Georgia School Funding Association

LITIGATION

Letter to Governor Sonny Perdue Regarding Proposed Settlement

Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia
P.O. BOX 9013
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 31106

404/872-9651

October 9, 2006

Hon. Sonny Perdue
Governor of Georgia
201 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Dear Governor Perdue:

Thank you for your consideration of the Consortium’s proposal for improving the educational opportunities for all of Georgia’s students. We may be close to an agreement.

Your attorneys have explained the “common ground” regarding much of our proposal, and we have asked our attorneys to work with yours in translating our shared commitment to certain principles into the specific terms that could lead to a settlement of our lawsuit.

At the same time, we believe it is essential for the Consortium to clarify our goals and to transmit our proposal to you publicly so that others can express their views on whether it is reasonable and would benefit our children.

We do not contend that greater spending by itself will increase student achievement. Our schools must have dedicated teachers, effective leaders, active parents, and a supportive community. It is clear, however, that Georgia cannot meet the enormous challenges facing us in education without a much larger investment by the State.

As explained in the proposal we gave to your attorneys on September 1, a copy of which is enclosed for reference, we have advocated the following four principles:

  1. Full funding by the State of a foundation program for every child in Georgia, regardless of the local circumstances. In some cases, local taxes might decrease.
  2. Meaningful interventions to close the achievement gap among various groups and to enable many more of our students to graduate from high school.
  3. Accountability for educational results coupled with local discretion.
  4. Appropriate adjustments to address the wide differences in local resources.

We respect your genuine concern for the education of Georgia’s children and pledge to work with you in developing a funding method that fulfills these principles. As shown in the second enclosure, there are only six points where clarification is needed, and we hope we can reach an agreement on this basis. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jeffery C. Welch, President

Enclosures