July 24th, 2020 Why My Kids Are Not Returning To Class

d to improve outcomes in public schools right in their backyard.

There is a lot of discussion about whether schools should reopen as the pandemic rages. Over the past few weeks, I’ve offered some of my thoughts on the subject as well as talked to several teachers to get their opinions. Our school district in Georgia, which is slated to begin classes on August 10, offered parents the option of in-person classes, virtual classes, or withdrawing their children for homeschooling. My wife and I considered all the options with an open mind and finally reached the same conclusion.

Let me begin by saying that we are generally happy with our school district. Our children’s teachers have been good for the most part. Not a single one has ever taught our children to hate America. My wife is a substitute teacher so she has insider knowledge of how the local educational sausage is made. That hasn’t been a good thing in some districts where we have lived, but she has been happy with the teachers and administrators in our current location.

Our kids like their schools as well. Both of my children, who are middle and high school age, said that they preferred to return to in-person classes ceteris paribus (economist speak for “all other conditions remaining the same”), a phrase that neither of them knows but a concept that they understand. My wife and I also preferred that they go back to class… ceteris paribus.

The problem is that all other conditions are not remaining the same from previous years. We live in a rural county where 14 people have died of Coronavirus. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but Georgia’s Coronavirus statistics page shows that our sparsely populated county is averaging about 10 new cases of COVID-19 daily. More than 10 percent of county COVID patients have required hospitalization, a fact not considered by the reopen crowd which trumpets a 99 percent survival rate for the disease. (The case mortality rate for my county is actually 2.6 percent.)

Although our county is rural, our next-door neighbor is a large urban area where the numbers are much worse. This neighboring county is reporting about 100 new cases every day. There is a lot of traffic between the two counties as people go to work and shop in the city. The virus level in both counties is much higher now than it was back in March when schools closed for the last term.

The back-to-school push comes at a time when the pandemic in both Georgia and the United States is raging out of control. In Georgia, the number of new cases is averaging more than 3,000 per day while nationally we are seeing more than 70,000 new cases daily. Deaths are trending up in both Georgia and the US as a whole.

Many of the cases are serious and not asymptomatic. Upwards of 400 Georgians have been hospitalized for Coronavirus every day this week, leading to shortages of hospital beds. Yahoo News reported on Thursday that 88 percent of the state’s ICU beds were filled.

The good news is that COVID patients are spending less time in the hospital, which helps to relieve some pressure. Doctors attribute this improvement to having gained experience in how to treat the disease more efficiently. The bad news is that COVID-19 has been found to be a whole-body disease and survivors can experience long-term health damage, another factor seldom mentioned by those who push for a return to normal.

The situation both in Georgia and the nation as a whole is so dire that many health experts have recommended another shelter-in-place. Earlier this week, 125 public health experts signed an open letter asking leaders to “Tell the American people the truth about the virus, even when it’s hard” and to “take bold action to save lives — even when it means shutting down again.”

The dangers of reopening schools should be obvious. Although children are more resistant to Coronavirus than adults, they do die from the disease or from an associated multi-system inflammatory syndrome.

What’s more, children may not be dying from COVID-19 in large numbers but they do spread it to people who are more high-risk. Children who go to in-person classes may end up carrying the disease home to vulnerable parents or grandparents. Of course, teachers who spend all day with possibly infectious children can also be at high risk.

Additionally, there is strong evidence that central HVAC systems can spread Coronavirus over much farther distances than the traditional six-foot distance mandated for social distancing. Schools and office air conditioners cranking out cold air in the Southern summer may be to blame for some of the recent spike in Coronavirus cases.

Finally, there is the anti-mask zealotry to contend with. I haven’t seen polling on the subject but my sense from talking with other parents in community chat groups is that many, if not most, of the parents who are sending their children into the classroom are the same people who view masks as tyranny.

Our school district has said that masks will be “strongly encouraged” but not required. In practice, this means that many children and teachers won’t be wearing them. This means that the virus is more likely to spread.

On Thursday, Georgia’s State Board of Education failed to act on a proposal to delay the start of the school year until September. This is despite the danger signs and the news that the school that President Trump’s son attends will remain closed. President Trump also recently canceled a large part of the Republican convention, yet schools are expected to reopen as usual. Some districts are acting on their own to delay the first day of school, just as most businesses here are now acting unilaterally to require masks without a state mandate, but others are forging ahead.

So we made the decision that we thought was best for our family. We decided to enroll our children in virtual school rather than sending them to in-person classes. We view it as the safe thing to do, not only for our extended family with elderly and immune-compromised relatives but for the teachers and our community as well.

We did not succumb to irrational fear. We assessed the risks and rewards of returning to traditional classes and decided that it was not appropriate to take one for the team by sending our kids into a viral hot zone.

It’s also likely that virtual students will have an advantage for the coming year. I fully expect that some in-person teachers will become exposed and have to take self-isolate at home or be absent for long periods of illness. Brick-and-mortar classroom students may spend weeks with substitutes and make-work while virtual students keep up with the curriculum.

And that’s assuming that the schools can find substitutes. My wife reports that few of her sub friends are willing to sign on for the coming year. The $55 daily rate in a job that does not provide health insurance is apparently not very enticing at this point.

Our children were initially disappointed to learn that they would be doing online classes for at least the next semester. Their disappointment was quickly tempered, however, when they talked to their friends and realized that most of them were not going back to in-person classes either. It seems that many parents are voting with their feet for virtual classes.

Parents considering the possibility of needlessly exposing their children and families are turning out to be more conservative about the risks to public health than our political leaders. To a certain extent, that’s good, but with obvious danger threatening their citizens, our elected officials should be taking the lead in protecting public health.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Here’s What Teachers Are Saying About Going Back To School In A Pandemic

There is a lot of discussion about whether it is safe to reopen schools with Coronavirus surging around much of the country. I discussed many of the aspects of returning to school in the midst of a pandemic last weekend but thought it would be interesting to get the opinion of teachers since they are the people who will be in the hot zone. Since many teachers are older and have pre-existing conditions, they face a significantly greater risk in returning to school than their students.

I recently spoke with two teachers about their school district’s plans to reopen in early August. To protect their identities and jobs, we’ll call them Mr. Wetherby and Miss Grandy. Several other teachers that I talked to declined to go on the record, even anonymously, out of concern for their jobs.

Both teachers say that the school district sent a survey to faculty members prior to announcing the decision to reopen, but their opinions on the weight given to teacher opinions differs. Mr. Wetherby says that school leaders “encouraged each teacher to express their feelings in writing” and gave them “an open invitation to contact school leadership with issues.” However, Miss Grandy notes that the survey only asked “whether we were planning to return or not” and why.

“They did not ask for our suggestions or help in the decision-making process as a whole,” she says.

When asked whether returning to school is safe, Mr. Wetherby says, “I believe it is safe-ish. I believe students need to return to the classroom. I have seen students since school was released in March hanging out with friends and going on multiple vacations. I am not criticizing these students, but if they feel comfortable enough to engage in those activities then they should trust the precautions that are in place. The number one goal for students is their safety, health and well-being.”

“Not as normal,” Miss Grandy says, adding, “If we are to make in person as safe as possible, we need to greatly reduce class sizes. Having 30 teenagers or 20 children behaving normally in close quarters is not safe.”

Children can and do die and suffer complications from COVID-19 but are at a much lower risk than adults. Asymptomatic children can spread the disease to adults but the extent of transmission by children is still subject to debate.

Class size is a big variable at this point. This district, like many others around the country, will be offering parents the option of enrolling their children in state-sponsored virtual classrooms or withdrawing from the school system completely and enrolling in homeschool. At this point, it is uncertain how many parents will forgo in-person classes and choose distance-learning or homeschools. In normal times, classes are crowded and space is at a premium in this large school district in a growing county.

Mr. Wetherby adds, “My school will be providing some supplies to the faculty and staff. I am not sure if they will provide student-specific PPE (masks, gloves, etc.) I do know each student will be issued a partition to help distance themselves from each other.” He continues, “This partition does have a clear window so that students can see through them.”

“Each teacher will be receiving a thermometer as well as disinfectant for their classroom,” Wetherby adds. “The school has trained the custodial staff to ensure proper cleaning will be utilized especially in high traffic areas. Students will also be allotted fresh air breaks and social distancing will be followed in all common areas.”

“If a student expresses a need for PPE, that students needs will be met,” says Mr. Wetherby.

But Miss Grandy argues that social distancing cannot be maintained in crowded schools, saying, “According to the procedure we will not even be trying. Social distancing is recommended only where feasible and it was specified that is not possible in hallways or classrooms.”

If schools reopen, it is inevitable that some teachers and students will contract COVID-19. An obvious question is what will happen when someone in the school tests positive for the virus. Communications from the school district say that people in direct contact with the infected person, defined in the district as within six feet for more than 15 minutes, will be asked to self-quarantine for 10 days. They must be fever-free without medication for three days before returning to school.

The school district is also encouraging parents to not send children to school if they are sick. Administrators plan to be very lenient on absenteeism for the coming semester.

“If it is the teacher” who tests positive, Miss Grandy says, “Then I guarantee it will be accompanied by an immense amount of guilt for exposing everyone.”

Both teachers acknowledge that there are risks associated with going back to school.

“I believe there is a calculated risk for reopening,” Mr. Wetherby says, adding that “Complacency has entered the mind of some individuals and that will cause issues.”

“The cons are everywhere I look,” notes Miss Grandy. “The atmosphere is charged with anxiety, fear, disbelief. I’m sure this will translate into the classrooms. When people start to get sick, I believe it is inevitable that the schools will close down again, then we will be in the same boat as March with teachers struggling to instantaneously produce material for students to learn at home. Only this year, we will be expected to continue instruction instead of just review. Where does this leave students with no internet?”

“I believe it will remain open as long as possible,” Mr. Wetherby disagrees. “I trust the leadership that are currently in place to reevaluate and take the appropriate measures to ensure the safety to all involved.”

When asked if he is concerned about safety, Mr. Wetherby answers in the negative, saying, “I am not concerned for safety. I will take the proper precautions and continue to deliver the best education I can to my students.”

On this, Miss Grandy disagrees, saying, she is “mostly concerned for others.”

“I have family that I would be potentially exposing,” she continues, “But I’m also thinking of the mental health of my coworkers. I personally know teachers who are having panic attacks at the thought of going back; waking up from nightmares; considering looking for other work because they feel the district is not protecting us. I think about the loss the high school felt when they lost a dear administrator a couple years ago. The school is still mourning that loss. What will the mental health of the staff and students be if people start dying because we went back too soon and ill prepared?”

When asked what procedures they would implement if they ran the school system, Mr. Wetherby says, “I would reopen, and the guidelines I would establish would be close to the plans that are currently in place. I would highly encourage parents who feel uncomfortable with their students attending school to take the appropriate measures to keep their children safe. I would let each parent know and understand that the leadership in the schools support whatever decision that they make for their child.”

Miss Grandy is more critical of the district’s plans. Her first recommendation is to delay the first day of school until September as some other nearby school districts are doing. This would allow “the school and community to see what happens in other places first.”

“Instead, we are the guinea pigs,” she says. “The other schools are watching us.”

“I think the district would have benefited by having a split schedule in which students came to school two days a week and the other three were online,” Miss Grandy continues. “This would have reduced class sizes by half allowing for the possibility of social distancing. It would also allow for students who don’t have internet to be able to get work directly from teachers for the three days of at home learning. They could still get one-on-one instruction, as well. When the schools end up shutting down again, these students will be left with packets and little instruction just like in March.”

“I know that a split schedule can be hard on parents, but this is a time where everyone needs to adapt,” she adds. “And having a set schedule of two days at school and three at home, at least the working parent could rely on a set schedule every week as opposed to some school districts I’ve seen implementing one week at school then one to two weeks at home.”

“With smaller class sizes, proper PPE, masks required, not recommended, and additional cleaning, I think it would be setting the schools up to actually make it through this mess,” Grandy says, “But as it is, I believe we will shortly all be at home again. And then parents will be left in the same position as last spring.” 

“I am glad I am not the one who has to make these decisions,” Mr. Wetherby says.

Most of us can probably agree on that sentiment.

Originally published on The Resurgent

OMB Director: Trump budget rebuilds military, cuts waste

A big concern for many conservatives has been President Trump’s promises of increased spending in many areas. Trump’s promises of more money for the military and infrastructure have many worried that the increased spending will explode the deficit. However, the director of the Office of Management and Budget pointed out in a new budget blueprint that Trump’s spending increases will be offset by cuts in other areas.

In the Washington Free Beacon, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney said, “This is the ‘America First' budget. In fact, we wrote it using the president's own words—we went through his speeches, articles that have been written about his policies, we talked to him, and we wanted to know what his policies were, and we turned those policies into numbers.”

A big winner in the first Trump budget is defense, which is slated for a $54 billion increase split between the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The Defense Department budget would be increased by nine percent and Homeland Security by seven percent.

“We've worked very closely with the Defense Department to make sure, a couple of things, that this funds their needs but does so in a responsible fashion in terms of what they can actually spend this year,” Mulvaney said. “The Defense Department has told us this is the amount of money they need and can spend effectively this year. We are not throwing money after a problem and claiming that we have fixed it.”

The budget also allocates $4.1 billion over two years for Mr. Trump’s border wall. The figures for the first two years include tests to determine the efficiency and safety of different types of barriers. Mulvaney noted that a 10-year cost projection would accompany the full budget when it is released in May.

Mulvaney pointed out that these spending increases would be offset by cuts in other parts of the budget. “You will see reductions exactly where you would expect it from a president who just ran on an ‘America First’ campaign,” Mulvaney said. “You’ll see reductions in many agencies as he tries to shrink the role of government, drive efficiencies, go after waste, duplicative programs, those types of things.”

“The president ran saying he would spend less money overseas and more money back home,” Mulvaney said. “So when you go to implement that policy you go to things like foreign aid, and those get reduced. If those had been in the Department of Education you'd see a dramatic decrease in education.”

In fact, the Department of Education’s budget was cut overall, but charter school funding and school choice programs saw an increase. Some of the other notable items in the budget blueprint include:

• ·         Cuts Homeland Security grants to local and state agencies
• ·         Raises TSA security fees for airline passengers
• ·         Eliminates funding for 49 National Historic Sites
• ·         Cuts funding to reimburse state and local governments for detaining illegal immigrants
• ·         Increases funding and lawyers for illegal immigrant removal
• ·         Eliminates climate change prevention programs
• ·         Reduces funding for UN peacekeeping
• ·         Privatizes the air traffic control system
• ·         Eliminates funding for many transportation projects
• ·         Cuts NASA budget by one percent

According to the Washington Post, the big losers in the new budget are the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department, which lose almost a third of their budgets. The Department of Agriculture and the Labor Department also received cuts greater than 20 percent. Other departments on the chopping block with cuts of more than 10 percent included Health and Human Services, Commerce, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Interior.

The full budget will be released in May and will include more detail on the cuts and a 10-year projection for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicaid. Entitlement and safety net programs make up more than half of the federal budget according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The full budget is subject to approval and amendment by Congress.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Ga. charter school ballot measure sparks controversy

The presidential race isn’t the only reason to go to the polls over the next few weeks. One big reason in Georgia is the charter schools referendum. In Georgia, this ballot measure has generated almost as much confusion and controversy as the election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Charter schools are public schools that receive public money, but are exempt from many normal rules in exchange for being more accountable. Charter schools cannot charge tuition and often have waiting lists for admissions. In some cases admissions are assigned by lottery. Although politically popular, charter school results are mixed. Some studies have indicated that they do not perform better than traditional public schools, while others paint a better picture.

According to Ballotpedia, the proposed text of the amendment is: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?” According to the Georgia Department of Education, Georgia already has a number of charter schools; however these are run by local school districts. In 2011, the state Supreme Court struck down a state commission that could approve charter schools over the objections of local school boards.

What the amendment would actually do would reinstate the State Charter Commission according to the Augusta Chronicle. The commission could override local denials for charter school applications. These local charter schools would be financed by local money. The amendment would also allow the commission to set up state charter schools with a statewide “attendance zone.” These schools would be financed with money appropriated by the General Assembly, not local tax money.

Opponents of the measure see the amendment as a threat to local control of schools and tax money. The measure is opposed by many school boards, administrators, and teacher groups around the state. The NAACP has also announced its opposition to the measure, telling the Augusta Chronicle that the “amendment is not about fixing the schools and school systems, but is designed to decide who gets to spend our hard earned tax dollars for ‘special schools,’ which are not under the control of local school boards.”

In a letter to the Monroe Patch, state School Superintendent John Barge also states his reasons for opposition to the amendment. Barge says that he favors charter schools, but wants to preserve local control. He also says, “Until all of our public school students are in school for a full 180-day school year, until essential services like student transportation and student support can return to effective levels, and until teachers regain jobs with full pay for a full school year, we should not redirect one more dollar away from Georgia’s local school districts.”

Proponents argue that the amendment is not about tax money or control of schools, but school choice. In the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer, Rep. Richard Smith (R-Columbus) says, “There are some school districts around the state who will not even talk to people in their area about setting up a charter school.”

Maureen Downey wrote in the Atlanta Journal about the concern that charter schools would attract for-profit school operators to the state. Downey references a Reuters article that points out a federal program called EB-5 allows foreign investors to essentially buy visas by investing in certain projects. Over the past few years, charter schools have become a popular investment choice for wealthy would-be immigrants. Reuters notes that the program benefits both schools and investors since schools in general and charter schools in particular often face financial pressures.

The outside funding for charter schools may make up for the discrepancy between funding for local schools and state charter schools. Downey notes in the AJC that the state has confirmed that under the law, more money per student would be sent to state charter schools than local schools.

In an op-ed in the Savannah Morning News, Senator Buddy Carter (R-Savannah), one of the senators who drafted the amendment, explained its purpose. According to Carter, “special” schools were authorized and defined in Georgia’s 1966 constitution. When the constitution was changed in 1983, the General Assembly was authorized to create special schools, but the term was not defined. Carter says the lack of a definition led to the ruling against the Georgia Charter Schools Commission.

Carter further notes that local control is preserved because the first step to creating a charter school is to apply to the local school board. These local charter schools would receive money from the local school district.

If the applicant feels that the local school board has unfairly denied the charter application, the next step would be to appeal to the state. Carter says, “Not a single dollar will be taken out of the traditional public school system” because state charter schools will be funded by money appropriated by the General Assembly. “Voting in favor of this amendment will give the ultimate local control — it will give parents more options and allow them to be more involved in the decision-making process in public education,” according to Carter.

Given the current state of the economy and cuts to the state budget, there is some question about where the additional money for state charter schools would be found, but supporters like Carter are adamant that it would not be redirected from existing public schools. This might mean cuts in other areas of the state budget, higher taxes, or donations and investments from private individuals and businesses.

While the amendment is very controversial, polling shows that voters are in favor. The most recent poll, a September poll by Sand Mountain Communications, found 50 percent of voters favored the amendment with 25 percent against. Another 25 percent of voters are undecided. A last minute blitz of opposition ads by groups like Vote Smart Georgia could easily sway voters on such a convoluted issue.

Originally published on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/charter-school-ballot-measure-sparks-confusion-and-controversy

Education Reform

Education reform is likely to take a central role in Georgia’s gubernatorial election this year. Cuts to the education budget and teacher furloughs have been controversial issues of Governor Sonny Perdue’s administration and the continuing economic crisis points to a long difficult road in restoring funding.

Education is at least partly responsible for Governor Perdue’s election. His predecessor, Roy Barnes, had passed a series of education reforms that were not popular with teachers. These changes included eliminating social promotion and tenure for new teachers. Barnes was also damaged by the fact that Georgia ranked fiftieth in SAT scores just prior to the election (http://bit.ly/cT8FpP). By 2008, Georgia’s ranking in SAT scores had only risen to 45th in the nation (http://bit.ly/9hMOlt).

Education in Georgia also made news in February 2010 when rampant cheating on standardized tests was revealed (http://bit.ly/cXAKBQ). An analysis of erasures on the CRCT test indicated that unusually high numbers of wrong answers were erased and replaced with right answers. This highlights one of the problems of standardized tests: not only is it tempting to teach the test at the expense of broader knowledge, when teachers are ethically challenged they might take matters a step further.

It is obvious that Georgia is in need of sweeping education reform. What is not obvious is what should be done. There are typically several recommendations that are made with regard to improving education. Increasing funding, decreasing class size, charter schools and vouchers are commonly cited as answers to the education crisis.

In the midst of an economic recession, it is difficult to increase spending on anything, even education. Education in Georgia is funded primarily through property taxes. With high foreclosure rates, property tax receipts have plummeted. In the four years that I have lived in my current home, property taxes have increased by about a third as the local government try to take more money from fewer homeowners. The higher property taxes are in addition to a seemingly endless stream of fundraisers and requests for material support from local schools. Less than 8% of Georgia’s education budget comes from federal funds (http://bit.ly/aiXyyj).

It is also important to note that increasing funding does not automatically increase student. Spending per student has more than doubled since 1970, but has not yielded significant increases in performance (http://bit.ly/9RH0Tl). Additionally, the US already spends more on each student that most other counties around the world (http://bit.ly/aFylDK).

Similarly, reducing class size is not the answer either. Studies show that reducing class size is an expensive proposition that is ineffective in increasing performance (http://bit.ly/cbC9vT). Data from schools in the US and other countries all points to the conclusion that class size has little effect on improving education, even though the increase in teachers required for additional classes makes this strategy an expensive proposition.

Charter schools have long been touted as an alternative to traditional public schools. In Georgia, charter schools may be exempted from states laws and school district rules and regulations in exchange for meeting performance based objectives (http://bit.ly/dhadNh). This begs the question that if these laws and rules are not conducive to learning, why should they be left on the books for other schools and students?

There are other problems with charter schools as well. First, charter schools are not available to all children. My county does not have one (although one is slated to open in 2010). Georgia only has about 100 charter schools in all. Additionally, a recent study showed that charter schools are no more effective than traditional public schools (http://bit.ly/daQ5Nm).

A darling of conservative reformers is the idea of school vouchers. These vouchers would be given to parents who could then choose the school, public or private, for their kids. The idea behind vouchers is that school choice would promote competition and help to improve all schools. It would also allow parents to immediately move their children out of failing schools rather than wait for incremental improvements. The problem with vouchers is that their effects are difficult to gauge. There might well be positive effects from vouchers, but they are probably less than generally assumed (http://bit.ly/dARH6H).

It is evident that none of the traditional education reforms are a silver bullet and that we should seek new ideas and alternatives. One obvious idea is to do more with less. There is not likely to be much new funding for education in the near future. To increase funding would require either more cuts in other areas of the state budget or more deficit spending. Neither of these alternatives is likely at this time. Budget cuts in other areas will be more likely to result in trimming the state deficit than preserving the education budget.

Our leaders should seek to trim the education bureaucracy. I would much rather see funds going to classrooms and teachers than to bureaucrats in Atlanta and Washington who never see a single student. The federal Department of Education has a budget of $63.7 billion and does not operate a single school or teach a single student (http://bit.ly/9VYlQX). If that money were split between the states, an additional $10 billion to each state’s education budget would certainly be welcome.

Schools should also return to the basic core subjects such as math, science, reading, writing, and history. We should consider schools to be houses of learning, not social engineering. Anything that detracts from the core mission of teaching core subjects should be eliminated. Schools should not be concentrating on such diverse subjects as normalizing homosexuality, feeding children around the clock and calendar, the pseudo-science of global warming extremism, and the revisionist view of American history as imperialist and corrupt (to name a few). Schools should also realize that the ultimate key to a student’s self-esteem is to actually learn and progress, rather than making sure no one’s feelings get hurt because someone is better.

There should be school choice, at least on a minimal level. If parents are going to send thousands of dollars to public school systems, they have a right to ensure that their children are getting a quality education. If that means moving their children to a different school (at least within the same school system), then they should be able to do so. I personally believe that they should be able to put their children in schools in other districts if necessary. It is unconscionable to take property tax money from low or middle-class parents while they struggle to pay tuition to keep their children in private schools. Of course, the parents would have to provide transportation if they chose a school outside their normal area.

Schools should also realize that different students learn in different ways. I was very interested in a recent Freakanomics radio broadcast about New York’s School of One (http://nyti.ms/buUfAj). The pilot program combines traditional teacher-led classrooms with virtual classrooms, one-on-one tutoring, and independent study. It is too early to make full judgments about either the cost or the effectiveness of the School of One (http://bit.ly/a3wHeA) but initial results are encouraging.

Finally, we also need to make it easier to get bad teachers out of the system. Unions often make it difficult and expensive to weed out teachers who are incompetent, who don’t care, or who otherwise fail their students. We need to reward good teachers, while making it easier to get rid of the bad ones.

It is often said that children are our most valuable resource. Education is vitally important as a tool to develop that resource. The future economy of Georgia and the United States itself depends on training future leaders and skilled workers for tomorrow. In order to do so, we must look to programs that actually work instead of just being politically popular. In this economic climate of falling tax revenues and shrinking budgets, we cannot afford to waste money on programs that do little to benefit our kids.

I know that I have several retired and current teachers who read this blog. I would love to hear from you regarding what does and does not work in education.

IN MEMORIAM: This article dedicated to the memory of my uncle, Junius Bronson Thornton, who passed away on July 11, 2010. Uncle Bronson probably did not agree with much of what I have had to say in this column politically, but I will miss him.
Sources:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/100902/new_20021009050.shtml
http://gaeducation.blogspot.com/2008/08/2008-sat-results-released-georgia-ranks.html
http://www.times-herald.com/opinion/op-ed/jones/Cleaning-up-test-scandal-will-swamp-Georgias-education-system---1010789
http://www.gsba.com/downloads/FundingGaPublicSchools_talking_points.pdf
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2008/09/Does-Spending-More-on-Education-Improve-Academic-Achievement
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_spe_per_sec_sch_stu-spending-per-secondary-school-student
http://www.wallis.rochester.edu/WallisPapers/wallis_10.pdf
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/pea_charter.aspx?PageReq=CIIAPCharterFAQS#q1
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/newsroom/releases/2010/Charterschool_6_10.asp
http://www.givewell.org/files/Round2Apps/Cause4/Childrens%20Scholarship%20Fund/B/EPI.vouchers-full.pdf
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/freakonomics-radio-how-is-a-bad-radio-station-like-the-public-school-system/
http://schools.nyc.gov/community/innovation/SchoolofOne/default.htm

Photo credit: Felixco Inc.
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1012

Candidate profile: DuBose Porter for governor

DuBose Porter is a native of Dublin, Georgia. He received an undergraduate degree in English from Davidson College in North Carolina. After graduation, Porter interned in Washington, DC for Senator Sam Nunn. This inspired him to get a law degree and enter public service. He earned a juris doctor degree from Cumberland Law School at Birmingham’s Samford University in 1979.

After earning his law degree, Porter practiced law in Dublin before purchasing and becoming editor of a newspaper, the Dublin Courier Herald in 1987. Since then, the Courier Herald’s publishing company, of which Porter is Chairman of the Board, has purchased nine other small town newspapers. Porter is business manager for the newspapers as well as serving on the board of the Bank of Dudley.

Porter’s political career began with a run for the Georgia House of Representatives in 1982 at the age of 28. Porter served as Floor Leader for Gov. Zell Miller from 1991-1992. He was elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the house in 2003 and leader of the House Democratic Caucus in 2005. He currently serves on the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Appropriations, and Ethics Committees. In the past, he chaired both the Education and Higher Education committees. Presently, Porter is minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Following are Representative Porter’s positions on some important issues facing our state:

Education: Porter believes that a well-educated work force is vital for Georgia’s future economy. He supports using technology to facilitate teaching and giving more power to teachers. He would strengthen Georgia’s colleges and universities. Porter wants teachers and the state to work with parents. He opposes school vouchers.

Taxes: Porter believes that revenues can be increased without raising taxes. One method of doing so would be passage of the Point of Sales bill (HB 356) which would allow local governments to collect sales taxes themselves or contract out to private firms instead of relying on the Department of Revenue. Porter believes that this would increase efficiency and lower costs. Porter believes that his proposal would also allow the state to collect more money from tax cheats.

Transportation: Porter would like to use some sales tax revenues to leverage federal transportation money. Porter believes that a multi-nodal mass transit (high speed rail) system would be a solution to gridlock. He also wants to upgrade and repair Georgia’s roads.

Crime: Porter believes that education is an answer to the crime problem.

Life: Porter says that he is pro-life, but believes that abortion should be legal in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at stake. He believes that the abortion issue should be decided by the courts.

Gun Rights: Porter is a gun owner and supporter of the second amendment. His publishing company also publishes hunting magazines.

DuBose Porter is also an Eagle Scout.

Sources:
http://www.porterforgeorgia.com/
http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=7948
http://www.courier-herald.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuBose_Porter
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2010/06/11/agreement-among-dems-for-governor-no-vouchers-concerns-over-over-reaching-charter-laws-and-under-reaching-tax-collections/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog
http://www.georgiademocrat.org/node/1122
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/newtonhome/headlines/86734157.html
http://porterforgeorgia.blogspot.com/2010/02/55-dubose-porter-transportation-will.html
http://www.peachpundit.com/2010/05/24/dubose-porter-slips-up-admits-to-being-pro-life/comment-page-1/
http://porterforgeorgia.uber.matchbin.net/printer_friendly/7882626
http://daltondailycitizen.com/local/x657337992/Profile-Dublin-gubernatorial-hopeful-Porter-running-a-grass-roots-campaign

Photo credit: Juan Gnecco
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=135

Candidate Profile: Carl Camon for Governor

Carl Camon was born in Nashville, Georgia and grew up in Ray City, Georgia. Ray City is located in south Georgia, just north of Moody Air Force Base, which in turn is located near Valdosta. Camon served over ten years in the US Air Force and Air Force Reserve. He received a “below the zone” promotion and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-5). His service in the military convinced him of the need to maintain a strong national defense.

The military also helped Camon advance his education. He received Associate degrees from Georgia Military College and the Community College of the Air Force. He also earned Bachelor, Masters, and Specialist degrees in education from Valdosta State University. His concentrations were in Mental Retardation and Severe Disabilities.

His political career began in 1993 as a member of Ray City’s city council where he served two terms. Later, he became the first African-American mayor of Ray City, eventually serving five terms from 1996 through 1997 and 2000 through 2009. As Ray City mayor, he helped to start Georgia’s first municipal pre-k program. He also founded the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute and the Mayor and Council’s Education Initiative Scholarship. Camon worked to obtain grants to modernize Ray City’s fire and police departments, and declared war on drugs in his city. While mayor, he was listed as one of “40 under 40” Rising Stars in Georgia.

In 2002, he was appointed by Governor Roy Barnes to a four year term as chairman of the County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council. The role of the council is to provide orientation and standardization for probation officers, as well as private providers of probation services. Other civic roles for Camon include membership in the Budget and Executive Committees of the Georgia Municipal Association and chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee.

Camon has also served in a variety of teaching roles. His resume boasts fifteen years of experience in education in jobs as varied as Assistant Professor of Education, Pre-k Director, and high school teacher. He was listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers four separate times and was awarded Teacher of the Month.

It was in his role as teacher that Camon received the only blemish on his record. While teaching at a school in Valdosta in 2007, Camon was accused by several students of making sexual remarks, staring at the breasts of female students, and looking up their skirts. The NY Times reports that Camon denied the allegations, saying that the girls were angry at him for calls to the parents about bad grades ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/us/19georgia.html ). The Times also reported that Camon had been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student on a previous occasion in which no probable cause had been found.

In the 2007 case, Camon was suspended for one week. Rather than accept the suspension, he resigned, saying that he refused to accept punishment for something that he did not do. His complete statement on the matter can be read here: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AfKEK8-LWmzhZGNmZDk0bTNfMjZjdjlwNnJkOQ&hl=en. After resigning, Camon was rehired by the same school system the following year, where he taught the same students in the same school. He maintains that he was falsely accused and unjustly suspended. He continued to teach in Valdosta until 2009 when he resigned to start a business, Teacher Advocacy and Protection (TAP) with his wife.

Here are Camon’s positions on some important issues:

Education: Camon believes that many of Georgia’s problems are linked to education, and commits to teach one class in each county during his term as governor. He also pledges $5,000 per year from his governor’s salary to scholarships for deserving high school students. Camon would like to return authority to teachers and increase their pay to the national average. He would also encourage teachers to retire after 25 years to reduce costs. Over time, he would phase out alternative schools and work to reduce the number of students who repeat grades. He is a strong supporter of pre-k, HOPE, and Quality Based Education.

Jobs: Camon would invest in the infrastructure of Georgia’s cities, which he believes would help to continue to develop economically. He would prioritize state spending and cut wasteful programs. He would offer incentives for the creation of small business and for hiring new employees. Camon would restructure Georgia’s welfare system to provide more job training. He would also expand opportunities for higher education to all citizens and encourage people to take personal finance training and counseling. He also believes that expansion of wind, solar and other green technologies will help Georgia. Mr. Camon would empower the Department of Commerce to market Georgia for tourism and industry.

Taxes: Camon would keep taxes low and believes that this will help to stimulate the economy.

Transportation: Mr. Camon would explore the possibility of building a high speed rail system to connect Georgia cities. He would also support regional mass transit systems. He would restore the Local Assistance Road Program (LARP) for cities and counties and increase regional representation in the Department of Transportation. He would work to increase the installation of electric power stations along interstate highways to facilitate the use of electric autos. Mr. Camon would support legislation to prohibit auto insurance companies from charging higher rates solely on the basis of poor credit scores. He would direct federal stimulus money to regions of greatest need. He would expand video surveillance of Georgia roads in an effort to ease congestion. He would also expand and secure Georgia’s ports.

Life: Camon’s website does not address life or abortion issues. In an email, he did state that he opposes abortion.

Gun Rights: Camon’s website does not address second amendment issues. In an email, he did state that he supports the second amendment.




Sources:
http://www.camonforgovernor.com/
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=80274&catid=175
http://www.cmpac.gaaoc.us/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/us/19georgia.html
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AfKEK8-LWmzhZGNmZDk0bTNfMjRkc3p3N2ZkNA&hl=en
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/03/18/responses-from-ray-mcberry-and-carl-camon/?cxntfid=blogs_political_insider_jim_galloway
http://www.mayorsyouthinstitute.com/
http://georgia.com/2010/03/12/election-series-interview-with-d-carl-camon/
http://peanutpolitics-keith.blogspot.com/2009/12/carl-camons-campaign-platform-for.html
http://www.thevoterguide.org/v/ajc10/race-detail.do?id=194890249&party=D

Candidate Profile: Thurbert Baker for Governor

Thurbert Baker was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He received and undergraduate degree in political science from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill before coming to Georgia to attend law school at Emory University. After graduating from Emory, Baker worked as a lawyer in Atlanta on both civil and criminal cases at the state and federal level.

In 1988, Baker was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. After Zell Miller was elected governor in 1990, he became Miller’s floor leader in the house. As floor leader, he was instrumental in passing much of the legislation of the Miller administration. He was known for his role in passing legislation that reduced death row appeals, reformed welfare, and curbed drunk driving. A major legislative accomplishment was Georgia’s “two strikes law.”

In 1997, Zell Miller appointed Baker to fill an unexpired term as Attorney General. Baker’s stated priorities included domestic violence, Medicaid fraud, and consumer fraud. He has been re-elected several times as Georgia’s Attorney General since 1997. Baker is Georgia’s first black Attorney General.

As Attorney General, Baker had Georgia join the historic lawsuit against the tobacco companies. He also began prosecution of fraudulent telemarketers operating in Georgia. He also proposed the denial of parole to certain classes of criminals, which at first was a controversial idea.

In recent months, Baker has been the subject of criticism, and an attempt at impeachment, for his refusal to file a legal challenge to President Obama’s federal health care reform law. Baker stated that he believed the lawsuit had little chance of success and would not be a wise use of the state’s meager resources [https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_KEK8-LWmzhYTE2NjJiZDUtNmYxZi00YTk1LWIzYTktYzk4OTljOTIwMTRh&hl=en&pli=1 ]. Governor Sonny Perdue appointed a special attorney to handle the lawsuit. Both the lawsuit and the impeachment are still pending.

From his website, here are some of Baker’s positions on prominent issues:

Jobs: Baker would like to attract biotech companies to Georgia with a $175 million dollar investment in facilities, grants, and tax credits. Baker would also create scholarship and student loan forgiveness program to encourage more people to become nurses and help to relieve a looming shortage in Georgia. Baker also wants to create a $50 million deal closing fund to help attract new business to Georgia.

Taxes: Baker would allow new businesses to defer paying taxes for their first two years. After that time, back taxes must be paid.

Education: Other than the scholarship and loan forgiveness program for nurses, Baker’s website makes no mention of education.

Life: Baker’s website makes no mention of life issues or abortion.

Gun Rights: Baker’s website makes no mention of second amendment issues.

Sources:
www.thurbertbaker.com
http://www.answers.com/topic/thurbert-baker
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/03/30/house-gop-lawmakers-file-bill-of-impeachment-against-thurbert-baker/
http://www.gpb.org/news/2010/03/25/perdue-to-sue-obama-administration
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_KEK8-LWmzhYTE2NjJiZDUtNmYxZi00YTk1LWIzYTktYzk4OTljOTIwMTRh&hl=en&pli=1

Candidate Profile: David Poythress for governor

David Poythress is a native of Macon. He attended school in Bibb County and later earned a college degree and US Air Force commission from Emory law school. After graduation, he volunteered for duty in Vietnam, where he served as defense counsel and Chief of Military Justice at Da Nang Airbase.

After four years of active duty, Poythress started a civilian law practice in Atlanta and held a variety of positions in the Georgia state government. The offices that he has held include Assistant Attorney General, Deputy State Revenue Commissioner, and Secretary of State. Elected in 1992 and 1994, he served as State Labor Commissioner. He resigned from that office in 1998 to mount an unsuccessful campaign for governor. Poythress’ private law practice dealt primarily with taxation and public finance.

After leaving active military service, Poythress continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve. He eventually attained the rank of Brigadier General. In 1999, Governor Roy Barnes named Poythress as Georgia’s Adjutant General, the officer in command of Georgia’s Army and Air National Guard. Barnes also promoted him to Major General. Governor Sonny Perdue renewed his appointment as Adjutant General and promoted him to Lieutenant General. He also served in Operation Desert Storm.

Here are Poythress’ positions on prominent issues:

Jobs: Poythress will not take a paycheck as governor until Georgia’s unemployment rate falls below 7%. He would also create tax incentives for high tech manufacturing, life sciences, alternative energy, and film production. He would immediately begin projects to enhance and upgrade Georgia’s infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams). Finally, Poythress would create tax credits for energy efficiency and water conservation.

Taxes: Poythress proposes tax credits to encourage water conservation and energy efficiency. He also would like to pass business tax incentives for high tech manufacturing, life sciences, alternative energy, and film production.

Education: Poythress opposes budget cuts for education. He also opposes school vouchers. He would like to recruit more teachers, especially in math and science, while preserving the current defined benefit pension plan for teachers. Poythress would like to preserve or expand popular programs, such as the HOPE scholarship and Pre-K classes. He would expand parent participation and institute a program to decrease the number of drop-outs. He would preserve the role of arts in education as well as health classes featuring nutrition and exercise. He would provide increased opportunities for vocational education and tutoring. He opposes No Child Left Behind.

Transportation: Poythress would encourage telecommuting and flex time for state workers to alleviate Atlanta traffic. He would expand Georgia’s ports, rail lines, and heavy truck routes. He would prioritize state transportation projections based on need, rather than politics. He would begin long term planning for a mass transit commuter system linking Atlanta with Georgia’s major cities as well as those of neighboring states. He would give citizens the option of passing a sales tax to fund transportation projects.

Gun Rights: Poythress’ website makes no mention of second amendment issues.

Life: Poythress’ website makes no mention of abortion or life issues. He is reportedly pro-choice. He does favor sex-education to reduce the number of abortions.

Sources:
http://www.poythressforgovernor.com/home
http://www.ghla.net/External/WCPages/WCNews/NewsArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=12
http://www.ghla.net/External/WCPages/WCNews/NewsArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=12

Candidate Profile: Nathan Deal for Governor

John Nathan Deal is a native of Millen, Georgia. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Mercer University in Macon, before joining the US Army. He served as a Democratic Georgia state senator from 1981 to 1993, before being elected to the US House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1992.

After the landslide Republican victory in 1994, Deal says that he became uncomfortable being the most conservative Democrat in the Georgia congressional delegation. In April 1995, four months after beginning his second congressional term, Deal changed parties and became a Republican. He served continually as a congressional Republican until he resigned to run for governor. Deal announced his resignation on March 1, 2010, but delayed leaving office in order to vote against President Obama’s health care reform bill.

At the time of his resignation, Deal was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for using his influence as a congressman to preserve a no-bid contract for his salvage business. Deal was accused of using his congressional email account to discuss personal business with officials of the Georgia senate and Department of Revenue. Deal was concerned with changes that Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham had proposed to a program that earned Deal’s company an estimated $300,000 per year. Deal’s company had worked with the state for twenty years (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Scandal-surrounding-Rep-Nathan-Deal-R-Ga-79319837.html ). After his resignation, the Office of Congressional Ethics released a report that said Deal may have exceeded congressional limits on outside income and used his US House office and staff to preserve a private stream of money coming from a no bid state contract (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/35154.html).

Deal has said that the deal was not improper and that he had reported it each year to the House Ethics Committee. Deal also says that the report is incomplete because neither Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle nor Revenue Commissioner Graham cooperated with investigators. Cagle refused to cooperate and Graham said that he could not provide the information requested by the investigators without a subpoena. Since Deal resigned, the matter never went to the next level, which would have been the House’s Committee on Standards.

Here are some of Deal’s positions on prominent issues:

Life: Deal is endorsed by Georgia Right to Life. He is rated 100% by National Right to Life and 0% by NARAL. He also earned a 93% rating from the Christian Coalition.

Gun Rights: Deal has an A rating from the National Rifle Association.

Jobs and Economy: Deal is rated 93% by the US Chamber of Commerce. This indicates a pro-business voting record. His rating by the AFL-CIO was 20%. He would like to fuel growth in biotech and medical services through private lending and state capital investment company. He would also like the UGA’s Small Business Development Centers to offer technical and advisory assistance to complement venture capital investment.

Education: Deal is rated 17% by the NEA. This indicates a voting record against the education establishment.

Taxes: Deal was rated 69% by the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which they consider a satisfactory rating. He would like to cut Georgia’s corporate tax rate, the corporate “net worth” tax, and allow exemptions for business inventory. He would also exempt businesses from taxes in their first ten years. For individuals, Deal would enact a 6% flat tax, exempting those who earn $7,000 or less. He would also eliminate the marriage penalty. Finally, Deal has signed the Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge to not raise taxes.

Immigration: Deal has said that he would work to pass legislation in Georgia similar to Arizona’s immigration law. On the federal level, Deal would like to close the “anchor baby” loophole, in which children born in the US are automatically granted citizenship, even if they are here illegally.

Sources:
http://www.dealforgovernor.com/index.aspx
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nathan_Deal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Deal
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Scandal-surrounding-Rep-Nathan-Deal-R-Ga-79319837.html
http://blogs.ajc.com/gold-dome-live/2010/03/29/ajc-investigation-report-finds-deal-violated-ethics-rules/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/35154.html
http://www.ontheissues.org/GA/Nathan_Deal.htm
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/04/27/nathan-deal-says-hed-implement-arizona-style-immigration-laws/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/nathan-deal-georgia-lawma_n_207485.html

Candidate Profile: Ray McBerry for Governor

Ray McBerry is a native of Atlanta. He is an avowed Christian who considers himself to be a constitutionalist. According to his website, he is a life-long Republican, but that he does not support “the globalist, socialist policies of either the Democrat or Republican parties at the national level.”

McBerry is a former youth minister at a Stockbridge church as well as a teacher in the Henry County school system at Patrick Henry High School. Currently, Ray McBerry is the president of Ray McBerry Enterprises in Atlanta. He produces radio and television commercials for the Atlanta market.

A brief search of Mr. McBerry’s history did turn up two hints of scandal. In one, McBerry’s teaching certificate was briefly suspended (for one week in 2004) for counseling a girl who was not a student at his school. The girl’s father attempted to bring charges against McBerry, but, according to the campaign, the local judge refused to even allow charges to be filed [http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_171542.asp ]. The report notes that McBerry has a valid teaching certificate to this day.

In the second case, an Atlanta woman claimed in May 2010 that she had an affair with McBerry when he was a youth minister. The woman, who is now twenty-four, claims that the affair took place eight years ago when she was sixteen. She claims that they had sex one time. McBerry denies the affair and says that the charges “came out of nowhere” [http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/woman-admits-relationship-with-mcberry-050410 ].

Here are McBerry’s stances on several prominent issues:

Taxes: McBerry proposes to abolish income and property taxes and replace them with a sales tax. He opposes any linkage of taxes to income, and would decrease the size of government.

Jobs: In addition to tax reform, McBerry would place renewed emphasis on vocational skills in Georgia schools to provide a ready work force for employers. Additionally, he would resist federal encroachment of intrastate commerce. He is one of the authors of the “State Authority and Intrastate Commerce Act” [http://www.statesurge.com/bills/hb-879-georgia-732992 ] which has been filed in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Gun Rights: McBerry opposes any effort to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. He also supports legal immunity for firearms manufacturers in Georgia.

Life: McBerry is staunchly pro-life and is endorsed by Georgia Right to Life.

Education: McBerry is a former teacher with ten years teaching experience. First, he would move away from centralized federal and state control of schools, and return control to the local level. Second, he supports tax credits for school tuition as a means of increasing school competition. Finally, he would like Georgia schools to focus more on vocational skills.

Immigration: McBerry would use all state resources available to secure Georgia’s borders and apprehend illegal immigrants already here. He would bill the federal government for their detention. He would increase fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens and would limit their ability to file nuisance lawsuits against the state.

Mr. McBerry also states that he will take a strong stand against federal encroachment into areas that the constitution preserved as the rights of the states. He notes that the federal government should be subservient to the states, not the other way around, and would use the tenth amendment to resist unconstitutional federal mandates, whether they are by federal legislation, court rulings, or executive orders.

Sources:
www.Georgiafirst.org
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_171542.asp
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/woman-admits-relationship-with-mcberry-050410