Perdue’s 2011 Budget Damages Public Education

Atlanta, GA – Georgia’s public education system is headed for massive funding decreases in Governor Perdue’s latest budget proposal. After eight consecutive years of austerity cuts, K-12 schools will be forced to reduce services even further.

In addition to teacher furloughs, an $800 million reduction in basic state funding will challenge an educational system that is in “statewide crisis”[1]. K-12 schools will receive less state funding than was in Georgia’s budget only four years ago- despite spiraling costs in the education field[2].

“When the governor repeatedly cuts education, it increases property taxes at the local level,” said State House Minority Leader Dubose Porter (D-Dublin). “It is also unnecessary because a proposed tax bill from last year could alleviate the problem.”

HB 356 transfers control of collecting sales taxes from the state to local level and could result in a $1 billion revenue increase[3]. “This could be a huge revenue source for the state,” Porter said. “It doesn’t raise taxes on anyone, but still provides the money to fully fund education. It would also prevent furloughs from disrupting Georgia’s schools.”

The Association of County Commissioners of Georgia has already begun four pilot studies on the program. Of these four studies- in Chatham, Cherokee, Hall, and Lowndes counties- the Hall study is partially complete. Already, the study has identified approximately 1,200 Hall County businesses that are not on the Department of Revenue list for sales tax collection. Similar per-capita numbers might be found in each of Georgia’s counties, said Porter.

“By capturing this lost revenue, annual cuts to the state’s battered public educational system would end and Georgia could stop teacher furloughs,” concluded Porter.  

The ‘Frightful Five’ will highlight five egregious examples of fiscal mismanagement in the 2011 proposed budget. This is the third in the series, distributed daily, and scheduled to conclude on Friday, 1/22.