With a week to go before a Republican Party runoff, Fayette state Sen. Rick Price, R-28th District, has issued a position paper on education.

“I believe in local control and I also believe that your children should be able to attend school safely and that your child should be protected from the unacceptable material that is available on the Internet,” Price said in a press release announcing three bills he promises to introduce next year if reelected.

First, Price said he would work at “repairing the defects” in Gov. Roy Barnes' education bill from the 2000 legislative session, to allow more local control.

“The debates about paraprofessionals, language labs, fine arts, teacher planning periods, physical education, band, chorus and other issues must e decided at the local level to meet local goals,” he said.

Second, price called for “two strikes and you're off” legislation to call for suspension of school bus riding privileges for any student who twice commits an act of unruly behavior on a school bus.

He also would introduce legislation authorizing local boards of education to implement “acceptable use policies” to protect children from obscenity, pornography and other harmful material on the Internet, Price said.

Price also pointed to recent changes in the state's education system in recent years, saying Republicans in the state Senate have had some victories.

Among those changes are higher teacher training standards, the phonics program Reading First, the School Safety Act allowing student codes of conduct, alternative schools and Charter Schools.

He promised to continue working for vouchers and the Early Hope scholarship program, and an end to social promotion, ideas that Republicans have pushed in recent years but that have not passed the legislature.