When Georgia Gov. Roy

Barnes came into office, he succeeded a governor who had

a reputation as an "education" governor, but

one who had been unwilling to try and overhaul the

state's bloated education bureaucracy.

Gov. Barnes predecessor

talked about the need to reform the state's public

education system but he only managed to do a few things

- like legalizing gambling in order to fund some of

his proposals (which was certainly not an easy task in

this buckle-on-the-Bible-Belt state).

Gov. Barnes decided it was

time to do something about education, rather than just

talk about it.

So, taking a leaf from the

playbook of his mentor, Gov. Joe Frank Harris who pushed

the committee-authored Quality Basic Education Act

through the legislature, Gov. Barnes chaired an ad hoc

blue ribbon panel of business, educational, and civic

leaders who came up with the 41 changes recommended in

his major education reform bill introduced this session.

Now, all of those proposals

are not universally popular - and at least one

(calling for the abolition of the so-called teacher

tenure provision in current state law) has proven very

controversial.

But, Gov. Barnes

educational reform bill must be enacted as a whole if it

is to truly solve the problems which confront our state's

public schools.

However, a handful of

Republicans - mostly legislators, but also including

State Superintendent of Education Linda Schrenko -

have apparently decided that the education reform bill

introduced by Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes is nothing more

than just another political football.

These reactionaries -

and that is as good a word to use about people who can

not come up with any original ideas of their own but only

react negatively to the good ideas put forward by others

- view education as nothing more than just another

legislative issue to be tossed about and kicked around

but not be taken seriously except as a tool to be used in

their partisan political games.

Now, to be sure, all

Republicans are not so callous or uncaring: Some voted

against Gov. Barnes' bill because they actually had

questions which they felt were still unanswered; and, the

vast majority of them put politics aside and supported a

bill they agreed with, even if it was the centerpiece of

the Democratic governor's program for progress.

But, some narrow partisans

in the Minority Party caucus did everything they could to

hinder the legislation's progress as it wound its way

through the legislative process and ultimately voted

against it for no other reason than it had been

introduced by the Democratic governor.

For instance, most

conservative Republicans favored the elimination of the

so-called teacher tenure law as proposed by Gov. Barnes.

Yet, during the debate on

this legislation in the House, they argued forcefully in

support of an amendment to include that provision in the

bill.

There was also a whole slew

of other amendments pushed by these Republicans, all of

which went down in defeat, in an attempt to make

political hay out of the education reform debate.

Most of the Republicans who

promoted these amendments - like state Rep. Lynn

Smith, R-Newnan - ended up voting for final passage

of the massive education reform legislation.

However, some of these

reactionary Republicans were so obvious in their

political game playing that they voted for the amendments

which they claimed were aimed at "making a good

proposal better" and then they voted against final

passage.

State Reps. Steve Cash,

R-McDonough, Kathy Cox, R-Peachtree City, Bill Sanders,

R-Griffin, Lynn Westmoreland, R-Tyrone, and John Yates,

R-Griffin, fall into this latter category.

(For the record, all the

Democrats who represent the citizens of the Southern

Crescent, voted for the bill.)

It is a shame to realize

that these people who represent some of the counties of

the Southern Crescent had the opportunity to support

real, comprehensive reform of the state's education

system.

But, they were more

interested in playing political games than in supporting

the best interests of the schools and the students of the

districts they supposedly represent.

[Lee N. Howell is an

award-winning writer who has been observing and

commenting upon politics and society in the Southern

Crescent, the state, and nation for more than a quarter

of a century.]