November 19, 2006

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Georgia's Education: Where Are We Now?

Georgians have overwhelmingly identified education as their single-most important concern. And, it should be. But, the word "education" is a vague term. Depending on one's perspective, concerns vary greatly. Parents have concerns regarding the content and quality of the education their children receive, as well as safety and security concerns. College students have another set of concerns, as do employers and educators. Also, typical taxpaying Georgians, who are neither parents of school-aged children nor employers, have a totally different set of concerns.

Regardless of their specific reasons, almost everyone seems to have "concerns". Does that imply lack of confidence and general dissatisfaction with Georgia's public education system? That appears to be the case. But, why do Georgians have these concerns? Are they real, or perceived? Let's find out.

The remainder of this web page, "Education: Where Are We Now?" presents my findings. Much of what you are about to read may be information you have never heard. Some of it will shock you. It shocked me. It shocked me into action. I am hopeful it will serve as a motivator to shock you into action, too.

For those of you with specific educational interests, the following guide will help you navigate directly to those topics:

• If you want the "bottom line" first, see "Conclusions".
• Are you interested in how well Georgia's schools measure up? See "K-12 Test Based Performance Results"
• There's more on testing.
• Where do students go after high school: job market, post-secondary education, or where? See "When their high school experience is over".
• Have concerns about the HOPE Scholarship? See "Pre-k funds..." and "HOPE Scholarship".
• Have any idea how much Georgians spend on education? See "Funding Georgia's Public Education System".
• Teachers are the working-class in the education system. How do teachers perceive educational issues? See "Teachers".
• Social issues affect the quality of education your child receives and have far-reaching impact on Georgia's economy, quality of life, and cost of government. See "Parenting", "Labeling", "Special Ed" children, "Language Barriers", and "Safety and Security".
• Who is responsible for educational achievement, teacher development, and stewardship of your tax dollars? See "Educational Leadership".

I. General Information

Georgia has a student population of 1,496,000 students in 2236 public schools in 181 public school systems in Georgia's 159 counties. (GA Department of Education-GDOE)

There are 96,044 teachers. The pupil/teacher ratio is 15.6. (National Center for Education Statistics, for the school year '02-'03, which is the most current info available.)

II. K-12 Test Based Performance Results

After 20 years, four major education reforms (QBE, A Plus, HOPE and NCLB) and billions of dollars, the following presents the case for "where we are" on a comparative basis:

• The Nations Report Card: NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) is an annual random testing as part of NCLB (No Child Left Behind). Georgia placed in the bottom 6-9 states in every category of test, which includes math, science, and reading in every grade level. (NAEP US DOE)
• ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) are the annual norm reference tests required by NCLB. Grades and test categories are the same as NAEP. Georgia's comparative performance mirrors the NAEP result stated above: at or near the bottom.
• GA RANKED 50TH (last in the country) ON SAT SCORES (Scholastic Aptitude Test) for the PAST TWO YEARS. (DCN, 18 Aug 04)
• Georgia's educational leaders say the best way to boost SAT scores is to let only the brightest kids take the test. Really?
  • In the school year that ended in 2004 Richmond County's Hephzibah High School boosted its SAT scores 111.3 points year over year. Nearly 40% of Hephzibah's student population qualifies for FRL (the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program), which serves socio-economically depressed families. (Augusta Herald 22Sep04)
  • Georgia's average ACT score in 2004 was 20 of a possible 36. National average is 20.9. 26% of Georgia's students took the test. In Tennessee, 87% took the test and scored 20.5. In Alabama, 76% of students tested and scored 20.2. Georgia students outscored La, Miss, SC and Wash DC. However, all had higher percentages of students take the test. (DCN, 18 Aug 04)
• Report for International Student Assessment (RISA) tests math, reading and science skills of 15 year olds every three years among the industrialized nations in the world. Out of 29 industrial countries, the US scored below 20 nations in math. Even the top 5% US achievers were outperformed. US scores were level from the '00 to the '03 tests. Deputy Department of Education Secretary Eugene Hickok said, "If we want to be competitive, we have some mountains to climb". "The good news is, we know that. The challenge is, what are we going to do about it?" (7 Dec 04 DCN reprint from Wash DC)

More on Testing

Georgia's students are also required to take the following tests:

• CRCT (Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) required in grades 1-8 in reading, math, science, social studies. Administered in the spring of each year. Tests have been mandated in Georgia for 20 years and have been incorporated into NCLB to meet retention requirements in grades 3,5 and 8. Those that fail the tests must remediate in the summer at additional expense to taxpayers, then retest. One third of Georgia's 8th graders failed the math portion of the test in the spring of the '05 school year.
• End of course tests (EOCT) are required in 8 courses: 2 in science, 2 in math, 2 in language arts, 2 in social studies. (Tests are being phased-in as another requirement of NCLB.)
• Writing assessments: (administered in grades 3,5,8, and 11.)
• 8th graders must take all of the aforementioned tests.
• Georgia high school graduation test: language arts, math, science, social studies. "Graduation tests fail the test of logic. Teachers across the state admit they are teaching the tests. "Drill and Kill" teaching does not develop critical thinking skills necessary to do well on the SAT or in college. (Nor for life! My insertion.) The Center for Education Policy reports "the majority of studies have found no evidence that exit exams increase student learning. 12 of 18 states that implemented graduation exit exams, showed decreases in ACT test performance, and 10 showed decreases in SAT scores." (DCN Jan05, Ken Ellinger)
• During the Governor's "Community Meeting" on 27 Jan 05, State Superintendent Cox said, "If we choose to do so, from the state level we are able to manage individual students from test results. CURRICULUM IS DRIVEN STRICTLY BY TESTS."
• What do test results tell us about the state of Georgia's public education system? In every measurable category of testing at every grade level where state-to-state comparison is possible, Georgia students perform at or near the bottom. Internationally, US students are in the bottom third. Competitively speaking, Georgia students are at the bottom of the bottom.

III. When their K-12 education experience is over, where do students go?

High school students entering the 9th grade complete their public school experience one of three ways:

1. They earn a diploma and enter the job market,
2. They drop-out of high school,
3. They earn a diploma and enter post-secondary education.

Job Market

High school grads that enter the workforce immediately after high school have an average lifetime earning power of $27,800 annually. However, in today's sophisticated work environment, a high school diploma in general studies is inadequate preparation. Therefore, most high school graduates who enter the work force upon completion of high school are not competitive for good paying jobs. Additionally, employers historically report that today's high school graduate is insufficiently disciplined in "work ethic" issues. Many, out of frustration, have even stated they would be happy if they could hire entry level employees that will "just show up for work" on scheduled work days and not be tardy! This is a sad testimony of the finished product of Georgia's high schools.

Drop-outs

Where do children that quit school go? Some go into the job market- some are successful, most aren't. Some have unwanted pregnancies and prematurely become mothers (30% of the births in Georgia are to unmarried mothers and represent a brand new cycle of probable drop-outs and another likely generation of poverty.) Some go to juvenile facilities. Some go to prison. And, many eventually rely on some form of government assistance programs.

• State Superintendent Cox officially stated the drop-out rate for Georgia public schools is 34%. By definition it is understated. The drop-out rate at times is calculated using grades 7 to 12 and at others grades 9 to 12. Directions given to local schools for coding dropouts is based on self-reported data. Where's the inherent deflation? 7th, 8th, and 9th graders don't quit school. Therefore, the rates are understated by the entire populations of 3 grades and 1 grade, respectively. This explains my frequent statement that 34% is the absolute, most conservative number!
• "Georgia ranks 51st (behind impoverished Washington, DC) in high school completion." (Ellinger DCN 5 Jan 05)
• High school dropouts, on average earn $18,750, while high school grads earn, $27,800, and those with bachelor's degrees earn $51,200. (2000 census data released 28 Mar 05)
• Each high school drop-out has an economic cost of $11,000 dollars per year. No big deal? There are 1.6 million drop-outs in Georgia's adult population. Multiplied by the cost per drop-out, the total is $17.5 billion dollars per year. And, the cost continues to climb. Each year 30,000 of Georgia's students drop-out of school. This is an additional annual cost of $330 million dollars. (Georgia Southern Study quoted by Meredith, and using Sup. Cox' drop-out rate, which is on the low end of the many rates quoted.)
• Georgia's adult prison population is 50,000. 80% of Georgia's prisoners are high school drop-outs.
• Since the data is not available, it can only be assumed that 80% of the 50,000 prisoners in our county jails, are also drop-outs.
• And, who knows the education level of our 25,000 parolees and 136,000 probationers? My guess, it is similar. (Incidentally, Georgia has the highest combined total of adult prison population, parolees, and probationers in the country. Another "first at worst" statistic in Georgia.)
• In English, math and spelling, the average education level of Georgia's prison population is 6th grade. Equipped with $20, a bus ticket, a 6th grade education, no job, no transportation, etc, they will re-enter our communities. Any wonder they continue their patterns of crime? (See the section, "Social Issues")
• Because of the cyclical nature of drop-outs within family units, it is reasonable to assume the greatest percentage of Georgia's 25,000 incarcerated juveniles are from homes of former drop-outs.
• There is no available information on the extent of adult illiteracy or functional illiteracy in our population. However, I personally know four adults who are completely illiterate. Their lives are a living hell. One attended public schools for 12 years and "graduated" with a certificate of attendance.
• Mike Vollmer, Commissioner for the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), stated in an article in Georgia Trend Magazine that the Adult Literacy Program will serve 140,000 students. (My request for information from Asst Comm for Adult Literacy, DTAE, Dr. Jean DeVard-Kemp was unanswered.) (Georgians, I completed writing this piece in May '05. Dr. DeVard-Kemp resigned her position late in Jun '05. It seems there was a widespread nepotism problem and irregularities in reported performance results. "Nepotism" equates to wasted taxpayer dollars. "Irregularities" in reported information typically means inflating results to make your organization appear more effective than it is. This seems to be a common problem within the upper echelons of the education community. Why, you ask? That's easy to answer: money, kingdom building and preservation of power. It needs to come to an end.

Additional impacts of Drop-outs:

• Drop-outs tend to be tax dollar consumers as opposed to tax dollar contributors.
• Unreported costs to employers due to work ethic issues: tardiness; absenteeism; turn-over; trainability; identification with superior-subordinate relationship; employee theft; and, abuse of equipment, facilities, workers compensation and health benefits.
• Impact on quality of life in our communities.
• Perspective:
  • 35% of the state budget is consumed by our public education system- a system that does not graduate 34% (under-stated) of Georgia's children;
  • 25% is consumed by government assistance programs, in large part necessitated by previous drop-outs whose population is growing by, a minimum of 30,000 drop-outs each year;
  • 8% is consumed by the criminal justice system (a population comprised mostly of drop-outs), and
  • 7% is consumed to service interest on Georgia's record level $10 billion dollars of debt.

That leaves 25% of the state budget to fund everything else!

Why does the drop-out problem exist?

• Compulsory education laws permit children to quit school with parental permission at age 16.
• Drop-outs are a product of unbroken family cycles of drop-outs, otherwise known as the "Adult Literacy Problem". If the child's parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, and/or older sibling dropped-out, the child will, most likely, drop-out and perpetuate the cycle.
• Employers give students jobs, work them long hours, late night hours and fail to monitor academic or attendance performance.
• "Labeling" of socio-economically depressed children at very early ages, whether intentional, or unintentional. Regardless of preparation in primary schools, "labeled" kids are great risks to quit school. (See "labeling".)
• "Fractured Families"- absence of two educated parents involved in the education of the child. (See "Parenting")
• Leadership failure. What one State Senator shared with me may best summarize the sentiment of our state leadership: as a young man he worked hard to obtain his education. "Can you make people value an education", he asked? Another state representative (a retired school superintendent) related he had been an educator all of his life and didn't think the problem could be solved. (Unconcern, nor hopeless attitudes will get the drop-out problem on the table, let alone a serious effort to solve it!) YET, IT MUST BE SOLVED!!!!
• To complete the story of the impacts of drop-outs, adult literacy and poverty on the economy, cost of government and quality of life in Georgia's communities, see the section on "Social Issues".

There are two current solutions to the drop-out problem. One is the Pre-K program, which has been phased-in since the inception of the Georgia Lottery.

• Pre-K. In 1983 Georgia's "official" drop-out rate was 24%. As part of QBE, kindergarten was the solution 20 years ago. The theory was: better preparation at early ages would positively impact retention in later grades. However, results have proven that theory to be wrong. The drop-out rate has grown (from 24-34%). Kindergarten did not achieve intended results. What makes anyone think pre-k will work any better? Despite the absence of pre-k programs in most of the country, "In math and science our 4th graders rank with the best in the world. But, our 12th graders are near the bottom." (Bill Gates, Microsoft, LA Times, 1March05). In other words, without pre-k most of our kids are already sufficiently prepared to begin their formal education experience, whether it begins in kindergarten or the 1st grade. Then, there is this study that further debunks the "earlier preparation" theory as the answer to the "drop-out" problem:
  • The most comprehensive study ever conducted touts benefits of Pre-K. Report studied long-term benefits of every Pre-K program in the country. Benefits were many. However, the impact on drop-outs, which is the bottom line, projected a decrease of California's 35% drop-out rate by 2%!! Cost of the program was projected to be $1.7 billion dollars. (LA Times) In other words, pre-k is a poor return on investment.
• Pre-K funds are derived mostly from the same source as the HOPE Scholarship program. Until two years ago, pre-k consumed more of lotto dollars than the HOPE. Now, pre-k consumes slightly less. The HOPE, as is widely known, is under financial pressure. This begs the question: why would you commit funds to a program (Pre-K), whose results are suspect, when doing so is at the expense of hard-working and deserving high school scholars?
• The governor increased funding for 2,000 pre-k seats for the school year beginning in '05 and 4,000 next year. Is there a hidden agenda for it to be fully funded, then mandated? What is the projected cost? What is the source of funding?
• Before leaving the topic of pre-k, I should make a point very clear. I am 100% supportive of pre-k for socio-economically depressed children. Beyond that, pre-k must be part of the discussion for systemic change in Georgia's public education system. (See "John's Vision for Georgia: Focus on Education".)

The other effort to reduce the drop-out problem is Chancellor Meredith's "Education: Go Get It!" This program is the biggest public-business partnership in the history of the state to address the high school drop-out problem." That's what he said on GPB's "Lawmakers" on 28 Feb 05. However, in the winter '05 issue of the "System Supplement" published by the Georgia Board of Regents, he said something else. "Development of 'Education: Go Get It!' is to make more Georgians aware of the critical need for post-secondary education." Which is it?

Post-Secondary Education (College/University bound high school graduates.)

Despite having the 9th largest population in the country and having had the HOPE Scholarship for a generation of students, Georgia's college level population, at 250,000, is 49th in the country. Remarkably, as the student population at UGA, Georgia's flagship university, continues to grow, the population of Georgians is in decline!

"263,000 jobs in Georgia can't be filled due to lack of education." (GPB Lawmakers, Meredith, 18 Feb 05)

"The first question asked by executives of companies considering Georgia for the relocation of their existing businesses is: what is the education level of the population?" (Meredith, Oct 04)

In October 04 Chancellor Meredith said, "Do the math. Only 13 of 100 9th graders in Georgia will graduate from college."

Georgia has one of the worst college level retention rates in the country!

The higher the percentage of a class enrolled in remedial classes, the lower the expected graduation rate. (Pappas Report, 2000)

37-50% of Georgia's incoming freshmen class must take remedial classes (paid with HOPE Scholarship dollars). But, that is misleading. UGA and GaTech represent the greatest percentage of Georgia's incoming freshman class every year. Only a small percentage of these school's incoming class take remedial classes. Therefore, a much larger percentage of incoming freshman at Georgia's other 32 colleges and universities must take remedial classes before they qualify to take credited courses. Why? The answer is grade inflation in Georgia's high schools. It's a human nature issue. What teacher wants to be identified as the one that gave a marginal student a grade that deprived that student of the HOPE Scholarship? Apparently few! The bottom line? Human nature is victorious over high standards! Who is served well besides the conscience of the teacher? Students? No. Student's parents? No. Taxpayers? No. Business community? No. Solvency of HOPE? No. Georgia's economy? No. Georgia's reputation? No.

A US DOE study states that when colleges accept students that are ill-prepared:

• Curricula is "dumbed down" and "fraudulent" diplomas are conferred
• Professors that don't go along with "dumbing down" suffer decreased budgets
• To a large extent, college budgets are determined by student enrollment. More students mean higher budgets. Therefore, it is an incentive to admit students that are unprepared for college. Think it isn't happening in Georgia?
  • Headline: "Georgia Further Dumbs-Down Its Education Standards." Just kidding. That's not what it said. That's what it meant! Georgia's public colleges will no longer require students to submit standardized test scores for admission to two-year degree programs. Net result: more kids will be accepted into a system that already has 37-50% of its entering freshmen enrolled in remedial classes (paid for by HOPE) and accepted into the system that already has the one of the lowest retention rates in the country! Why? Money. The relationship goes like this. More students, more need for everything, more money for the college, more money for all of the colleges, bigger post-secondary kingdom under the Chancellor. (DCN, 21 Apr 05.) "Dumbing-Down" continues, folks.

IV. HOPE Scholarship

Another headline: 8% tuition increase for students in the University System of Georgia beginning in fall '05. That was announced immediately after the '05 legislative session adjourned. Timing? Perfect. The deal was struck months before. Remember when the governor "convinced" the Regents to back off of the 10% increase last fall? The governor's "strong" leadership skills were evident in this year's budget. The system was fully funded AND, according to Chancellor Meredith, "the governor was very generous to the University System of Georgia in this year's budget". The Chancellor showed his appreciation. He sent a letter of recommendation to the legislature endorsing the cap of 127 hours for Hope funded degree disciplines. Well, imagine that? The Chancellor being so noble as to take "food off of his table" as a sacrifice to make the program "more equitable". We fund remedial classes for kids that didn't do the work in high school and are most likely to quit and waste all of the HOPE money spent on them. And, the governor takes a couple of million of HOPE funds for a pet project (funds he campaigned in '02 to put in trust and never touch). And, because the stream of lotto funds has leveled off, we put into place automatic cut-back mechanisms to reduce HOPE funds paying for books and fees. How can anyone explain these actions to our brightest, most motivated and hardest working kids in a way that makes any sense? They can't!

Is your perception that most of the lotto proceeds are used for college scholarships? If so, like me, you would be wrong!

• Out of every dollar of lottery sales, 33.3 cents goes to education. The breakdown of that 33.3 cents is:
  • 10.8 cents to "scholarships",
  • 10 cents to pre-k,
  • the rest (12.5 cents) to capital outlay and "other".
  • By percentage, the 33.3 cents is distributed thusly: scholarships 32%; pre-k 30%; capital outlay 12%; and, "other"- 26%. Remember: some part of the 10.8 cents to scholarships is for REMEDIAL courses! That results in less funding to HOPE than Pre-K!!!! (Georgia Dept of Audits and Accounts report, Feb 04).
• Lottery funds dipped $4.1 million dollars in the first half of fiscal year '05. The '04 legislature enacted automatic cutbacks that will kick in if lottery funds continue the downward trend. There is an automatic deduction in the book allowance from $300 to $150 dollars as the first phase. A second year of decline will result in elimination of the book allowance. A third year of reduced lotto funds will result in the elimination of college fees.
• The '05 legislature placed a 127 hour cap funded by HOPE. The result was a reduction in the number of degree programs totally funded by HOPE. In other words, our most committed and brightest students will be penalized because of:
• The high number of HOPE recipients taking remedial courses paid by HOPE dollars,
• The high number of HOPE recipients that drop-out of post-secondary programs before completion of their degrees due to inadequate preparation in high school,
• HOPE dollars used for "other" purposes,
• HOPE dollars diverted to the Governor's 411 On-line catalog and registration program, and
• Funding of highly suspect Pre-K with HOPE dollars.

There it is, folks. Georgia's K-16 public education system's performance is far from "excellent". We out-spend, but academically under-perform most states. Georgia has three times the number of kids quitting school as graduating from college. And, the HOPE Scholarship is not what you may have thought it to be. But, why? Is Georgia's public education system under-funded? Are teachers under-performing? If so, is there a reason? Are social issues a contributing factor? Are parents not fulfilling their responsibilities? Or, is leadership the issue? Let's find out.

V. Potential Causes of Our Problems In Education?

Funding Georgia's Public Education System

"The US is first in economic wealth and first in expenditure in education in the world, but at the bottom in test scores in math and science." (Mark Shields, 28 Feb '05)

Do you have any idea what you invest in our public education system?

• Almost 35% of the state budget is dedicated to education. That's 35% of $17.4 billion dollars derived primarily from sales taxes and personal income taxes, which constitute 90% of Georgia's state revenues. (See the section, "Economy".) Additionally, much of the state's debt is a result of capital projects within the public education system- roughly $600 million dollars in '05 alone!
• Locally, systems provide "their" share via property taxes. Under QBE, local systems must levy 5-20 mils (minimum/maximum limits). In addition to 50% of the state budget, education consumes:
  • In one of the wealthiest systems in the state, education consumes 72% of the tax digest at a levy of 14 mils.
  • In one of the average systems, it's 78% of revenues at a levy of 20 mils. That leaves 22% of the tax digest to deliver all other services citizens expect from their local government.
  • In one of the poorer systems the bite is 90%.
• The irony is this: the poorest system in the state, Chickamauga City, outperforms many of the wealthiest systems in the state. They don't levy beyond the minimum required by QBE (5%), which makes it that much more astounding. With the lowest property tax levy permissible by QBE they achieve good educational results! (Noteworthy: the population of socio-economically depressed is low.) Good results attributable to what: leadership, absence of "poor kids", or a combination of both?
• The sum total of funding for education in Georgia, including federal, state and local funds, is around $11 Billion dollars, or about $7,400 dollars per student. Funding mix for K-12 for the period ended 30 Jun 04 is: federal government- 8%; state- 51%; and, local property taxes- 41%.
• That is the same amount per student as the Virginia Public School System, which is one of the better performing states in the country.
• At $7,400 per student, Georgia outspends all other Southern states!! (Ala-$6,000; La-$6,500; Ky-$6,500; Miss-$5,300; SC-$7,000; NC-$6,500; Tn-$5,900; and, Tx-$6,700)

Are present levels of funding adequate? Following are reasons to believe they are not:

• The Chancellor has begun to grease the runway for the next chunk of change. Based on "projections", the University System of Georgia will grow by an additional 200,000 students in the next 12 years. It took 40 years to grow from 50,000 to the present population of 250,000.
  • Anybody question the source or interpretation of the "projections"? I submit the explosive growth rate of the 90's will not be sustained. Why?
  • The student population of grades K-8 is evenly distributed between 110,000-115,000. That's a valid indicator that population growth leveled off several years ago.
  • Ninth grade population is an exception. It's population is 20,000 students greater than average. But, there's a reason. Advancement to grade 10 is based on test results. (This exceptional "bubble" is future drop-outs.) Grades 10-12 reflect the anticipated "falling off the cliff" syndrome associated with high percentages of high school drop-outs.
  • This is the most noteworthy point. If there is a segment of the population "exploding", it is on the low end of the socio-economic scale, not the upper end. Therefore, it is not the post-secondary population that is going to "explode", as Chancellor Meredith has led the governor and legislature to believe. Rather, it is the drop-out problem that will undoubtedly grow. And, it will grow from bad to worse. Costs will definitely increase dramatically. But, increased costs will be in the area of social subsistence programs, not post-secondary education! (See the section on "Social Issues")
• "High school Principal wants flex hours for high school students. Anticipates hours would be expanded to 7-7." No mention of costs. (DCN 26 Jan 05) Beware Georgians! This represents a brand new way of thinking that could turn every high school in Georgia into a "Charter" school.
• Master Teacher plan. Program would receive funding in '07. Program provides for incentives that could include a cash bonus for mentoring fellow teachers OR working in a low-performing school.( AJC 13 Jan 05) If this isn't a politically motivated case of patronizing the education community, what is? Besides, what is the source of funding and how much will it cost?
• Despite a present statewide average ratio of 15.6 students per teacher, there is strong lobbying for reduction in student teacher ratios. Granted, many classrooms of 30:1 ratio's exist, but why? Where are the teachers? They are on the payrolls. If not teaching, what are they doing? Part of the answer is due to dictates from the state on maximum numbers of students per class. For example, if 20 students are the maximum permissible in fourth grade classrooms and a school has 61 fourth-graders, the school must have 4 fourth grade teachers, instead of the more logical 3 (two classes of 20 and one class of 21). This is a great example of wasted resources resulting from pre-emption of local authority by the state.
• There exists an active lawsuit filed by 51 school systems against the state for disparity and adequacy of funding between the richest and poorest systems. If the state loses, which it has lost 14 of 17 previous funding lawsuits, the lawsuit poses a $1½ billion dollar increase in the cost of education in the state budget. Details can be obtained by linking to CASFG's (Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia) web site: casfg.org.
• As a participant at the Ridgeland satellite in Walker County for the Governor's Community Conversation in January '05, I witnessed over an hour of 50 educators stating their recommendations for improving education. Each had a price tag! Money seems to be the only solution on the radar screen!
• Somebody believes funding requirements are going up! The governor convened the Excellence in Education Commission to investigate alternative forms of funding. Stated purpose for the live GPB broadcast was "educational excellence". I believe it to have been a cover. The true purpose was to pave the way for making the case to transition the state's responsibility for funding education to sales taxes. The strategy is slick and goes something like this: invite "the people" (translated- educators) to overwhelm you with a long list of additional needs that are "critical". Agree with them. Then make the case that present funding is max'ed out and insufficient to meet these "legitimate" needs. "Revenues" must be raised (taxes increased). Then, let teachers do the selling job for you. Get what you want (more taxes to spend), then deliver the "bad" news to educators: despite increased revenues, funding remains insufficient to implement the "new" ideas. A major side benefit to our elected leaders: they get a free pass on solving the serious problems. The serious problems remain concealed by "more money". THIS IS A BIG DEAL!
• The use of sales tax is the preferred tax to reduce property taxes and make educational funding throughout the state more equitable.
  • Sales tax masks the impact of taxation.
  • Wealthy systems would undoubtedly lose revenue due to loss of control.
  • And, it opens another "door" for increasing taxes in the future- sales taxes and property taxes. (DCN, 9 Jan 05, Jimmy Espy).
  • BEWARE, FOLKS! It's in the works. Our leadership tested the waters this year. The test failed. It will be back in '06.
  • Here's one last thought for you to consider. If taxes are to be increased, would you prefer increases in your income taxes, sales taxes, or property taxes? Remember, 100% of property taxes remain in and are controlled by the local community. Also, property taxes are 100% deductible on federal and state income tax filings.
• There is another means of increasing taxes under serious consideration. Rep Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) and others plan to introduce legislation for a constitutional amendment allowing impact fees for schools. Why? "They're looking for alternative sources of funding for schools because of the FUNDING CRISIS", says Julie Haley, head of the lobbyist group favoring impact fees. Currently a third of Georgia's counties and cities have impact fees, but they are for water and sewerage services. (3Jan05 AJC)
• Leadership of the education community has assumed the moral high ground. They justify all "wants" with "what's in the best interest of children". The litmus test they created and made stick is "if you aren't for more money for education, you are against education". Education's leaders have succeeded in making "education" about educators, not about educating kids. The litmus test needs to be changed to "if you are for educating children, increasing the education level of Georgia's population and providing post-secondary opportunity, through completion, to our talented and committed students, you are pro-education".
• If educators don't take the initiative to change the "litmus test", the citizenry eventually will. Funding from state resources has reached a saturation point. If solutions aren't found to contain the costs of education while improving results, I predict a collision of an immovable object (citizens: tax increases) and an unstoppable force (educators: need for more money) at the rate of speed fueled by emotion. The big collision will result in the label on educators being changed from angels to greed-mongers; and/or, politicians and educational leaders revealed for what they appear to be: disinterested or incapable of providing the leadership necessary to solve these complex problems. All Georgians will lose, especially the children everyone claims to be the beneficiaries of their intentions.

Teachers

Teachers are the working class employees in the educational hierarchy. Like all working classes, they are the one's that deal directly with the "product" and "get the job done". They have little influence on the policy-making process and, as all working classes, must do as they are told to do. Their performance can be no better than their preparation or the leadership they receive. Good performing teachers need support. Poor performing teachers need development. Those that fail to respond, or improve should be terminated. What do teachers think about teaching in the state of Georgia?

HB 1187 "A-Plus Education Reform Act" enacted in 2000 resulted in a teacher rebellion, which led to the formation of "The Senate Teacher Morale Study Committee". Following are comments taken from the report:

• Parental involvement was a key concern of teachers. Most parents lack the skills necessary to deal with their children. (See "parenting", pg 16)
• Too many teachers leave the profession because they do not receive mentoring from senior teachers. ("Senior teachers"? Shouldn't this be a primary function of principals?)
• New teachers are given the tough classes when they are least prepared to handle them.
• Special ed documentation requires too much paperwork. (See "Special Education", pg 18)
• Teachers feel disrespected by administrators, parents and students.
• Salaries are too low because of the work demands and continuing education requirements.
• Teachers must spend their own money in the classroom to buy necessary supplies. (Legislation enacted by the '06 session recognized the problem. Unfortunately, for a two-person working family, a $350 deduction with a 6% tax rate, saves a teacher $21 dollars. Stated differently, a teacher spends $350 after-tax dollars out of their pocket and it costs the state $21 dollars. Good gesture, but that's all it was- a gesture. Teachers shouldn't have to buy anything out of their own pockets. Period.)
• Teachers receive poor evaluations. (See "Leadership")
• Teachers are required to do too much off-the-clock work (extra curricular activities) and failure to do so meets with retaliation.
• In view of above teachers feel it is unfair to be denied renewal of contracts for consecutive poor evaluations prescribed by HB 1187.
• (I was surprised to observe that NOTHING WAS MENTIONED ABOUT CLASS SIZE!) Why? Student to teacher ratios (classroom size) seems to be the biggest complaint voiced by educational leaders. Is it possible that teachers and their leaders are on two different pages? The next two comments provide some insight to the answer.)
• Teachers feel excluded from the decision making process.
• Teachers feel government makes too many decisions without input from the education community. (Wrong! Government seeks input from the education community. Unfortunately, teachers are not considered part of the "education" community for those purposes. Their leaders speak for them. But, they don't speak to issues of concerns of classroom teachers. They speak to self-serving concerns that perpetuate and grow their kingdoms!)

Here's some more information I obtained from educational resources that desire to remain anonymous:

• We're getting some of the best teachers we've ever gotten and we're getting some of the worst teachers we've ever gotten. The bad news is the worst outnumber the best.
• Most teachers possess mastery of subject matter, but too many just don't know how to teach it to kids.
• If a teacher is incapable of achieving student success in a class of 25, lowering the pupil ratio without other changes will not make the teacher successful.
• Teachers should be given everything they need to accomplish their mission: teaching children.
• Teacher retention suffers. More than 1/3 leave within five years.
• Dangerous Schools Act results in teachers not getting support for real discipline problems. Leaders downplay incidents to avoid reporting.

There are many dedicated and talented teachers achieving outstanding results in classrooms across Georgia. Unfortunately, outstanding teachers are overshadowed by larger numbers of under-performers. Most unfortunate, is too few outstanding classroom teachers are progressing into leadership positions and those that do advance do not receive germane leadership and management training- not even in advanced degree programs. (See Leadership)

Social Issues

Educating children has been complicated by dramatic shifts in social norms of society and a variety of state and federal initiatives that integrate social issues into Georgia's classrooms. Until the past several years, leaders in the education community resisted. Now, they welcome them, but not because they want them. Rather, it is because handling social problems creates the need for more programs. This enables the education kingdom to grow and results in the ceaseless demand for more money. But, how does this bode for the education of Georgia's children? Let's take a look and see.

Parenting

How important are "parenting" issues in the education of Georgia's children? Here's what an expert has to say. At early ages children take cues from their parents on what is important. Interest in what is going on in school conveys to a child that it is important. In elementary school, most children are very interested in pleasing their parents. Parents should feed on a child's natural excitement at early ages. This forms a habit for older children when homework creates tension between parents and students. At some age every child passes through that age where learning isn't cool, but complaining is. Whether kids pass through that stage or are brought down by the peer pressure of friends, hinges greatly on the habits parents created at an early age. (Art republished in DCN from Albany Herald 25 Aug 04)

Additionally, teachers are certain that informed and balanced involvement by educated parents in the education of their children is the most important component of the education equation outside of the classroom. But, what is the definition of "involvement"?

Here are two examples of significantly different, yet typical households with school-aged children:

• First is the household with two educated and affluent parents. Most agree that students of two educated parents achieve their potential and succeed in the classroom. Why? They understand their roles, discipline themselves to meet their responsibilities and are actively involved in their children's schools. Their children will: do their homework; study; be encouraged; receive necessary academic reinforcement; not be tardy; and, their absences will be justified. Additionally, these parents are capable of furnishing money for their children to fully participate in all activities.
• Second are single female households, which are too often led by socio-economically depressed and uneducated parents? Getting these parents involved and keeping them involved in the education process of their children is one issue. However, the quality of their involvement is the issue. For whatever reason from a long list of many, educational reinforcement for children of these households is most often absent. Therefore, these children begin their education inherently disadvantaged in relation to children from affluent, two-parent homes. One of the most unfortunate bi-products of this situation is attachment of social stigmas on these children at early ages. I call it "socio-economic labeling".

"Labeling"

We all have labels. Some are positive and some are not. Some are earned and some are not. Some are accurate and some are not. Labels are a fact of life. But, there is a major difference in labels placed on adults and labels placed on small children. Labels placed on small children, whether intentional or not, result in stigmas that may never be overcome. Labels placed on "poor" children due to circumstances into which they were born are lasting and they are wrong.

I can sense a bit of defensiveness rising in you, fellow Georgian. Remember, you and I are affluent. If we have never lived in poverty, we may very well be insensitive to our own acts, whether by omission or commission, that result in affixing a label on a "poor" child.

Let me give you a few examples from personal experience. When my oldest daughter asked me to sign a permission slip for her to try-out for cheerleading, I was complicit in a process that institutionally, although unintentionally, excluded poor kids from becoming cheerleaders. How? Signing the "permission" slip was a stated acceptance that I could afford $550 for camp, uniforms, etc for the football and basketball seasons. By signing it, I helped exclude "poor" kids from becoming cheerleaders. I signed. But, that was not the end of it. I voiced my concern with the principal, the superintendent of our school system and a few members of the board of education. That was 22 years ago. The process is unchanged today. How many "poor" girls have been excluded over the years, developed a stigma or had an existing stigma reinforced, lost interest in school and quit? I don't know. But, my guess is this: however many there were, it wasn't their first experience with "exclusion" because of the socio-economic status of their parents. What do you think?

Here's another example. I received a frantic call from my sister-in-law. She spent most days volunteering as a teacher's assistant in the elementary school attended by my nephew and niece. She was assisting the teacher marching these 3rd graders to the auditorium to watch a movie- a reward for some class-wide achievement. Two little boys were sent to the office because their parents sent notes saying they couldn't afford the extra costs for their children to see the movie. These little boys were to spend that time on chairs in the hallway outside of the administrative office while their more fortunate classmates enjoyed a movie. One quick call to the principal of the school brought a better-than-could-have-been end to that story. Of course, I made more calls, but my actions are not the subject of the discussion. That was 25 years ago. Does it continue?

A few months ago I delivered my first speech in association with this campaign. Afterwards I received a call. The para-pro on the other end of the call had heard an account of some of my remarks. She related a story about a little boy that she had just witnessed. The little boy, a 2nd grader, qualified for the FRL (free and reduced lunch) program. However, his mother had forgotten to submit the application when it was due. Therefore, she was required to pay for her child's lunches. She became delinquent in submitting lunch money. The school sent several notices. She failed to respond. For a time, the school continued to provide the little boy with the normal lunch. But, the school grew tired of the mother's irresponsibility. This particular day, the little boy got his normal lunch and proceeded to the cashier. The cashier took the little boy's lunch from him and the little boy sat down at his table without a lunch. Quickly, the cashier delivered a "brown sack lunch" to the boy. Recognizing it to be what the children had labeled the "poor kid's lunch", the boy threw the sack to the floor and began beating his head on the table. (Go ahead, dry your eyes. I'll return to the keyboard after I dry mine. I'm back.) There's more to this story. It gets even uglier, but I've made the point.

Socio-economic labeling exists. To what extent does it exist? I don't know. But, I know this. It is wrong. It is badly wrong. All examples and every opportunity for it to exist in our public school systems must be found and eliminated. Children should not have to suffer humiliation resulting from the economic status or actions/inactions of their parents. But, they do. And, in a rather odd twist of fate, they get their revenge. They eventually quit school and become a financial burden on Georgia's taxpayers forever. And, the cycle continues! Think not? Re-visit the previous topic on impacts of drop-outs. For the full impact on you and your children, now and in the future, visit the section "Social Issues".

Before I go on to the next topic, let me make you aware of some other subtle instances of labeling. Every time your child's teacher sends a note to you requesting money for "whatever", the "poor" kids parents that make minimum wage can't afford it. Taking pictures twice a year is an excessive expense. Why does your school do it? Field trips, movies, theme days, special projects, classroom supplies, etc. are expenses that help affix the label on these kids.

So, what should you do? Should you deprive your child of the total experience that school can offer? No. But, you can help in keeping costs to minimum by resisting what you consider to be excessive. And, you can investigate the extent of it through your PTA and open discussion with the principal of your school. You can demand change. And, you can assist in creating a fund that is used for these purposes at your child's school. People are good. They will help. They just need to be informed. That's where I come in. (See the section "John's Vision".)

Special Education

"Special Ed" students have always existed in our public schools. However, "inclusion" rules of NCLB conflict greatly with provisions of ADA (American Disabilities Act). There is a great distinction regarding children affected by these conflicting guidelines. Handicaps are either physical or mental. Under NCLB, there is no distiction. All handicapped students are required to be "included", which means fully integrated into normal classrooms with "normal" children. Under ADA there is a distinction. Physically handicapped students are "mainstreamed" in normal classrooms. But, school systems have the flexibility to evaluate and appropriately channel mentally handicapped students so as to serve their special needs without disruption of normal classrooms. "Inclusion" is expensive, creates too much administrative burden on teachers and disrupts the learning process in normal classrooms. Most unfortunately, "inclusion" does nothing to add to the learning experience of most mentally handicapped children. These issues must be resolved.

Language Barriers: Georgia Project and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)

There are 81 communities throughout Georgia that have language and cultural barriers resulting from large concentrations of Hispanics. Few communities have the resources or knowledge to overcome the problems associated with language barriers in the classroom. Dalton is an exception. Former US Congressman Erwin Mitchell founded the Georgia Project several years ago. The program hires Hispanic teachers proficient in English from their native countries and has become a national model. It is expanding into Tifton and Colquitt county schools around Moultrie. Project teachers teach English to Spanish speaking kids. They also teach Spanish to teachers of Spanish speaking children and English to Spanish speaking parents. ABAC is investigating creating a similar program. Unfortunately, after three years of funding provided by the city of Dalton, the program has become dependent on federal grants for its continuation.

Obviously, there is a need for some form of program. The Georgia Project, or some form of it, may be an acceptable answer that should be adopted as a state model. (Georgia Project, DCN, 25 Jan 05 and interview with Erwin Mitchell, Founder of Project Georgia.)

Safety and Security

There was a day when children walked long distances to attend city schools without fear. Parents did not worry about the safety of their children on school buses. Nor, did parents fear for the safety of their children once they arrived on school property. Drugs, gangs, and violence were not concerns of educators or parents. That is no longer the case. The facts are clear: drugs, gangs and violence do exist in our schools, but they didn't originate there. They originated in our communities and are a broader societal problem. As such, it is our responsibility as leaders at the state and local levels to solve them. To do so, problems associated with "fractured families", poverty, single female head of households and gangs must be solved. These are "root cause" issues. For more detailed information, see the pull-down "Social Issues". To gain insight to my approach for solving them, see the section "John's Vision".

Educational Leadership

As in every type of organization, good things don't just happen. They are made to happen. Bad things don't just happen. They are permitted to happen. The occurrence of both good things and bad things are a result of leadership. Thus far, we have established a case that creates suspicion regarding the effectiveness of leadership elements throughout Georgia's education community. Failures in leadership are attributable to several reasons. One reason is preparation. The following study may shed some light as to the extent that Georgia's principals, superintendents and state appointed educational leaders are prepared to lead. As you study the contents you may want to keep a question on your mind. How meaningful are the advanced degrees of educators in your school system? Let's find out.

The following was extracted from the Executive Summary, Educating School Leaders, by Arthur Levine, President of Teachers College, Columbia University (four year study of 600 schools of education across the country funded by the Annenberg, Ford, and the Ewing Marion Kaufmann Foundations. Web address for copy of report: http://www.edschools.org/): (Folks, I URGE YOU TO LINK TO THIS WEB ADDRESS AND READ THE ENTIRE REPORT!)


Findings:

• Many university programs that teach up-coming principals and superintendents engage in a "race to the bottom" where they compete for students by lowering admission standards, water down coursework, and offer less demanding degrees.
• Leadership programs should teach:
  • Needs of today's leaders, schools, and children- but don't.
  • Definition of success tied to student achievement at schools administered by graduates of leadership programs- but don't.
  • Curriculum should be rigorous, coherent and organized to teach skills and knowledge needed at specific types of schools and various stages of the leaders career- but isn't.
  • Teachers of leadership programs should balance study between theory and practice; and, should be experienced practitioners- but aren't.
• As of 2003, a majority of states:
  • Had no requirements for senior school administrative positions,
  • Provided alternative paths to certification,
  • Granted exceptions that allowed candidates for school administrative positions to bypass any requirement for leadership development as preparation to become superintendents or principals. (In other words, the only true requirement to become an educational leader- principal, assistant principal, or superintendent- is to be well connected.)
• Programs intended to train educators to lead institutions suffer from:
  • Weak faculty: too many adjunct professors who tend to be local superintendents and principals who employ "the telling of war stories" as their dominant mode of instruction. Or, professors have no practical experience at school administration. Many are supervising doctoral students even though they have neither the expertise, nor time or resources.
  • Inappropriate degrees: aspiring principals and superintendents often work toward doctorates intended for very different purposes- to prepare people to become academic researchers and scholars, which have no relevance to their jobs.
• Recommendations:
  • School systems must find alternatives to salary scales that grant raises merely for accumulating credits and degrees. (Stop rewarding educators for earning credits that aren't relevant to their present work or future aspirations)
  • A mechanism that school systems should use to discourage lightweight and irrelevant administrative doctorate is by offering salary incentives for completion of advance certificate programs that are germane to the needs of the school and children.
  • Weak programs should be strengthened or closed.
  • Presidents and their boards of trustees have the responsibility and must initiate reviews of leadership programs.
  • Redesign leadership programs. The current grab bag of courses must yield to relevant, challenging, and rigorous programs to produce effective leaders. Educational leadership programs should be the equivalent of the M.B.A. It should be called M.E.A. (Master's of Education) and consist of both basic courses in:
• management: finance, human resources, organizational leadership and change, educational technology, leading in turbulent times, entrepreneurship and negotiation.
• And, education: school leadership, child development, instructional design, assessment and faculty development, school law and policy, school budgeting and politics and governance.
• The M.E.A. should be the terminal degree for those rising through the ranks into leadership positions.
• The doctor of education degree (Ed.D) in school leadership should be eliminated.
• The doctor of philosophy (Ph.D) in school leadership should be reserved for preparing researchers.
• (Elimination of these two degree programs as a prerequisite for school leadership would eliminate those that are academically unqualified and unmotivated. Participation in these programs would plummet.) Read into it, folks! This goes against the grain of conventional wisdom of the bureaucratic mindset: kingdom destruction, as opposed to kingdom building! (This ends information extracted from Dr. Levine's report. The remaining text is from other sources.)

Additional Comments on Leadership:

• Many advanced degrees held by Georgia's educators were conferred by "crank-house" institutions. Institutions and degree holders are motivated by money, not improving teaching, leadership, or management skills.
• There's only one way to teach people to be leaders. They may be exposed to the principles in a formal setting, but most importantly, they must understudy and observe competent leaders for lengthy periods of time. Upon initial promotion into a leadership position, the new leader must be closely monitored and coached. Simply "turning them loose" is a formula which sets them up for failure.
• The principal is the single most important influence on the performance of every school. Most principals don't know how to assess their teachers' teaching skills. (Educational Resource)
• Most school systems experience similar problems. However, no formal inter-district communications link exists. Therefore, no formal mechanism exists for school systems to share solutions. I call this the "Island Syndrome". It is a flagrant waste of resources: time, effort and money.
• The "Island Syndrome" is depriving poor performing schools and systems from modeling better performing schools and systems.

That's it, folks. Are our performance problems due to inadequate funding, incapable teachers, social issues, leadership, or a combination of these and/or topics I failed to address? You must decide for yourself. I have. Following are my conclusions regarding "Georgia: Where Are We Now" in education.

VI. Conclusions

• Georgians have experienced twenty years of major educational reforms and investment of billions of dollars. For what? Georgia's students are still in the bottom echelon of academic performance and Georgia's adult literacy and high school drop-out problems have worsened. All Georgians have gotten in return for our investment of time, money, effort and confidence in our leaders is a more expensive education model that is over-burdened with bloat and a continuous flow of ineffective programs. Education has become about educators and political power, not the education of Georgia's children. This situation is a result of failed leadership.
• On a live GPB broadcast of Community Conversation on 27 Jan 05, Governor Perdue gives some insight to his assessment of the situation. "Educating, or the education level of the population, is not a serious problem. Rather, funding education is the problem." Either the governor is trying to fool Georgians, or he's got himself fooled. Is it true that one who fools himself becomes the fool?
• There are those that believe all of the problems with Georgia's public education system will be solved simply by providing more funding. This is greatly misguided thinking. It may very well be true that more funding is needed and there may be a legitimate argument for increasing taxes. However, money alone is not the answer. The answer is systemic change. Furthermore, until a plan is adopted that addresses all educational issues and problems impacting the education of Georgians, tax increases should be held in abeyance. The plan should address:
  • Funding (adequacy, equality, sources),
  • Accountability (student and educator performance)
  • Governance (redefine the mission, organization structure, definition of responsibilities, leadership development and advanced degree programs, utilization of funding, assessment of effectiveness of existing programs- state and federal),
  • Educator compensation, and
  • Social issues as they impact the educational process of Georgia's children and the education level of the population: adult literacy, high school drop-outs, "fractured families" (parenting issues), poverty, inner-city specific issues, "labeling", drugs, gangs, security and language barriers.
• Across-the-board pre-k programs have not achieved intended results. Pre-k has been a program that was strongly recommended by educational leaders to solve the high school drop-out problem. It was attempted and it has failed. Therefore, continuation of across-the-board pre-k is a waste of taxpayer dollars and squanders money that should be in the HOPE Scholarship program. There is, however, a legitimate need for pre-k of socio-economically depressed households.
• HOPE Scholarship. Under-performers and "dumbing-down" practices in Georgia's high schools and the University System of Georgia penalize Georgia's brightest and most committed college bound high school students. High school students that successfully complete rigorous college preparatory curricula should be able to depend on the HOPE Scholarship to pursue any degree program of their choice without fear of financial shortcomings. Preserving the HOPE is insufficient. The HOPE should be expanded.
• Economic performance, educational performance and costs of education cannot be separated from social issues. Educational performance will not significantly improve unless equal or greater emphasis is placed on solving social issues impacting Georgia's public education system. This is a governance issue outside of the education community's control. (See the pull-down, "How We Are Governed")
• Georgians either want educational problems solved, or they don't. If they do, it will take more than platitudes and "restoring" funding to "Get 'er Done". It will take ideas (lots of them), courage to change, and strong, committed and determined leadership to make it happen.

Georgians, I've made the case that screams for major change. Remember, good things won't "just happen". If good things are going to happen, it will take visionary, courageous, and determined leadership to make them happen! I do not suggest that I have all the answers. But, I do have many ideas. Collectively those ideas comprise a "vision". It is not a series of meaningless "cat-nap" daydreams. It is a vision! It is a vision that will result in no further need for another "Education" Governor. (See the section "John's Vision".)

Thanks for enduring this voluminous presentation. If I accomplished my mission, you are informed and motivated to take actions that will bring about change that leads to lasting solutions. Georgia is powerless without a leader committed to solving the problems that affect you and your family! I am prepared to be that leader. But, I am powerless without you. I am the "change" candidate, but I cannot bring about "change" alone. I desperately need your support. If you are so inclined, click on the buttons to the left: "Contribute" and "Volunteer". While you are contemplating "becoming involved" realize this: either, you will become part of the solution, or you will remain part of the problem!

John Dashler, Independent Candidate for Governor
"Georgians, Make it about you, not the few!"