Pew Center: Public Pensions, Retiree Health Care Short by $1.26 Trillion
Mike Klein
Last year’s Trillion Dollar Gap has become this year’s Widening Gap.
Fourteen months ago the Pew Center on the States released its landmark study The Trillion Dollar Gap which reported on 2008 fiscal year unfunded liabilities in state public pension and employee retirement health care obligations. Now the Pew Center’s new The Widening Gap published this week said those same liabilities grew 26% in just one year to $1.26 trillion.
Pension and retiree health care obligations are state government equivalents of the federal five-headed monster: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the annual operating budget deficit, and trillions of dollars in principal and interest borrowed to run the federal government.
Some state government revenue streams are beginning to recover from a three-year recession that crippled public sector budgets. Painful decisions were made all across the nation to reduce state government retiree pension and health care account contributions. Investment results also plummeted which helped to create 2008 and 2009 fiscal tornados inside retiree accounts.
Here are some quick facts from The Widening Gap: The Great Recession’s Impact on State Pension and Retiree Health Care Costs:
** Nationally, state public sector pension shortfalls accounted for $660 billion and retiree health care cost shortfalls accounted for $635 billion in fiscal 2009. Pew noted, “Far too many states are not responsibly managing the bill for their employees’ retirement.”
** Nationally, Pew said states had $31 billion or about 5% of the total needed for retiree health care obligations. Georgia’s $20.2 billion total retiree health care liability was just 4% funded. The state made 75% of its $500 million required annual contribution, a $125 million shortfall.
** Nationally, state public sector pension plans were 78% funded at the end of fiscal 2009, down from 84% one year earlier. Georgia’s $79.9 billion pension obligation was 87% funded and the state made its entire $1.3 billion required annual contribution. Three-fifths of state plans were underfunded and just two – New York and Wisconsin – were fully funded as fiscal 2009 ended.
Pew noted the federal Government Accountability Office and independent experts recommend states maintain at least 80% funding levels to satisfy retirement account obligations. Twenty-two states fell short in fiscal 2008 and nine more joined the list in 2009.
Investment earnings – and expectations – play a significant role in the overall health of public sector retirement accounts. Pew noted most states assume an 8% average investment return. For years, that model worked well. Pew said 1984-to-2009 investment returns averaged 9.3%.
But a closer look at the most recent decade is more painful, just a 3.9% annual return between 2000 and 2009. Investment losses in recessionary times have been dramatic. Pew said the Georgia Teachers Retirement System fund lost 13.1% in fiscal 2008, which was not nearly as dramatic as the 28.7% decline in the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System. Georgia investments rebounded in Fiscal 2010 to earn 11.09%, according to the state retirement system.
“The stakes of this debate are high,” the Pew Center said, “because when a state lowers its investment return assumptions, the projected value of its liabilities and the annual contributions required to meet them increase dramatically. This, in turn, expands the gap between liabilities and assets.”
Click here to read The Widening Gap. Click here to read The Trillion Dollar Gap.
Ten Best Funded Public Sector State Pension Plans
101% New York
100% Wisconsin
99% Washington
97% North Carolina
94% Delaware
92% South Dakota
90% Tennessee
89% Wyoming
88% Nebraska
87% Georgia
Ten Best Funded Retiree Health Care Plans
69% Arizona
68% Oregon
32% Alaska
31% Ohio
28% North Dakota
28% Wisconsin
26% Virginia
15% Kentucky
13% Colorado
13% Utah
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
Local Jail Populations Decline Nationally; Fulton Jail Overcrowded Again
Mike Klein
County and city jail populations have declined nationally for two consecutive years, according to just published data from the U.S. Justice Department, but newer state data shows the Atlanta Fulton County jail is once again bursting at the seams and operating beyond its capacity.
The federal government’s annual survey reported 2009 to 2010 local jail population changes were just the second decline since the report began in 1982. The survey tracks almost three-quarter million men and women who are incarcerated somewhere other than state prisons or federal penitentiaries. Five Georgia county jail systems were named in the report.
The DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics reported local jail inmates were 748,728 on June 30, 2010, down 2.4% and 18,706 inmates from one year earlier. Six jails accounted for half the decline: Los Angeles, Orange and Fresno county jails, all in California; along with Maricopa County, (Phoenix) Arizona; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and, Harris County (Houston), Texas.
Fulton County, which includes Atlanta city boundaries, illustrates the complex challenge when tracking inmate populations. The federal report showed a significant decline at Fulton’s jail which is under a federal court order to alleviate overcrowding by transferring inmates to other jails. The DOJ said Fulton had 2,271 inmates last June 30 compared to 3,026 one year earlier.
A different Fulton picture emerges from Georgia Bureau of Investigation data contained in the state’s monthly county jail report published April 7. Fulton had 2,948 inmates on that date less than three weeks ago, well above its 2,688 capacity. Click here to read the state report. Most (1,986) were jailed awaiting trial but Fulton’s jail also held some 134 state inmates.
Nationally, local jail populations are still dramatically up during the past ten years. Comparable inmate totals are 621,149 in June, 2000 and 748,728 ten years later. The population peaked at 785,586 in June 2008. The incarceration rate in June 2010 was 242 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents, the lowest rate since 2003. Click here to read the complete federal report.
The study also reported average daily inmate populations. Los Angeles County had the nation’s largest average daily population with 18,036 inmates followed by New York City jails (13,049), Harris County (Houston), Texas (10,242), and Cook County (Chicago), Illinois (9,383).
Male inmates dominate jail populations (656,350 to 92,638 women) and whites were the largest demographic (331,600) with black/African Americans second (283,200) and Hispanics/Latinos third (118,100). Department of Justice officials said inmate racial demographics have remained fairly stable for ten years.
The federal report said the number of persons incarcerated in local jails on June 30, 2010, was only a small percentage of total calendar year admissions. Local jails admitted an estimated 12.9 million persons during the year that ended June 30, 2010.
In addition to Fulton four other metropolitan Atlanta county jail systems were among the nation’s 50 largest local jail populations last year. Gwinnett held 3,233 persons on June 30 with a 3,198 daily average for twelve months. Cobb held 2,373, nearly identical to its 2,369 daily average.
DeKalb County held 3,516 inmates last June 30, a 212-inmate increase over 2009. DeKalb’s average daily inmate population has grown three consecutive years from 2,906 three years ago to 3,404 in 2009 and 3,560 last year. Clayton County jail held 1,966 persons last June 30, down 25 from one year earlier, but Clayton’s 2,080 average daily population was up 10% in one year.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation data released on April 7 said local jails statewide held 41,833 prisoners. A comparison of available ten-year data shows local jail populations have grew from 27,025 in January 2001 to 40,648 in January of this year. The change is a 50% increase.
Georgia took a different corrections step forward on this past Friday afternoon when Governor Nathan Deal signed legislation to create the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform. The 13-member council will focus on alternative strategies to adult confinement in state facilities. The final report is due on November 1 for General Assembly consideration in January.
Georgia has 60,000 adults incarcerated in state facilities and 160,000 on probation or parole. One-in-13 adult Georgians is under adult corrections system jurisdiction, the worst rate in the nation. Georgia has the nation’s ninth largest total population but the fourth largest state inmate count. Next year Georgia will spend $1 billion of its $18.3 billion budget on adult corrections.
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
Georgia Higher Ed Still a Good Deal; Many HOPE Students Underachieve
Mike Klein
Colleges like ice cream come in many flavors and specialties. Some cost more than others and way out there you have gelato which costs more per gallon than gasoline.
Recent headlines make it seem like Georgia higher education carries gelato pricing. HOPE scholarship cuts dominated headlines before this week when higher university system tuition and fees were announced for next year. A new Associated Press study released this week pointed to financial problems as the biggest reason students consider dropping out of college.
Despite all that gloom, national data comparisons conclusively show that Georgia students are still getting a lot of value for their education dollars, even if they have to dig somewhat deeper into their wallets. But evidence also demonstrates many HOPE scholars squander their opportunity to receive quality educations with substantial scholarship assistance.
First, let’s discuss how Georgia‘s new higher education tuition and fees compare nationally.
College Board data for this year reports public four-year schools average $7,605 and two-year schools average $2,713 in tuition and fees. The Board says nearly half (47%) of all full-time students nationally pay $9,000 or less per year for tuition and fees. All national and Georgia data is for in-state resident students; out of state students pay significantly higher tuition.
Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Georgia Health Sciences University (formerly the Medical College of Georgia) will charge the state’s most expensive tuition and fees next year — $8,182 per year at Georgia, Georgia State and GHSU. Georgia Tech will be $200 higher. Next year tuition and fee levels still compare favorably with College Board national data.
All other Georgia state-supported universities and two-year colleges will have lower total tuition and fees. Again, if you look at the College Board’s $7,605 tuition and fees average cost per year at four-year schools, comparable numbers will become $6,234 at Kennesaw State and five other universities and $4,901 at Albany State and six other universities. These are good deals.
Full-time annual student tuition and fees will total $3,276 at seven-of-eight four-year colleges with slightly higher charges at Georgia Gwinnett College. Annual tuition at all eight two-year colleges will be $2,970. Yes, higher than current charges but favorable to national averages.
The Associated Press higher education costs poll published Wednesday found 60% of students nationwide rely on loans, two-thirds work part-time, 60% have parental support and 60% have scholarships. The AP reported that average student loan debt exceeds $23,000. The poll was conducted by Stanford University with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Georgia HOPE scholarship changes were made for financial reasons. HOPE has been drawing down its reserves and the entire balance could have been wiped out next year. That was the reason to reduce the scholarship which will fund 87.4% of tuition for most students next fall.
There has been no small measure of angst about changes to HOPE, tuition and fees. But evidence also clearly demonstrates thousands of Georgia students squander their scholarship opportunity. They do not maintain their grades so they lose their aid. Nearly two-thirds who start with HOPE lose it. More than half lose it after one year.
The University System of Georgia maintains records on every HOPE student. The newest data covers students who were fall 2003 freshmen and it tracks them through spring 2009.
** 24,415 students began fall 2003 classes as HOPE freshmen.
** 13,136 students (53.8%) lost HOPE after 30 academic hours (one year).
** 2,338 more students (9.5%) lost HOPE after 60 academic hours (two years).
** 1,119 more students (4.5%) lost HOPE after 90 academic hours (three years).
** 7,253 graduates (29.7%) who began with HOPE scholarships kept the financial assistance and graduated within six years after their initial university system enrollment in fall 2003.
** Another 1,482 graduates (6% of the 2003 freshman class) lost HOPE but regained the scholarship or they were initially ineligible but earned HOPE by their grade point averages.
** Total: 24,415 HOPE eligible freshmen, just 8,735 HOPE graduates (35.7%) within six years.
Even at somewhat higher prices, Georgia higher education is a solid investment. But thousands of students who could receive HOPE educations are kicking it down the road. That should be the focus of the next conversation.
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
What China Might Teach America About How To Build Highways
Mike Klein
Georgians who drove to work this morning likely did so while giving little thought to what kinds of new roads should be constructed, whether tunnels are reasonable alternatives to above ground traditional highways, how to implement electronic payment on high speed tollways and whether public-private partnerships like those building roads in China could also build roads in America.
Where most folks only see concrete, Sam Staley sees opportunities. “As one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, you have a lot of challenges,” Staley told Georgia Public Policy Foundation members Tuesday at the Georgian Club in Atlanta.
Staley has a twenty-year reputation as one of the nation’s leading land use and transportation policy experts. Much of his time the past four years was invested in chronicling and advising China on the massive expansion of its new national highway system. He is currently providing counsel to Illinois on a proposed almost total redesign of Chicago-area transportation.
The following excerpts focus on four primary content areas that Staley emphasized Monday. Click here to view his entire presentation on the Foundation’s YouTube site. Click here to follow his power point presentation. Click here for a biography on Staley who is director of urban growth and land use policy at the Los-Angeles based Reason Foundation.
Establishing National Priorities
“Transportation issues are second and third order priorities in Washington, DC. They are never first order priorities. Transportation will never be able to compete for the attention of congressmen when they have to deal with Medicare, Medicaid, defense, flare-ups in the Middle East, you name it. There are going to be a dozen or more issues that are going to rise to more important levels than transportation.
“To be honest, the reason we have been able to do as well as we have up until now is because most of our presidents have ignored transportation, let the transportation secretaries basically handle it, and we’ve had a dedicated revenue stream in terms of the gas tax to fund it.
“The gas tax is going to be gone within the next 20 or 30 years. Some people think it’s the green technology investments that will drive it. It’s really not. It’s India, China, Brazil and Africa. As their growth begins to ratchet up the demand for oil …that is going to put the pressure on gas prices in the U.S. If you think $4 a gallon is bad, it’s going to get worse. But here’s the key: We’re not going to give up our cars. What we’re going to do is figure out a different way to power those cars. We’re simply going to change the fuel.”
Atlanta Managed Lanes Initiative
“I love at this point, first blush, your managed lanes networks. You’re thinking about this as a network, not as individual facilities. What we learned from Chicago is that most of the economic benefits … come from having a network that works well and functions efficiently. So the fact you’re thinking about building this all out is really pretty darn critical.
“It’s not about building one segment of ten miles. While that certainly benefits the people that use it directly, where you get the regional benefits is your ability to link all these disparate destinations together in a system very similar to what we are proposing for Chicago which will allow you fast access to most major points within the region.”
Funding Next Generation Transportation
“We believe there’s no choice about where we’re going in terms of finance. It has to go toward more direct user-paid, beneficiary-paid type of finance because that is the only one that is going to be sustainable. The other is to make sure, particularly in this climate, that those facilities are delivered efficiently and cost-effectively which means public-private partnerships have to be a critical part of the solution. They are not a panacea, but they are a critical element.
“Irrespective of whether you think high speed rail is effective as a project, it clearly diverted attention from bread and butter issues and an even bigger discussion about who really should be responsible. My view is that when we talk about roads on a day-to-day basis, really those discussions need to be moved to the state level because they are in the best position to determine what the priorities are.”
China Public-Private Partnerships
“Why did communist China start using public-private partnerships? … Remember, we’re talking about the early-to-mid 1980s. Well, it was very simple. They didn’t have any money. The economy did not generate any revenue. The question is, how do you build highways, how do you build transit systems, how are you going to build this infrastructure if you don’t have money?
“Well, you go across the border to Hong Kong. You go to all those private capitalists and you say, if you have money to invest we have a place for you to invest it. Twenty years later they’ve got the equivalent of the U.S. interstate highway system linking up all the major cities of China.
“One of the interesting things I learned about China was how much of this construction was not driven by the national government, in fact, almost none of it. All these public-private partnerships were controlled at the state and municipal level. The national government did the planning. They said okay, the ends have to connect, but they backed out on the financing part.”
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
Pew Center Targets Recidivism; Georgia Launches Corrections Reform
Mike Klein
Georgia lawmakers introduced 945 bills this year. One that passed will fast track review of the state’s $1 billion per year corrections system costs with a concentration on how to reduce existing state prison populations and slow their growth without impacting public safety.
So many Georgia adults are under state corrections system jurisdiction that their number would fill the Georgia Dome three times. Or if you are a University of Georgia Bulldogs fan …that would be two sold out Sanford Stadiums and 40,000 more folks tailgating.
The state’s new criminal justice reform commission will no doubt find an important resource in a study released by the Pew Center on the States. “State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons,” is the first ever state-by-state survey of adult recidivism. The study is a clarion call for state legislatures to recognize corrections costs are runaway budget busters.
“State of Recidivism” analysts requested three-year recidivism (return to prison) data from every state for adults released in 1999 and 2004. Thirty-three states including Georgia provided information for both years; 41 submitted only 2004 year data. Nine states submitted nothing.
“Our main goal and purpose was not to rank states and say who was doing a good or bad job but to elevate the discussion and to prompt state policy makers to begin asking questions,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center on the States public safety performance project. Pew found more than four in 10 adults return to prison within three years after their initial release.
Pew noted that Georgia’s three-year recidivism rates were below national averages. The state also ranked below national averages for adults returned to prison because they committed a new crime. All data is not equal, however, as Pew noted some states return adults to prison for certain kinds of violations whereas other states place them in alternative programs.
Last year’s Pew report “Prison Count 2010” examined how alternative strategies in some states contributed to the first reduction in state prisoner head count in 40 years. “State of Recidivism” was begun two years ago and it is the next building block in Pew public safety research.
Adam Gelb
Gelb is a former U.S. Senate judiciary staffer. He was back on Capitol Hill in February. Gelb told a Congressional sub-committee that adult corrections system spending by states is their second fastest growing budget category behind Medicaid. He said state corrections dollars account for one in every 14 general fund dollars, twice what their share was in the mid-1980s.
“Nearly 90 percent of the spending goes to prisons, even though two-thirds of the offender population is on probation or parole in the community,” Gelb told the Congressional subcommittee. “Five states now spend more on corrections than higher education. When you add in the federal and local incarceration costs, the tab surpasses $70 billion.”
Gelb described the Pew recidivism study as “a gargantuan task. We hoped that we would have seen a tangible drop in the overall rates but I think it turned out to be fairly flat. It had been so long since any national recidivism data was available that we didn’t know what to expect.”
Here’s what Pew found: Nationally, 45% of state inmates released in 1999 and 43% released in 1999 were back behind bars within three years. Georgia’s performance was better with 38% in 1999 and 34.8% in 2004. Pew said California skewed national statistics. California has more prisoners than any other state; it reported 61.1% and 57.8% recidivism rates.
Georgia has the nation’s ninth largest total population with 9.68 million but the fourth largest inmate population. One-in-13 adult Georgians is under corrections system jurisdiction, the worst rate in the nation. The state has 60,000 adults incarcerated in state facilities and 160,000 on probation or parole. Those totals do not include adults in local and county custody.
Escalation in the state prison population and costs to maintain the system were recognized when Governor Nathan Deal, Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein and bipartisan state leaders announced criminal justice reform this spring. A new commission created by the General Assembly must report its findings before November 1.
The commission will examine options for non-violent offenders that include more probation, day reporting centers, new special courts for drug, DUI and mental health cases and other kinds of community-based programs that could be used when an individual poses no public safety risk.
This year Governor Deal sent a letter to Pew asking for research assistance. Gelb said Pew has requests from several states, but he added, “All the stars seem to be aligning in Georgia.”
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
Georgia Tax Reform Collapses as GOP Leadership Withdraws the Bill
Mike Klein
The perceived crown jewel of this year’s General Assembly session collapsed late Monday afternoon when Republican leaders concluded they did not have enough confidence in their financial numbers so they decided they would not bring the bill to a House floor vote.
Speaking late Monday at the state capitol, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston told reporters, “We’re going to call a time out. Tax reform is not dead. Tax reform is delayed.” Ralston has described tax reform as being one of his two biggest priorities this session.
A source who is familiar with Monday’s developments said Republicans might ask Governor Nathan Deal to include tax reform on the agenda when lawmakers return to Atlanta this summer to handle voting district reapportionment. Another option would be to delay all further tax reform consideration until the 2012 General Assembly that starts in January.
House Democratic Minority Leader Stacey Abrams agreed with Ralston’s decision to delay tax reform. Abrams has consistently questioned the accuracy of numbers being used by the majority party and she has stated tax reform could raise taxes on middle-class Georgians.
A different outcome seemed still possible Monday morning when the special joint committee on revenue structure passed tax reform legislation on a voice vote. The bill passed after an eight-minute hearing, majority Republicans voting yes and the panel’s few Democrats voting no.
Observers expected that the bill would move quickly to the House floor so that it could pass and reach the Senate before the day ended. Several hours passed without any House action. Then word came that the bill would not move forward. The 2011 General Assembly ends Thursday.
Tax reform began as a bold initiative one year ago when the Georgia General Assembly created a special council of private sector business leaders and university economists. Their 50-plus page report was delivered to legislators in January. It came loaded with ideas but many were almost immediately considered to be politically impossible.
The special council’s work generated few fans. It proposed reducing personal and corporate income taxes from 6% to 4%. But it also proposed reinstating the state sales tax on groceries, a new state sales tax on many personal services, and higher taxes on motor fuel and cigarettes.
Two months of difficult discussion and number crunching resulted in a bill that would reduce the state’s 6% maximum personal income tax rate to 4.6% in January 2012 and then 4.55% starting in January 2013. The bill as it existed Monday would have contained higher itemized deduction limits than originally considered largely in an effort by Republicans to blunt Democratic criticism.
The version approved in committee Monday also included new state sales taxes on automobile repair services and motor vehicles sold between private parties, plus a 7% communications services tax that would replace multiple current taxes. Two new exemptions were created; state sales tax would no longer be charged on energy used in manufacturing and agriculture.
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
Tax Reform Bill Passes Committee; House Debate and Vote Later Today
Mike Klein
Georgia tax reform moved forward Monday morning when the General Assembly’s special joint committee on revenue approved a bill to reduce the maximum personal income tax rate. The 6% maximum rate would be reduced to 4.6% next year and 4.55% starting in January 2013.
The bill passed on a voice vote after an eight-minute hearing. Republican committee co-chair Rep. Mickey Channell said proposed tax rate changes would result in a $141 million net tax cut. Republican committee members asked no questions. Democratic committee members asked two questions, one each about agricultural exemptions and the revenue estimate.
The current tax reform bill that began as a bold initiative one year ago faces a live-or-die House vote later today. Passage would move the bill to the Senate for a Thursday vote on the 40th and final day of the General Assembly. Tax reform this year would die if it does not pass the House but the more likely outcome is Governor Nathan Deal will have a bill to sign later this week.
Republicans and Democrats have spent almost two weeks in disagreement over the impact of proposed tax reform on middle income earners who are the largest number of all Georgians. The final bill contains higher itemized deduction limits than earlier versions.
The version approved Monday morning also reinstated tax deductions for organ donations and high deductible insurance costs. Those deductions were removed in an earlier version.
Other surviving features include a new state sales tax on automobile repair labor, a 7% uniform communications service tax that would replace multiple current taxes and removal of state sales taxes charged on the purchase of energy used in manufacturing and in agriculture.
General Assembly action is pending on the $18.2 billion fiscal 2012 budget. Dozens of other bills remain alive. Two would create commissions similar to last year’s tax reform council idea. Governor Deal has proposed a criminal justice reform council. Another commission would ask private industry and public sector members to review how education should be funded.
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
Gwinnett’s New Online Campus High School Prepares for August Launch
Mike Klein
Increasingly, learning happens anytime and anywhere. Georgia’s largest school system will launch an entirely online high school in August. And the General Assembly might vote next week to create a new statewide clearinghouse for online content supplied by school districts.
Gwinnett County has 42,000 high school students. This fall Gwinnett will launch an Online Campus high school for 125 students with expansion already planned into middle and lower grades. This new school expands an ambitious online program that began eleven years ago.
“Our interest level for online courses has grown over 100% every year,” said Gwinnett associate superintendent Steven Flynt. “If we look at how the online program has grown, we’ve served over 30,000 students. This past year we had over 5,000 students enrolled in at least one class.”
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) predicts 50% of all high school content will be taught online within eight years. “Fast Facts About Online Learning” says online courses are available in 48 states and 27 have statewide full-time online schools.
“Virtual schools are where we are going. I think we all know that,” Georgia state Senator John Albers said during a recent state capitol education committee meeting. “It’s not leading edge anymore. It’s today’s technology. We’ve got to find a way to get kids through school. If they need to work part of the day, they can go to school online at whatever time of day it makes sense.”
Most Georgia public education students … there are 1.65 million … will always remain in traditional classrooms where some will have access to completely online or blended instruction. But faced with high quality competition from online education companies, Georgia districts are starting to put more aggressive emphasis on cyber learning strategies.
Forsyth County opened iAchieve Virtual Academy this year with about 130 online students in grades 6-to-12. Students need high speed internet access and their own computer. Courses are approved by the district and the state. Academy graduates will earn a Forsyth diploma.
Gwinnett is widely respected for innovation. This year the district received the $1 million Broad Prize for urban education excellence from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
Christopher Ray is a 17-year veteran of Gwinnett schools, and for the past seven years Ray has been an elementary school principal. Ray was selected as Online Campus high school principal in January. Student applications for the new online high school were due the end of last week.
Ray said now “the real fun begins, looking at the students who will be with us next year, looking at the courses we need to offer. Are there courses that we need to develop before August? There are no problems. There are great opportunities. It’s like a big chess game. If you make one move, what are the implications and the repercussions?”
With 160,000 total students, Gwinnett is the state’s largest system. The number of entirely online students is expected to increase annually. Middle school courses are planned in fall 2012 followed by third, fourth and fifth grade upper elementary online curriculum one year later.
Associate superintendent Flynt described starting the online high school as “getting down into the weeds. You need to look at the concept and the big picture items but you can’t miss the details.” Serious planning began two years ago. Public announcement was held until January, Flynt said, because, “We wanted to make sure we had everything in order.”
Gwinnett will combine state-approved curriculum with courses from Desire2Learn, the Canadian company that is a major online player. Online students will take all state tests that are required for traditional high school students. They will earn a Gwinnett County diploma, no different from the diploma earned by brick-and-mortar students.
Ray said Gwinnett will combine existing school district instructors with adjunct faculty, and most will have previous experience teaching in Gwinnett schools. Instructors will be provided with cell phones so they can maintain pupil contact. Students must provide a computer, but Ray said students who cannot afford one will be assessed for help on an individual need basis.
Gwinnett’s expansion might include an opportunity for its online courses to be used statewide. Lilburn Rep. David Casas introduced legislation to create the Online Clearinghouse Act.
“This opens the door for school choice at a micro-level,” Casas said. “This is so new. The only state that’s doing it is Ohio and they just started so this is front-line stuff, really cutting edge.” Under House Bill 175 any school system could offer its courses to the Online Clearinghouse.
The Clearinghouse would operate inside the Department of Education which manages the Georgia Virtual School. GAVS offers curriculum but not diplomas. About 9,000 students per year use GAVS for advanced placement and other courses not offered in their own schools. Another 20,000 use GAVS for credit recovery, bringing its total impact to about 30,000 students per year.
The biggest difference between GAVS and the proposed Clearinghouse is where the courses originate: GAVS develops much of its curriculum; the Clearinghouse would use local school district content. HB 175 passed the House and a Senate vote is expected before the session ends next week.
(Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation)
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