Deal pitches $25 billion budget; K-12 policy focus

Gov. Nathan Deal aims to start his seventh year in office with a “positive” to-do list that focuses in part on the youngest Georgians and a budget proposal that almost marks a high point in state spending.

The governor quoted song lyrics as he made his State of the State address at the Capitol Wednesday.

“You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative,” said Deal, making those lyrics the theme of his annual marquee speech.

The positive, from a state point of view, is the growth in revenue since the recession. Just after the speech, Deal’s office published his spending proposal for the fiscal year that begins in July. It totals almost $25 billion.

Deal proposed some pay raises: an average 19-percent raise for Georgia Division of Family and Children Services caseworkers, 2 percent raises for state staff and teachers, plus the formal adoption of an already announced 20-percent pay raise for state law enforcement officers.

He also asked for $50 million for a state-run Georgia Cyber Innovation and Technology Center, as part of a midyear budget adjustment. The center, planned for Augusta, would teach students how to fight against hacking and other online threats and would house cyber security start-ups.

But the song talks about negatives too.

“Currently, the greatest negative in the education landscape of Georgia is the number of children trapped in failing schools,” Deal said. Last year, he asked voters to approve a plan to let the state take over Georgia’s lowest performing schools. Voters turned him down.

Deal said he is working with lawmakers on legislation that will address those schools. But he moved to deflect critics who say the state should spend more on schools. Roughly half of new growth in state budgets in the four years to fiscal year 2018 has gone to K-12 education, he said.

One another big budget item — health care — Deal counseled caution until it’s clear what the new administration in Washington, D.C. will do.

Congressional Republicans are working on dismantling the Affordable Care Act, but it’s unclear what might replace it or what a change will mean for the budgets of states, hospitals and Georgians themselves.

Deal’s fellow Republican, state Rep. Heath Clark of Warner Robins, said he thought the economic news was great, that the speech seemed positive and that he looks forward to seeing the details of legislation dealing with low-performing schools.

Across the aisle, some midstate Democrats offered mixed reviews.

State Rep. James Beverly, D-Macon, praised some parts, like pay increases for DFCS caseworkers.

But on health care and education, Beverly sees too much conservatism.

“I think we can’t continue to do what the governor has done in the past six years, which is nothing but sit on his hands and hope that something will happen. Those two issues I think we have to address,” Beverly said.

The Macon lawmaker said he would like to see the state open up Medicaid — publicly funded health insurance for low-income people — to more Georgians. Also he said he would like to see more spending on the lowest-ranking K-12 schools.

State Rep. Miriam Paris, D-Macon, said she would like a bridge to health care for more of her working-class constituents.

But the speech sounded productive to her.

“The presidential election I think left everybody pretty stunned and in some ways, fearful as to what to expect next,” Paris said. “But the governor’s message of accentuating the positive I think shows that he gets it. We’ve got to focus on what’s good and what’s right, work on those things and keep pushing the state of Georgia forward.”

Deal’s budget proposal adds up to state spending of roughly $2,447 per Georgian, according to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget. Measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, state spending per head is nearing its pre-recession 2002 peak of $2,541 per person.

This story was originally published January 11, 2017 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Deal pitches $25 billion budget; K-12 policy focus."