallying at the capital, and we're going to be talking about some alternative ways to address budget shortfalls: systemically, not just short term, but long term," Mr. Barrett said.
One remedy the Georgia Association of Educators is weighing is revising corporate taxes in Georgia, he said.
"We believe there's a lot of areas where money could be generated with a change in the corporate tax structure," he said.
Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, said the economy is forcing lawmakers' hands.
"There's nobody who wants to see cuts in education stop more than I do, but with the economic situation that we're in, there's no way to put together a state budget without there being some cuts in education," said Rep. Dickson, a member of the House Education Committee.
He said he likes to hear educators' ideas, "but invariably, when somebody comes up with another idea, it involves somebody else giving up some money," he said. The object of that idea should be involved in discussions, too, he said.
GAE President Jeff Hubbard stated in a news release that lawmakers "must realize the magnitude of the effect further paring of the education budget will have."
Mr. Hubbard said the rally is an effort to stop cuts that affect the future of education in Georgia.
IF YOU GO
To ride the rally bus from Dalton, Ga., to Atlanta, take Interstate 75 to exit 333, turn east on Walnut Avenue and drive about four miles to the Walmart parking lot. Park in the outer lot and look for the chartered bus. Passengers will board between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. For more information, call Tana Page at 678-779-5250.
"Decade after decade our schools have been shortchanged for one reason after another to the detriment of our schools and children," he said.
He said between 1983 and 2002, Quality Basic Education Act funding was shortchanged by $800 million. Proposed cuts this year could bring the total shortfall between 2002 and 2010 to more than $2 billion, Mr. Hubbard said.
Legislators "are not just working with numbers, but people," he said.
"What's unfortunate is that no group has sacrificed more because of continued budget cuts than Georgia's schoolchildren, who will never recoup their lost opportunities," he said.
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
If I am wrong I am confident that one of the teaching professionals or their friends will correct me or tell me why I feel the way I do. So here goes. I cannot remember a rally in the past to make our elected officals aware of the concerns of teaching professionals across the state. Could it be that the cuts from other years only affected school funding and not teachers salary and benefits??? Perhaps its just a co-ink-e-dink??? Thats probably misspelled so I'll thank a teacher!! Lets leave that to Freud!! Teachers in Georgia enjoy the 4th highest salary in the nation with cost of living factored in. And we always like to have a COLA raise, don't we?? So, once again we see a union group stomping their feet and a newspaper with an agenda tied to the philosophy of the union trying to convince taxpayers that the concern for the education of children is the main goal. With the FACT that the majority of tax dollars support teacher salary and benefits and leaves close to nothing for the classroom, it is time to look at the salary scale structure. More pay for higher degrees has been a failure. This should be abolished today. This is not my opinion, it is a documented fact and Gov. Perdues office is on track to make some adjustments. I only hope they are not 4 years down the road and please don't make them optional. We have P.E. teachers making $84,000 a year. Jumping jacks are very expensive in Georgia!!! Now if you have a young lady or a young man who leaves college with a degree in teaching high school calculus, liner algebra, or advance science classes and so on, the pay is at the bottom of the barrel along with all starting teachers. How is it that a jumping jack teacher can command such a salary. In Georgia you only need a MASTERS DEGREE or PHD and time served and you can cruise to a very comfortable retirement on the backs of very hard working teachers who took the HIGH ROAD in their quest to teach children the skills they need to survive in the REAL WORLD. My point is, its not that hard to teach kids to play Red Rover, on the other hand the demands on a teacher to educate students in the arts of math and science are well deserved of higher pay in the door. Go to any high school and it becomes apparent these fields lack teachers. Why, because to receive these degrees is very difficult and requires a great deal of study. Its time to adjust the level of pay and associate it with difficulty and need. Not degrees and time served. Don't sell me a new BMW and deliver a used AUDI!!! I'm just sayin!!!
I am a teacher, and I very much agree. We have too many high paid coaches in high school who sort of teach, and are allowed to get away with being worksheet junkies or worse in the classroom, or gym. Pay should be based on supply, demand and performance. This is an idea that would scare teacher’s crazy, but it is the way the rest of the country works. It is also true that we usually start going crazy when our salaries start being cut, but once our pay is cut the classroom budget has been dropped as well. Why not shift the amazing amount of money we pay for jails and criminal care and move that to education? It might pay off in the long run by not needing as many jails.
Here here, The jail issue is a valid point. Who is in the jails. High school dropouts, drug pushers, drug addicts, thieves and so on. Why do we have such a high number of adults and children in the states full time care?? The importance of school must be shouted from the halls of every school from day one. The first middle school class taught should be "The world today and how to survive financially and emotionally." No more fairy tale councillors telling students they can be a doctor when they can't spell the word CAT. The ability to identify at risk students is a top priority. Not every home stresses the need for education. So as a whole, parents included, we must open up to the children and families who need a helping hand. Not put them in private information limbo. The school version of HIPA nonsense. A lack of care and concern for others is what allowed the jails to become so popular. I feel the single parent home did more damage to the children of this country than any other single issue. Its time we look past our own front door with tollerance and acceptance and embrace community once again!! I'm just sayin!!
Or login with:
New Account