Making

schools and school systems accountable for their

students' progress will be at the forefront as

the Georgia General Assembly starts its year 2000

session next week, says Greg Hecht, who

represents north Fayette in the Senate.

"The

debate of the session," the Jonesboro

Democrat told The Citizen, "will be what

happens to schools that don't measure up. This

session will determine the direction of

accountability for years to come," he said.

Voucher

systems, the idea that parents should be allowed

to choose whether to use their education tax

money in public or private schools,

"certainly will be debated," Hecht

acknowledged, but wouldn't say where he stands on

the issue. "I'm going to listen to the

debate," he said.

Hecht's

star is rising in his second year since being

elected to the legislature in November 1998. He

has been named vice chairman of the Judiciary

Committee, and chairman of its Subcommittee on

Criminal Justice.

He

also is a member of the Defense, Science and

Technology Committee, which looks for ways to

make Georgia more competitive in attracting and

maintaining a strong base of technology

industries.

Hecht

got a jump start on the session, introducing his

Georgia Mentoring Act last month in advance of

the 2000 session.

The

bill, he said, will provide rewards for counties

that have mentoring programs in place for at-risk

youths.

"The

program is done in other states and has been

quite successful at helping with their retention

rates," he said.

Another

education-related measure he hopes to see passed,

Hecht said, is a program in which teachers in top

performing schools could go into those that don't

perform as well, to help them improve.

three-year review cycle to assess performance is

a good bet for passage this year, he added.

Legislators

will continue several tax relief measures that

were begun last year, Hecht predicted, including

more property tax reductions.

Plans

are to have granted about $700 million in

property tax relief over the eight-year period

starting last year, and gradually exempt up to

$50,000 of a home's value from taxation.

The

state also will continue a moratorium enacted

last year on unemployment insurance taxes charged

to businesses, he said.

On

crime, Hecht said he will support efforts to

expand availability of the state's DNA database,

so that it can be used for additional crimes.

Currently,

the database is used only for sex crimes.

"The

technology has grown so far, we can really use it

to catch people and to prevent other

crimes," he said, "and to gain

convictions in otherwise difficult property

crimes."

Efforts

to devote more of the state's mental health and

retardation dollars to client care and less to

administration also will get his attention this

year, said Hecht.

And

in general, "We need to be sure that we

spend state dollars in ways that draw down

federal dollars better," he said.

Lawmakers

will be looking for ways to expand prison space,

Hecht said. "We want to make sure we have

sufficient prison space in the future to

incarcerate violent criminals for their [full]

prison terms," he said.

"I

believe that violent offenders should serve their

full time."

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