Despite plans from Georgia’s education community, Gov. Joe Frank Harris says he will continue to oppose a tax increase to ensure adequate future funding for the state’s highly praised Quality Basic Education Act.
At a joint hearing before the House and Senate education committees last month, groups representing the state’s 186 superintendents and school boards took issue with Mr. Harris’s assertion that projected economic growth would guarantee sufficient tax revenues for the QBE in coming years. Noting that some facets of the reform program, including a career ladder for teachers, have yet to be funded, they called on lawmakers to raise the sales tax from 3 percent to 4 percent to help finance the effort.
