Mixed reaction to governor's speech from Middle Georgia lawmakers

ATLANTA -- When Republican Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced Wednesday that he will push to fund 3 percent pay raises for teachers, he scored points with midstate lawmakers. But he has skeptics among Democrats, both on education and on health care policy pronouncements.

In his roughly half-hour State of the State speech, Deal said he wants to put an additional $300 million in K-12 education for the 2017 fiscal year that will start in July. It's up to local school boards to decide how to spend it, but he said he wants it to go toward teacher raises.

State Rep. Patty James Bentley, D-Butler, said telling local boards to spend the money on teachers was the most important part of Deal's speech.

"Money has been put in the budget previously for education, K-12 education," Bentley said, "but oftentimes it's being used for other things, and teachers are not really seeing it in their paychecks."

Education funding is not where it needs to be, she said, but Deal's spending proposal is a step in the right direction.

Deal also praised Gwinnett County schools for changing how they pay teachers. That school system is working on a pay scale that will tie teacher pay in part to student performance and not just to the teacher's education and experience. Deal asked the Legislature to vet the idea of other districts making similar pay changes.

State Rep. James Beverly, D-Macon, is skeptical of the state moving in that direction. He, like other critics, said teacher performance is hard to measure.

"If you're a teacher working in a impoverished area, you have certain challenges" that a teacher in a wealthy district might not have, he said. "So how do you determine what merit is about?"

But the governor has his supporters.

"I think the things he touched on today are another step forward," said state Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella. "Education is (Deal's) passion. ... From the very beginning he's been focused on trying to improve education."

Dickey praised the idea of teacher raises and pointed out that the governor has consistently added to the education budget.

State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, gave Deal credit for working on some complex issues year after year, like education and criminal justice.

"That's part of his legacy ... that he has tackled tough issues," Peake said.

Bentley said she took issue with the governor on Medicaid expansion.

The health insurance program for low-income people is partially funded by the states and partially by the federal government. The federal government is urging states to expand the program to more people, but Georgia has made no move to do so. Deal has said, and repeated in his Wednesday speech, that it would be costly.

But Bentley said expanding Medicaid would help struggling rural hospitals stay open and make health care available to more people who can't afford it now.

Bentley, who owns a funeral home in Taylor County, said it would cut down on her business, but she's fine with that.

"What I'm tired of seeing is people, by the time they do make it to the doctor, not long after, they come to my firm, the mortuary," she said.

To contact writer Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Mixed reaction to governor's speech from Middle Georgia lawmakers ."