SOUTH GEORGIA AT THE STATE CAPITOL

Senator Greg Goggans

ATLANTA (June 29, 2009) –

JULY 1 BRINGS NEW LAWS

A number of new laws go into effect July 1 and here is a brief review.

SB 14 - Prohibits Superintendent or School Board Members from serving with an immediate family member as principal, asst. principal or central staff.  This measure will take effect beginning with the next election cycle.

HB 243 - Sunsets National Board Certification program, grandfathers in those already awarded or in pipeline

HB 193 - Allows local school boards to use total hours instead of total days in meeting the 180 day mandatory attendance.

HB 280 - Increases step pay for beginning and existing science and math teachers.

HB 86 - Requires proof of citizenship in registering to vote

HB 228 - Creates new department of Behavioral Health and moves Public Health to Dept. of Community Health

SB 196 - Creates a misdemeanor when a driver has a collision caused by a right of way violation involving bicycles, motorcyclists

EDUCATION FUNDING HURTS SOME MORE THAN OTHERS - FORMULA DRIVEN K-12 EDUCATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION GROW DESPITE BUDGET CUTS--GAINS FOR GROWING SYSTEMS

 Although education makes up a large part of the state budget, the cuts to K-12 education have been significantly less than cuts to other agencies.  Fast growing systems have been the main recipient of the new funds.

Enrollment in K-12 education has continued to increase as Georgia’s population has grown.  Since 2001, Georgia’s K-12 student population has grown by 14 percent, or 200,000 students, while K-12 funding has grown by 38 percent.  The Fiscal Year 2010 budget appropriates $7.39 billion in state funds to the Department of Education, in addition to $413.1 million in federal stimulus budget stabilization funds.  State funds appropriated to the Department of Education over the past five years are as follows:

·       FY06, $6.61 billion

·       FY07, $7.39 billion

·       FY08, $7.97 billion

·       FY09, $7.99 billion

·       FY10, $7.97 billion (including federal budget stabilization funds)                                                                                          

So, in the last five years, funds going to K-12 have increased by $1.3 billion.

In total, in FY10, the Department of Education and its component programs only received a 3 percent or $211 million cut from the original FY09 budget which would have funded Education at $8.2 billion and presumed that revenues would grow rather than shrink.  By way of comparison, cuts to other agencies in the state averaged 11 percent below the original FY09 budget, not including statewide cuts such as withholding staff pay raises.

K-12 programs have also seen a substantial increase in funding from the federal government through the stimulus bill funding for Title I programs for disadvantaged students and funding for students with special needs.  An additional $650 million will go directly to school systems for these programs in FY10.

Next week we will continue to discuss new legislation and how it affects our area.

Please remember to contact me in my office on the issues that are affecting you and your area.  I am here to represent you and it is an honor for me to work on your behalf.  As always, I’d like to thank members of the Senate staff, who contribute regularly to my column. 

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Sen. Greg Goggans represents the 7thSenate District, which includes Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Clinch, Coffee, Echols, Lanier, Pierce and Ware counties and a portion of Cook County.