Lawmakers hear a lot on education listening tour | www.myajc.com

Usually, they’re the ones doing the talking.

State Rep. Brooks Coleman of Duluth and state Sen. Lindsey Tippins of Marietta, Republicans who chair the House and Senate education committees, hold great sway when the Legislature is in session. In recent weeks, however, both men have been traveling across the state on an education listening tour.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Coleman said they’ve gotten an earful.

Stick with the national set of academic standards called Common Core, superintendents, teachers and parents have told them. Maintain grants to poor, rural districts. Boost the Internet processing speed and capacity in smaller, rural districts. Most of all, though, ease the financial squeeze districts have endured over the past several years.

State revenues are picking up, but Coleman said he’s been careful not to promise that “austerity cuts” – reductions to education funding legislators have made during tight budgetary times – would completely disappear.

“There’s no way to fully restore it,” Coleman said. “But maybe we’re able to chip away at it, chip away at it. That’s what we need to look at.”

Any additional state funding would be welcomed by local school districts.

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