State Democrats and Republicans are playing pinball with Georgia's lackluster S-A-T scores.
First, the facts: On average, Georgia students scored 1472 out of a possible 2400 on the S-A-T.
Gov. Sonny Perdue is looking at the bright side: Georgia has the fourth-worst scores in the nation, not the worst. Black and Latino students have outscored their counterparts nationwide.
But House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) takes the glass half-empty approach.
He notes average math and reading scores are the lowest they have been in eight years. He accuses Perdue of embarking on a public relations campaign to cover that up, while slashing state funds for education.
In turn, Perdue has blamed 130 years of Democratic rule for a "culture of negativity" that once made Georgia dead last in the SAT.
Now Porter is reminding Perdue that he was once a Democrat too.
Here are excerpts from their statements:
Gov. Sonny Perdue:
Rep. DuBose Porter:
Perdue:
Porter:
First, the facts: On average, Georgia students scored 1472 out of a possible 2400 on the S-A-T.
Gov. Sonny Perdue is looking at the bright side: Georgia has the fourth-worst scores in the nation, not the worst. Black and Latino students have outscored their counterparts nationwide.
But House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) takes the glass half-empty approach.
He notes average math and reading scores are the lowest they have been in eight years. He accuses Perdue of embarking on a public relations campaign to cover that up, while slashing state funds for education.
In turn, Perdue has blamed 130 years of Democratic rule for a "culture of negativity" that once made Georgia dead last in the SAT.
Now Porter is reminding Perdue that he was once a Democrat too.
Here are excerpts from their statements:
Gov. Sonny Perdue:
While the state of Georgia and the nation as a whole saw a dip in 2007 SAT scores, Georgia continues to have outstanding participation rates and our minority students are scoring higher than the national average for minorities. Our African-American and Hispanic public school students' average scores continue to outpace their counterparts around the nation with higher scores in most areas of the test.
Rep. DuBose Porter:
I'm not surprised. This is exactly the result I was expecting but until the public wakes up and finds out the truth behind the massive public relations campaign that these elected Republicans have been waging it will continue.
Perdue:
For more than 130 years, Democrats like DuBose Porter and his pessimistic friends presided over an educational system that was failing our students. Our graduation rates were dismal and our rankings on tests like the SAT were dead last….Rep. Porter's comments yesterday were disrespectful and insulting to Georgia teachers, administrators, parents, and most of all, our high school students.
Porter:
I think [teachers, students and parents] are doing amazingly well with $1.3 billion less in the state's education budget….Overall, the nation's graduating class of 2007 averaged the lowest math and reading SAT scores since 1999 and Georgia's average dropped five points from last year. Everybody does worse, but the gap narrows, and in the world of massive PR this is turned into a positive.
