Education and Health Care Bills Worthy of GOP

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | May 16, 2008 | Jim Wooten

[JavaJumpy]

Saving the best for last, Gov. Sonny Perdue “sealed his legacy as one of America’s foremost ‘education governors’ ” last week.

That’s the view of Lori Drummer, director of state projects for the Washington-based Alliance for School Choice, the nation’s largest nonprofit promoting school vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs. “Georgia is now a national leader in a school choice movement that is gaining momentum,” she said.

The reason for her exuberance? On the final day allotted to deal with legislation passed by this year’s General Assembly, Perdue signed a bill authored by State Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn) that will assist families, like those poor souls in Clayton County whose children are held hostage by a system in turmoil.

The bill Perdue signed will allow corporations and individuals to get tax credits for donations to organizations that give scholarships to parents who want to put their children in better schools.

With two other pieces of education legislation signed earlier, this session — the squabbling notwithstanding — will go down as one of the most productive in two important areas since the GOP took control: education and health care. The bills signed earlier — one part of the governor’s agenda and the other authored by State Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) — completed an education-reform trifecta.

The bill that grew out of an education commission the governor appointed gives local systems freedom from state regulations in return for promises to produce results in areas such as dropout reductions. It eliminates excuses and the tendency of local boards and superintendents to blame somebody else, usually the state, for their failure to educate.