By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

It looks like the education bill is a done deal, pretty much.

The governor has shown he can play hard ball, and it looks like he'll get most of what he wants in the bill. It was approved by the Senate Thursday with 40-odd changes from the House version, so compromises will have to be worked out. The debate is not completely over.

I have mixed emotions. If I were a legislator, I would have to vote against the bill, but I would do it with a tear in my eye. I'll explain why in a minute.

Meanwhile, I imagine the teachers' unions also have mixed emotions. Barnes has cleverly given a little here and taken a little there.

Take tenure, for instance. I know, I know. Georgia teachers do not have tenure, technically speaking. It would be almost impossible to get rid of a bad teacher under true tenure. Under the dictionary definition, tenure suggests that a job is permanent.

But Georgia teachers do have more or less automatic contract renewal, starting after they've taught for three years. Renewal time comes every three years after that, and if a teacher's contract is not renewed, there is a right of appeal and the school system must prove that the teacher has done something awful enough to be terminated.

The bill reduces the effects of this semi-tenure, replacing the right of appeal with the right to receive a written explanation of the reason for the dismissal. I'm sure this has the teachers' unions boiling.

Evaluations and testing also are required, and all manner of hoops to jump through for teachers who don't do well on either — more training, things like that. And any year a teacher doesn't do well doesn't count toward years of service used to determine salaries.

Sound good so far? It does to me, too.

I hope you understand me. Teachers, by and large, are not the problem. I have the utmost admiration for 90 percent of the teachers I know or have known. It's that other 10 percent that need a good kick in the pants... maybe even less than 10 percent.

Those who aren't capable should be fired. Those who are capable but under-performing should get a chance to shape up or be fired. Those who are doing their jobs should get more money.

Which brings me to pupil-teacher ratio. If anyone out there in Reader Land knows of any empirical scientific evidence that reducing class size improves the quality of education, please send me information on it. I've never heard of any, and I've looked for it.

The teachers' unions must love this provision. It means less work and easier work for each teacher. That's not a bad thing in itself, but it also means more members and therefore more power for the teachers' unions.

And there are better ways to spend the money. Like increasing salaries for the teachers we have, and rewarding excellence with bonuses.

Give me 30 students in a class with a good teacher over 20 students in a class with a bad teacher any day.

One other provision, though, is the one that would bring a tear to my eye if I were to have to vote against this bill — early intervention.

I've preached for almost 30 years that the time to save the “at-risk” students is in kindergarten through third grade. Let them into fourth grade without a good basis, and you've lost them, except in a few cases of miraculous turnarounds.

There are actually provisions in this bill to find those who are under-performing — not learning disabled, just struggling — and give them extra help. It would be even better if we could assure that the most experienced, highest-paid teachers worked in the lower levels as well.

But alas, Gov. Barnes has muddied this bill up with so much confusion, ambiguity and naked power-grabbing that I would still have to vote against it.

In a hundred different ways, the bill would increase the power of the state government over local school boards, parents and students.

Talk to the legislators. They don't fully grasp the funding formulae. I don't think many school officials fully understand them.

The bill needs another year to percolate. Barnes and his super committee need to take a hard look at it and give up some of their lust for control.

Will it happen? I doubt it. We can only hope for some common sense amendments in future sessions.

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