California dreamin’ - GA’s Education Funding?
What with more than 30 of the state’s poorest school systems lobbying the General Assembly to fix Georgia’s broken education funding scheme (See “Separate and Unequal” in the Dec. 11 CL), you might expect the state’s larger systems to be organizing to protect their money.
That’s what representatives of the under-funded systems anticipate, especially since some states, such as Texas, have fixed their formulas by redistributing money collected in tax-rich counties to school systems with tiny property and sales tax bases.
But according to DeKalb County schools lobbyist James Mullins, the large systems are more worried about a piece of holdover legislation from the last session. Senate Resolution 311 would give Georgians the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment to freeze residential property tax assessments, similar to the law that many Californians feel wrecked their school systems. The resolution passed the Senate last year 47-3, and it represents something of the difficulty the Republican Party has had transitioning from opposition party to the party responsible for governing during an economic downturn. The resolution is currently scheduled for a committee hearing within the first two weeks of the coming General Assembly session, which starts Jan. 12.
“Right now, we feel there’s not much support within the [House] Ways and Means Committee for this legislation, but you also know how it gets when they start having to trade out for bills that each wants,” Mullins says. “We don’t feel that comfortable that it might not get out. We’re going to work hard to make sure that it doesn’t.”
Expect a chilly reception for the resolution, which was sponsored by Sen. Tom Price, R-Roswell, in the House.
“At a time when the budget is so tight, we don’t want to shift the burden to local governments, and we want to make sure the state takes care of its responsibilities,” says House Speaker Pro Tem Rep. DuBose Porter, D-Dublin. “And we don’t want to end up like California.”
That’s what representatives of the under-funded systems anticipate, especially since some states, such as Texas, have fixed their formulas by redistributing money collected in tax-rich counties to school systems with tiny property and sales tax bases.
But according to DeKalb County schools lobbyist James Mullins, the large systems are more worried about a piece of holdover legislation from the last session. Senate Resolution 311 would give Georgians the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment to freeze residential property tax assessments, similar to the law that many Californians feel wrecked their school systems. The resolution passed the Senate last year 47-3, and it represents something of the difficulty the Republican Party has had transitioning from opposition party to the party responsible for governing during an economic downturn. The resolution is currently scheduled for a committee hearing within the first two weeks of the coming General Assembly session, which starts Jan. 12.
“Right now, we feel there’s not much support within the [House] Ways and Means Committee for this legislation, but you also know how it gets when they start having to trade out for bills that each wants,” Mullins says. “We don’t feel that comfortable that it might not get out. We’re going to work hard to make sure that it doesn’t.”
Expect a chilly reception for the resolution, which was sponsored by Sen. Tom Price, R-Roswell, in the House.
“At a time when the budget is so tight, we don’t want to shift the burden to local governments, and we want to make sure the state takes care of its responsibilities,” says House Speaker Pro Tem Rep. DuBose Porter, D-Dublin. “And we don’t want to end up like California.”
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