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SCHOOL LEADERSHIP NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
As the election for governor drew closer in
2002, the Republican challenger Sonny Perdue
was beating up on Democratic incumbent Roy
Barnes with anything he could find. One of
the blunt instruments with which Perdue clob
bered Barnes was the state's last-place ranking
on SAT college board scores: "Georgia's better
than that, that's unacceptable, those are not
the kind of results that we want, Roy Barnes,
and Georgia's going to do better because
they're going to elect new leadership that will
work with educators to make sure that we do
better." He later added: "I've told you before,
the SAT is the gold standard."
Perdue and state school Supt. Kathy Cox
are now in their seventh year in office
as the persons responsible for the
state's direction in education. How
is Georgia faring, as measured by
Perdue's "gold standard" of SAT
scores?
Our schools are not doing
very well. In 2003, during the
first year of the Perdue-Cox
reign, Georgia again ranked 50th
in average SAT score. In 2004, the
state skyrocketed all the way to 49th
(thank goodness for South Carolina).
But by 2005, Georgia had slipped back into a
tie with South Carolina for last place.
That ranking has since improved slightly,
with Georgia currently in 47th place. The
state's average SAT score still ranks oelow
the national average, however, and that score
has been declining in recent years. The aver
age SAT score for Georgia students (out of a
maximum of 2400) was 1477 in 2006, 1472
in 2007, 1466 in 2008 and 1460 in the latest
numbers released last week. That doesn't look
much like progress to me—it looks instead
like Perdue's vaunted "gold standard" is get
ting a little more tarnished every year.
During the same period, Perdue and the *
General Assembly were cutting a total of
nearly $2 billion in state formula funding to
local school systems. Do you think there's a
connection there?
Perdue cannot run for another term as gov
ernor, so there will be a new chief executive in
2011. Whether that governor does any better
than Perdue at addressing the education issue,
of course, remains to be seen. Cox, on the
other hand, can legally run for a third term as
school superintendent and, as far as I can tell,
plans to do just that.
Does she deserve another term as the
head of public education? It's hard to argue
in her favor, in part because she never raised
any public objections or protests to Perdue's
continued cutbacks in spending on schools.
She could not have stopped those spending
cutbacks, but she at least could have sent
the signal that she would stand up for
Georgia's public school students.
. It was also Cox who caused
embarrassment for the state by
attempting to remove from the
science curriculum all references
to evolution, the "Big Bang" and
other scientific theories that
upset the Christian fundamental
ist wing of her Republican Party.
One of Cox's top aides at the
Department of Education, while
being questioned in a school funding
lawsuit, testified that high school students
didn't really need to take any science or
social studies courses to get an "adequate"
education.
"I think you can do without science," the
Cox aide said.
Cox and her husband have also filed for
personal bankruptcy and were faced with hav
ing their home foreclosed. Should a person
with that kind of financial record be running a
state agency with a $5.5 billion budget?
Under the standards of the No Child Left
Behind law, schools that don't make adequate
yearly progress in upgrading student perfor
mance are placed on the "Needs Improvement"
list. Perdue and Cox would appear to be two
names that belong on that list.
Tom Crawford
No doubt ASoirr it—MISTAKES of
SOME SORT WERE MADE.'
BUT X’M SU3E IT WILL
NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN/
SO* ANYTHING GOOD
ON TV TONIGHT?
IT TOOK SOME TIME...BUT ULTIMATELY,
THE CITIZENS Of THE VERT LARGE
NATION DID COME TO TERMS WITH.
WHAT THEY HAD 8ECOME...
YOU DON’T NAVE TO LOOK IN A
FULL-LENGTH MIRROR OR ANY
thing;
JUST A BRIEF SIDEWAYS SQUINT
AT A REP LECTINS POOL!
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Of THE
VERY LARGE NATION BEGAN TO
SUGGEST THAT CITIZENS SHOULD
AT LEAST TAKE A QUICK LOOK
AT THEMSELVE5.
--AND APPARENTLY MORE THAN
A HUNDRED DETAINEES DIED IN
CUSTODY...MANY UNDER EXTREMELY
QUESTIONABLE CIRCUMSTANCES...
Do you MIND7 I'M TRY-
ING TO WATCH JON AND
KATE'S DIVORCE LAWYERS
ON "ENTERTAINMENT
TONIGHT”!
AS TIME WENT BY, THE EVIDENCE
Of THEIR MONSTROSITY BECOME
INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO IGNORE.
THIS MtlllM W*RL»
ONCE UPON A TIME, THE CITIZENS
OF A VERY LARGE NATION BEGAN
lb TURN INTO MONSTERS.
IT HAPPENED SLOWLY, OVER THE
COURSE OF EIGHT YEARS OR SO...
AND AT FIRST, THEY DIDN'T EVEN
REALIZE IT HAD HAPPENED AT
ALL...
ABU GHRAI8 WAS THE WORK of
A FEW BAD APPLES!
WATERBOARDING ISN'T TORTURE.'
IT'S MORE LIKE A HARMLESS
FRATERNtn PRANK!
ANYWAY, WE'RE AT
WAR.' THESE THINGS
HAPPEN!
AS IS SHACKLING PRIS
ONERS TO THE CEILING
fO> DAYS ON END UN
TIL THEIR FEET SWELL
UP TO TWICE THEIR
NORMAL SIZE.'
by TOM TOMORROW
BUT AT LEAST SOME OF THEM BE
GAN- TO NOTICE THAT THEY WERE
AVOIDING MIRRORS...LUO THAT
THEIR NEW PRESIDENT ENCOUR
AGED THIS AVOIDANCE...
NOW 15 NOT THE TIME TO LOOK
BACKWARDS—AT WHAT WE ARE!
NOW IS THE TIME TO LOOK FOR
WARDS—AT WHAT WE WISH WE
were;
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SEPTEMBER 2,2009 • FLAGPOLE.COM 7