Legislative update: a briefing for faculty and staff of the University System of Georgia, No. 3 (Jan. 22, 2002)

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
A Briefing for Faculty & Staff of the University System of Georgia

No. 3, Jan. 22, 2002

Governor Supports Education at All Levels in FY `03 Budget Recommendations

Calls for 3.5 Percent Raises for University System Employees and K-12 Teachers

Noting that now is the time to make sound investments that will pay off as Georgia's economy recovers from recession , Gov. Roy E. Barnes on Jan. 16 presented a $16.2 billion Fiscal Year 2003 Budget to the Joint House and Senate Appropriations Committees that strongly supports education at all levels.
"While we have had to make budget cuts, we have not been forced to eliminate state services," he said. "Layoffs are not on the table...and neither is raising taxes. The budget I present to you today focuses on the things that are most
Next Up:
Gov. Barnes' "State of the State" Address, Thurs., Jan. 31 11 a.m.
House Chamber State Capitol

important for Georgia's future: educating our children, keeping people healthy, protecting our quality of life and our environment, and continuing to provide tax relief to the citizens of this state."
Barnes is especially proud of his continued commitment to education. "When you look at our annual budget, you'll see that over half of it goes to education -- from pre-K all the way through college and continuing education," he said. "This is appropriate, because there is no greater service we can provide to the people of Georgia -- no greater advantage we can give them -- than the opportunity to learn."
The Governor said the funds channeled into K-12 education through his past three budgets have begun to produce encouraging results --test scores and reading skills have improved as class sizes have been shaved. Barnes also reported

significant progress toward his goal of having 1,000 National Board Certified teachers in Georgia by 2004. Over the past year, 310 Georgia teachers have successfully completed this program, bringing the total number to 426. He recommended rewarding teachers who have this certification with a 10 percent salary supplment, an increase of the fixed-amount supplement they already receive.
Barnes recommended 3.5 percent pay raises for K-12 teachers and University System employees, which he said would maintain Georgia's teacher salaries as the highest in the Southeast. "I know we all wish we could do more for our teachers -- and we will do more. But I also think we can be proud of what we already have done," he said, pointing out that, if the recommended 3.5 percent raise is approved, state funding of teacher salaries will

have been increased by more than 50 percent in just nine years.
"The fact is, by providing a 3.5 percent raise in this tight budget, we continue to show our commitment to our teachers," he told the state's budget writers, noting that other states are having to increase taxes to keep salaries at current levels or cut their budgets by eliminating hundreds of teaching positions.
Barnes noted that, despite offering competitive salaries, Georgia has a teacher shortage that his administration is addressing through the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program (GTAPP). The program has proved wildly popular with mid-career adults looking for new options -- 4,000 people applied for the 750 positions available when GTAPP was launched last summer. Accordingly, the Governor recom-
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- January 22, 2001, Issue No. 3

Governor
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mended funds to cover doubling the number of students GTAPP can accommodate to 1,500 and to evaluate the program and its impact on student achievement.
The Governor also called for:
Boosting the state's commitment to school improvements from $11 million to $23.7 million. These funds will enable schoolimprovement teams to identify and provide help to lowperforming institutions and track their progress;
Continued funding of the criterionreferenced competency testing program, which, beginning this spring, will test students in grades one through eight for competency in science and social studies; and
$4.6 million to develop end-ofcourse tests for high-school students that will eventually replace the current Georgia High

School Graduation Tests. The goal is to produce graduates that are better prepared for college and not in need of remedial instruction.
Turning to the University System of Georgia, Barnes said he is pleased with the progress made by having phased-in higher admission standards over the past several years. The grade point averages and SAT scores of entering freshmen have increased at almost every institution, as have enrollments, he noted.
Barnes said the University System is helping Georgia's economy by attracting more and more of the state's top high-school graduates every year. Recent studies have shown that 70 percent of college graduates end up taking jobs in the same state in which they graduated.
"An educated workforce is one of the best resources we can offer the high tech and knowledge-based companies of today," the Governor said.
Another way the University System is helping the state's

economy is through several successful programs that promote economic development in Georgia, and continued funding of those programs is a smart investment, Barnes said.
He recommended an additional $1.5 million to allow the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP) to expand to meet the state's growing demand for skilled health-care workers. ICAPP, which uses the System's resources to create training programs for new and existing companies, heretofore focused primarily in the field of information technology.
Yamacraw, a program aimed at making Georgia a leader in broadband technology by attracting high-tech companies to the state and creating thousands of jobs, is another economicdevelopment success story, Barnes said. In launching Yamacraw three years ago, organizers set as their goal creating at least 2,000 jobs and bringing 10 new companies to Georgia within

seven years. With the halfway point still looming ahead, 1,100 jobs have been created, and 3,100 more are projected at more than 30 com-panies that have signed up as Yamacraw partners, Barnes said. Five of these firms were launched with seed capital funds from Yamacraw. He recommended an additional $2.8 million to provide a permanent home for the program and continue nurturing the state's broadband industry.
"In these uncertain times, we cannot let up on any of our efforts to foster economic development," the Governor said.
Praising the leadership of former Gov. Zell Miller, whose wise budget decisions led the state out of another recession during the early 1990s, Barnes said he hoped that in another decade, "our children will look back and say the same about us. I hope they will be able to say that our leadership in a dark hour helped guide Georgia toward a bright future."

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