Deal, Carter clash over proposed $547 million increase in education funding

• Joeff Davis
• "The single biggest failure of Georgia's current leadership, and the biggest drain on our economy, is the dismantling of our education system," State Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, told reporters.

On the General Assembly's third day in session, Gov. Nathan Deal and State Sen. Jason Carter set the tone for what's expected to be a short and politicized session - and the 2014 gubernatorial race as well.

Deal's 2014 'State of the State' address wasn't an official stump speech. But he used the highly visible opportunity to tout his economic track record over the last three years, propose a more than half-billion education funding increase, and indirectly build his case for re-election this upcoming November.

Standing in the state House of Representatives, the governor told Georgia reps and senators that the state has at long last awoken from the "deep freeze" of the nation's economic recession. With rising tax revenues allowing the state amass a more than $900 million surplus, he promised to continue leading the state forward through the next year - and maybe a second and final term.

"My approach as governor has been to do in the hard times, what is almost impossible for government to do in the good times," Deal said. "And that is make state government programs leaner and more efficient and concentrate scarce resources on those areas that will produce the best and most long lasting results."

The biggest highlight of the governor's 2014 fiscal year budget was his proposed $547 million increase to the state's K-12 education funding - the largest single increase in more than six years. The additional cash, he said, would allow school districts to eliminate teacher furloughs and raise teacher salaries. Deal's budget also included nearly $45 million to improve Internet infrastructure in public schools, $10 million for a low-interest loan program to help technical college students, and a 103 percent increase in HOPE Grant and HOPE Scholarship funds.

In addition, the governor claimed responsibility for approximately 217,000 new jobs created statewide during his first three years in office, which he said has resulted in the state's lowest unemployment rate in five years. His proposed budget also included another $35 million for the Savannah Port's deepening, bringing the state's overall contributions for the project to $266 million. With any luck, he hopes the economic development effort will begin sometime in 2014.

"We have studied and planned long enough," Deal said. "It's time to start moving dirt!"

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Deal touched on a number of other issues aside from making education funds rain down upon the Peach State and beating his chest about his economic track record. He continued his public opposition against Medicaid expansion in Georgia; emphasized the need for continued criminal justice reforms to lower the state's recidivism rate by 25 percent, and called for legislation to equip more non-violent offenders with the tools needed to re-enter society.

"This is what we've done in three years," Deal said. "Just imagine what we can do in another five years."

After the joint session adjourned, reporters scurried across the street into the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, where Carter, D-Decatur, offered the Democrat's response to Deal's address. The short rebuttal proved to be more of a campaign speech for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate than a party-wide response.

Carter attacked Deal over his lack of concern for Georgia's middle class. With approximately 363,000 unemployed residents, the state lawmaker said the governor's economic track record has been a "moral failure" for most Georgians - one that's resulted in the nation's sixth-worst poverty rate.

"Here's the simple truth: If you're a big business, if you're a political dealmaker, or if you're one of the governor's friends, chances are things are going well for you in Georgia today," Carter said. "But if you're a small business or a regular class family, chances are you're feeling forgotten."

He also dismissed Deal's education efforts as an election-year ploy. Instead of receiving less education results and higher local property taxes, Carter said that the governor's $547 million education proposal would pour cash into a broken system. He countered with an alternative approach: the creation of a separate education budget to prevent "politicians from raiding it to pay for other things." Under his plan, state lawmakers would approve the education budget first before funding the rest of Georgia's government.

"Today our education budget is a shell game," Carter said. "A separate fund will make our investment in education our state's top priority every year - even in the hard times, especially in the hard times."

It'll be months before we actually see Deal and Carter properly debate these issues. But consider today's proxy campaign speeches the first of many during the 2014 legislative session.