Greetings from the Gold Dome!  While many lawmakers were haggling over House and Senate district lines in reapportionment meetings, there were other meetings ongoing.  One such meeting dealt with Georgia's Quality Basic Education funding. 

Earlier this year, lawmakers passed HB 192 which established the State Education Finance Study Commission to look at how Georgia funds educational instruction (e.g. the QBE formula), which has not been significantly updated since its inception in the mid 1980s.  Today, one of the Commission's subcommittees, chaired by Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), met to learn more about the State's digital efforts in schools.

Among those participating in today's education Subcommittee meeting included Rep. Tom Dickson (R-Cohutta), Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody), Scott Austenson, Buster Evans, and others.  Several other lawmakers joined the meeting from time-to-time including Sen. Jesse Stone (R-Waynesboro), Rep. Margaret Kaiser (D-Atlanta), Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta), and Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons).

Buster Evans, Forsyth County Schools Superintendent, gave a quick overview of the learning opportunities in his county's system using digital instruction.  That system has decreased its expenditure on textbooks and has increased its funding used on digital instruction.  One of the byproducts of using internet or digital instruction is that students' school days have expanded past the regular school hours because they access learning opportunities at later times – such as 10:00 p.m. as students can access their programs while at home.   In 2008, Forsyth expended $3 million on textbooks and $150,000 on digital instruction.  In 2010, the county spent $500,000 on textbooks and $300,000 on digital needs.   Digital instruction expenditures are part of the entire budget for "learning objects" in Forsyth.

A presentation was made regarding current expenditures on Georgia's digital instruction.  Overall, Quality Basic Education has $27 per student which is earned (prior to austerity cuts) or a total of $42-$45 million for instruction purposes.  From 2005-2009, Georgia's expenditures on textbooks were $114.7 million to $126.3 million.  One must consider infrastructure when looking at digital in classrooms.  In Georgia, a total of $12 million is expended on high speed internet in schools (or $3 million in State funding).  Each school gets three megabytes per second for bandwidth. Several scenarios were presented by Senate Budget Office staff in an effort to look at what it would cost if Georgia moved to a more digital-based instruction system (such as funding each student and teacher with a laptop; providing contract support personnel for digital instruction; licensing Microsoft software; covering costs of a document camera; etc.). The Subcommittee asked a number of questions regarding whether specific types of hardware/software should be placed in the recommendation or whether broad language giving systems flexibility to change with the times would be a better approach –most concurred that a broader recommendation would be a better way to address this type of instruction.

Further, there were some alternatives for the Subcommittee to consider for digital funding: imposing an ESPLOST (for capital expenditures and installation which would also require a State Constitution amendment); utilizing five-year bonds (again for capital expenditures only); using financial incentives with State matching funds or through an additional premium; creating positions to support local systems with technology plans (at the State level which would help with E-rate contracts); and using longitudinal data system curriculum resources.  In all, the numbers were staggering funding at the more robust types of technology and support – from as little as $28.5 million to $178 million.

Georgia presently has a "technology inventory."  Some highlights of that inventory were provided to the Subcommittee.  Each school district was surveyed for its equipment.  Overall, there are 1.7 million Georgia students.  There are also 117,000 teachers in Georgia with 109,000 classrooms.  97 percent of those classrooms have internet connectivity.  There are also 626,000 computers and 52,000 smart boards.  The State also has 87,000 projectors in place. It requires at least three megabytes for streaming video into a classroom and only 10 percent of Georgia's schools have enough bandwidth to stream video.  The State could possibly use Peachnet (which runs across all of its universities) as an alternative; however, using Peachnet would require a bid to be put forth so that vendors could respond with potential costs.  Overall, Georgia's technology picture is much better than other states and is moving in the "right direction."  The Subcommittee also talked briefly about GPTV and use of the Georgia Virtual School (which currently has 100 courses fully developed – these courses do not use actual textbooks).

In hearing about technology capabilities, it became clear to Subcommittee members that many of the larger counties have more access to digital instruction rather than smaller districts.  Sen. Millar expressed that perhaps the new funding formula should address an "incentive" in an effort to drive behavior to use technology more in the classrooms.

Lynes Stanfield, with Apple Computer, gave some background on technology utilized in other states:

• Idaho has taken a proactive approach even though it has been ranked ninth nationally in math.  In 2010, Idaho adopted the "Students Come First Act."  That legislation provides for $6,000 per classroom for high school students to be used for technology (this will cost roughly $13 million annually).
• Maine has implemented a one-to-one initiative, and it is focusing on advanced writing and providing personal learning technology for students in grades 7-12.  It took $34 million surplus funds in 1999-2000 and used that money to fund laptops for students.  In 2009, that effort was expanded. 
• Florida passed SB 2120 which requires technology to be in place in school year 2014-2015, using an entirely digital format.  In order to roll this out, it has relaxed certain standards.
• California has a mathematics I-Pad initiative focusing on Algebra I.
• New Jersey has a pilot program working on math, and New York has also opened its law permitting more technology to be used in lieu of textbooks.
• Virginia is working on an initiative with on-line assessments and has a social studies pilot program in place.
• Mooresville, North Carolina school district is moving towards an entirely digital system at a cost of $200 per student per year.

The next full meeting of the Commission is slated for August 25, 2011.