Senate Leader Visits Cherokee Dems

Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson (D-Tucker) discussed how tax cuts have affected the quality of the education system at the recent Cherokee County Democrats meeting.

At least $4 billion of education funding has been cut, classroom sizes are increasing, educators are losing their jobs, and children are not getting the best education, Henson said.

This situation, Henson said, will have a critical effect on the future.

“We are not preparing our workforce,” Henson said. “The education system in Georgia has been losing a lot of money that used to go our classrooms and students, partially through tax cuts.”

He said some of the tax cuts benefit special interests, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Delta Air Lines. 

“Some are due to the fault or decrease to the employment of the economy, lost jobs and lost revenue,” Henson said.

Henson also said local school systems are suffering because of falling property values.

“The lost revenues are creating a tremendous burden on students and teachers to maintain the level of quality education we have had in the past,” Henson said.

In the past, the Quality Basic Education Act (QBE Act) required classes to be a certain size, reducing the student-teacher ratio. The state has eased those restrictions.

According to Atlanta.Gov, the Quality Basic Education Act also required local school systems to prepare a facilities plan to identify proposed improvements that would involve the renovation, modernization, and/or construction of school facilities. The act also established minimum enrollments standards for all elementary, middle and high schools.  

Henson said one of many ways to fix the education problems is to work on the funding.

“In Georgia we have a lot of good educators that are working hard to do their job, but when you cut 25 to 40 percent of the budget from the education in the state funding, you also have dips in many local communities because of local taxes," Henson said. 

Going forward, Henson said, it will take an abundance of community involvement and work to reconstruct the education system.  

“Right now, many teachers are furloughed, haven’t had raises. … The best teachers are retiring early or leaving the state. So we need to try to get back to fund those things and we can do so if we make education a top priority,” he said.

Henson said it is not too late for the state to bring up educational standards. “We came a long way in the '80s and '90s to improve education. As soon as Georgia wakes up, we can make those changes and improve for all the students.”