Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Gov. Deal believes a strong education system leads to a strong economy and has made education investment a top priority.

Education Highlights

Since taking office, Gov. Deal has focused on five strategies to improve Georgia public education:

1. Increase the percentage of Georgia students that are able to read at the third grade level by completion of third grade

Within education, the birth-to-age-8 time frame is increasingly critical. When we fail to strategically invest resources in our youngest students, we are forced to spend more money trying to remediate them later, regularly taking great pains to simply drag struggling students across the finish line to a diploma. By prioritizing early childhood education, we ensure that our youngest students are positioned for academic excellence. It is critically important that students are "learning to read" in order to be able to "read to learn," and we can help them prepare both mentally and socially for reading proficiency by instilling language skills at a young age.

2. Increase the percentage of Georgians who hold a postsecondary credential

By 2020, more than 60 percent of job openings in Georgia will require some form of postsecondary education, whether a certificate, two year degree, four year degree, or beyond. To meet this demand, we must increase the number of students with access to some form of education beyond high school, and ensure that these students graduate with postsecondary degrees in a timely manner. The Complete College Georgia Initiative provides concrete steps to address both access and completion at all Georgia's institutions of higher learning.

3. Increase the percentage of teachers and principals that are considered effective

The most important thing we can do for Georgia's students is to make certain we place effective teachers and school leaders in our classrooms and schools with the tools they need to teach. We know that, more than anything else, effective teachers drive student achievement. We must use the state's new teacher and leader evaluation systems to bring a higher level of accountability, and appropriate support to meet the accountability expectations for educational practice in Georgia so that we increase student learning and academic growth.

4. Increase teacher competency and student proficiency and achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

STEM education plays a critical role in our state's competitiveness and future economic prosperity. We must encourage more of our best and brightest young people to pursue careers in these fields; we must improve the content knowledge and skills of our K-12 STEM teaching workforce; we must encourage partnerships between the public and private sectors as well between institutes of higher education and our K-12 schools to improve educational opportunities for students in these areas.

5. Empower citizens with public school options and local flexibility to improve student achievement

We must give traditional public school districts options for increased flexibility in exchange for increased accountability, in order to have the opportunity to innovate to improve student outcomes. Additionally, removing the strings from certain state funding streams allows budgeting to be done by those closest to the students. High-performing charter schools are another way to promote competition, innovation and creativity while encouraging strong parental involvement, and we must encourage the growth of these schools throughout the state, especially where children are trapped in failing schools.

Economic development begins with strong schools.

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