Cagle prioritizes 2018 legislative agenda with six-point plan

ATLANTA — Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle released his plan Wednesday to build on the state’s continued pursuit of greater opportunities for its students and to grow a work force that meets the needs of the state’s expanding economy. He has been one the state’s most ardent voices in regard to transforming Georgia’s public schools by creating charter systems, college and career academies, and offering students more choices.

“Georgia’s education system must be built around the needs of each individual student — and that begins with local control. Our highest priority must be to continue introducing new educational pathways and choices for our students, while freeing teachers to focus their efforts around actual learning over bureaucratic mandates,” Cagle said.

In an emailed statement, Cagle’s 2018 education priorities include:

• Local Control: “Communities, principals and teachers know what is best for their students,” the lieutenant governor said. Cagle said he will continue to break down the compliance mentality of the state’s educational bureaucracy and eliminate burdensome mandates, which hold students back academically and force educators to teach to the test.

“This approach will build on and expand flexibility for local schools to innovate under the mandate-free governance structure created by charter systems – which now enroll 30 percent of Georgia’s students and outperform traditional schools on nearly every metric,” Cagle said.

• No More Teaching to the Test: Cagle said he hopes to empower Georgia’s schools to replace one-size-fits-all standardized testing with innovative individualized learning plans, real-time data analytics, and formative assessments that lead to measurable academic checkpoints.

During 2018, up to 10 school systems will be selected to pilot innovative assessment models without any state restraints or mandates. These systems will then collaborate to develop the foundation that informs the improvements needed to replace Georgia’s school accountability and achievement system with a more localized approach to evaluating the performance of Georgia’s schools, teachers and students.

• College and Career Academies: More than 20,000 students are enrolled in Georgia’s 40 CCAs, which offer college-level courses and industry training through associate degree and industry certification programs. College and career academies have graduation rates as high as 99 percent. Since Cagle founded the CCA network in 2007, Georgia’s high school graduation rate has increased by more than 22 percentage points, rising from 58 percent to more than 80 percent. He said he wants to extend these offerings to more students.

With three new academies set to open later this month, Cagle said the openings represent another step forward toward providing every high school student access to a CCA by 2020.

• Georgia CATT: In 2016, Cagle launched the nation’s first high school German apprenticeship program. This highly competitive program affords students the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, an accredited industry certification, and an associate’s degree — all while earning $25,000 in compensation as an apprentice.

Cagle said he is committed to growing the program statewide and expanding to more industry sectors such as logistics and aeronautics.

• Charter Schools: In preparation for the upcoming legislative session, Cagle said he continues his work with the Georgia Charter Schools Association to improve the quality of Georgia’s charter schools and strengthen their partnerships with local school systems. He said he remains committed to fully funding start-up charter schools, increasing grant funding to lower facilities costs for new public charter schools, and focusing the resources of the State Charter Schools Commission to promote, recruit and support quality charter schools.

• Student Scholarship Organizations: With nearly 13,000 students taking advantage of the nation’s fourth-largest student scholarship program, many Georgia families have gained access to quality educations that previously would have been out of reach. Because of the growing demand for these competitive scholarships, Cagle said he would work to pass HB 217 to substantially increase the program’s funding, extending this same opportunity to thousands of additional students.

“Acting on these specific measures will better enable local education leaders and parents to make the right choices for our students. Education is the great equalizer that gives every person the ability to earn success with hard work and perseverance,” Cagle said. “By rewarding individual student progress and achievement over compliance, we will make Georgia a national leader in lifting third-grade reading levels, declaring war on high school dropout rates and growing a work force that is second to none.”