School funding hot topic

At a meeting of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education today, school funding was the hot topic. The state is being sued by rural school systems who say they don’t get enough money to provide an adequate education. Meanwhile, Governor Perdue has appointed his own task force to look at other ways to fund schools.

At a meeting of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, the head of the Governor's Education Finance Task Force, Dean Alford, said the current funding mechanism is not working.

"Local schools are being asked to do more and more and more. At the same times they’re hands are tied to some degree relative to their compliance The state is spending a significant portion of its budget on education and is not getting the full results that it desires."

Alford says his group is still working on recommendations to the Governor. One idea is to distribute money based on performance rather than compliance with rules. Alford says a big jump in education funding is unlikely.

Alford also says the state needs to do more to promote the benefits of a high school diploma.

"I don't think we've done a good job at educating of community at large. Because there are many people in our state who feel that a high school graduation is not necessary to move forward in the workplace. So we have got to do a better job at selling the benefits of an educated Georgia."

Georgia has improved its high school graduation rate to above 70 percent, but that is still one of the highest rates in the country.