"Education

is Georgia's future," said Perdue. "I continue to support education

as the best and most certain way to improve our state."

An executive

order signed Jan. 31 moved the state's Student Data Research Center into

the Department of Education. Previously, the Center was a separate state

agency, not affiliated with the Department of Education. The Center is

primarily responsible for collecting and reporting information on student

achievement.

The first bill

returns Georgia's Office of Educational Accountability to the state's

Department of Education. "The rebuilding of DOE will allow Superintendent

Cox and her team to operate as an effective, service-oriented agency focused

solely on addressing Georgia's educational challenges," said Perdue.

"The changes also enable DOE to operate as a 'one-stop-shop' for

teachers, parents and students."

Cox will select

OEA's director. The recommended candidate will be subject to approval

provide oversight to OEA to ensure that the system holds our students

and schools to the highest standards.

The first bill

also restores due process rights to teachers. Under the plan, once a teacher

gets fourth contract, he or she has a right to petition the Professional

Standards Commission (PSC) for an appeal, and the PSC can determine whether

or not they will hear the appeal. This applies only to teachers who lost

due process rights in 2000. Teachers hired before July, 2000 retain the

due process rights currently in place.

The second

bill allows school systems to decide how to best allocate their resources.

Specifically, the legislation recommends that funds allocated for direct

instruction remain in direct instruction, while removing all site based

expenditure controls.

For example,

if a school district wants to move money from transportation to media

or from overhead to direct instruction, the school system will be allowed

to do so.

"No longer

will districts have to fill out forms that document how many boxes of

chalk are at each school," said Perdue.

The bill also

strengthens local school councils by giving them more information and

more flexibility. "With local control, parental involvement becomes

even more important," said Perdue. "Parents and school district

administrators can also look forward to expanded partnership opportunities.

"This

bill also speaks to the trust and accountability that we're working to

achieve between my educational team and Georgia's educators," he

continued. "The expectation of high standards is not being changed.

We are changing the way we operate, opting to remove many of the restrictions

that made it difficult for educators to best manage their school system's

resources."

Calling education

"one of my top priorities," Perdue said that he was "proud

of the work done by Superintendent Cox, State Board Chair Barrs, my House

education advisors and many others who want Georgia's children to have

a high quality educational experience.

"I encourage

our legislators, educators, parents and students to join us as we aim

for the stars of educational excellence with some needed reforms,"

he concluded