Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission holds meeting in Tifton

TIFTON — Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission held a rare meeting outside of Atlanta on Friday, gathering at the University of Georgia Conference center in Tifton.

The commission is studying the state’s education system, including its funding formula, and will provide recommendations intended to improve the system, increase access to early learning programs, recruit and retain high-quality instructors, and expand school options for Georgia’s families.

The commission’s meeting room was filled to capacity, with some of the audience sitting in the adjoining doorways. As expected, most of the morning’s discussion centered around revamping of the state’s QBE (Quality Basic Education) funding formula.

“This is an excellent opportunity for the Department of Education and other groups that represent our educational system to come south and understand the special challenges that we have in southwest Georgia,” Commission member state Sen. Freddie Powell-Sims, D-Dawson, said. “It’s an opportunity for them to get first-hand opinions on the challenges our school districts are having.”

The governor has given the commission an Aug. 1 deadline to make its recommendations. Powell-Sims said the five subcommittees were not close to making specific suggestions because the commission is still in listening mode.

“We are a long way from making any recommendations, but we are closer than we were because we are listening to the people who are directly involved in the educational arena,” Powell-Sims said. “We’re coming to the teachers, so this is kind of unprecedented. We’ve not done this in years … not that I can remember anyway. We are having the superintendents weigh in on this, the teachers weigh in on it and even support staff input on things that need to go on in our schools.

“We don’t want to give up local control, but there are instances when the state has to intervene based on the resources — human as well as monetary resources — available for our local schools.”

Former UGA president Chuck Knapp chairs the commission and its funding formula subcommittee.

“This is an important meeting because we are going to have to accelerate our activities,” Knapp said. “The governor has asked for the report of the funding formula committee by Aug. 1 in order to process it through the budget in the 2016 session of the General Assembly.”

Knapp noted the governor’s charge to the formula funding committee was to develop a funding formula that meets three criteria:

— Provide local school districts with greater flexibility;

— Make the process simpler and more transparent;

— Have the money follow the child.

“We believe if you give the districts funds in a more flexible way and give the districts the decision to how those funds are spent then you are going to get better educational outcomes. All wisdom does not reside in Atlanta,” Knapp said. “The QBE formula that was put together 30 years ago served us well, but it’s gotten pretty complicated since then. Most people don’t associate transparent with QBE … opaque might be a better word. A lot of bells and whistles have been added over the years. After 30 years it’s time to take another look. Those are the basic principles we are operating under.

“The holy grail of funding formulas is to define the true cost of education. That rolls off the tongue easily, but the reality is that arguably no one has ever been able to effectively do that.”

The commission and its subcommittees, where the bulk of the actual work is taking place,will meet several more times over the next few months before putting together a list of recommendations to present to the governor by his August deadline.