Education news always a mixed bag
With apologies for what is among the hoariest of cliches, recent headlines concerning education in Georgia are, as always, in the Good News/Bad News category.
Or, maybe more accurately for now, we should put this in the Good News/We Really Don’t Know Yet What Kind Of News category.
First things first (speaking of clichés): A report from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia estimates the in-state economic impact of the University System of Georgia over the last fiscal year at $15.5 billion. That’s an impressive number by itself, but it also represents a 9 percent increase over FY 2014. The report attributes much of the growth to student spending in communities around campuses. (The stimulus effect Columbus State University has had on this community’s economy is beyond self-evident.)
The greatest single factor, of course, is direct spending on salaries, benefits and regular budgeted expenses, which accounted for $10.6 billion by University System institutions in FY 2015. That translated into more than 150,000 full- and part-time jobs.
As impressive as those numbers are, and as encouraging as that growth is, this is of course only part of the “economic impact” of education, higher and otherwise.
That larger reality is something elected officials should keep in mind when slashing education budgets — though it should be noted that much education funding has been restored in Georgia in post-recession budgets.
It’s also something state colleges and universities should keep in mind with regard to soaring American higher ed costs that have so grossly outpaced the general inflation rate as to put college out of reach for far too many — though it should be noted that the University System has held the line on tuition for the past two years.
Good trend lines in both cases.
As for the more ambiguous news: We are among many who have expressed some concerns — let’s call them, for now, unanswered questions — about the “Opportunity School District” vote in November to allow state management of underperforming local schools.
(Start with a relatively minor objection: the tired bipartisan political semantics of names like “Opportunity Districts,” that range from low-grade intellectual dishonesty to high-octane Orwell.)
What we don’t know about the plan at this point, six months before Election Day, is … well, much of anything. Except that the state would be empowered to “intervene” in the operation of “failing” schools.
That might or might not be a good thing. But we need to know a lot more about the … thing.
Karen Solheim, president of the retiree branch of the Georgia Association of Educators, articulated those concerns at a forum last week in Athens.
The ballot measure reads: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”
Solheim told the audience, according to a story in the Athens Banner Herald, that a more accurate ballot question would go something like this: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow an appointee of the governor to take over local school operation, buildings and control of all federal, state and local funding if a school has low scores on standardized tests, or for any other reason a future legislature may allow?”
The story didn’t say whether Solheim raised another critical question, but we have: What, if any, provisions does this proposed amendment make for an “Opportunity” district that fails to enhance opportunity? A retroactive refund to the local school district, with accrued interest?
Voters frustrated with Georgia’s K-12 educational struggles should indeed have the right to decide if a drastic measure like state “intervention” is warranted.
But they also have a right to know exactly what it is they would be voting for. Right now, it evokes the absurdity for which former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so roundly and rightly ridiculed: You have to pass it to see what’s in it.
This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Education news always a mixed bag."