School system employees slated to lose health insurance under Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposed budget should be able to receive coverage elsewhere, Georgia’s commissioner of community health said Tuesday.
Community health commissioner Clyde Reese said his statement was his personal opinion, not based on research studies, but that he believes “a lot of these people will be able to have insurance in other ways.” He made his statement to the joint House-Senate appropriations committees, which held their first day of budget hearings Tuesday.
In response to a question from Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, Reese said that the 11,500 non-certified school employees such as school bus drivers and lunch room workers who lose state-backed insurance likely will be able to find coverage through federal exchanges set up through the Affordable Care Act. Also, he said, some school systems had left the state system by negotiating deals with outside agencies.
“That’s not an official statement, that’s just me saying that that will be the case,” he said. The employees work less than 30 hours a week.
Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods earlier in the day, after his appearance before the committees, said that “all of these people are definitely needed” and that his department would work with local school systems to “manage their funds to have adequate personnel.”
Woods told the legislators that Deal’s proposal for increased education funding will allow school systems the flexibility to end teacher furlough days and boost salaries.
Woods was the sole elected constitutional officer who broke down his department’s spending under Deal’s plan. Deal will appear before the committees on Thursday. Appointed commissioners of the departments of community health, the Technical College System of Georgia, human resources, corrections and transportation also appeared.
Deal’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2016 adds $280 million to Quality Basic Education Funding. State Education Department Chief Financial Officer Scott Austensen said the budget plan fully funds Quality Basic Education (QBE) for growth in the number of students.
With the new funding for FY 2016, the state will be about $460 million below adequate QBE funding. In the depths of the recession, annual austerity cuts reached as much as $1 billion.
In response to a question, Austensen said 94 percent of the state’s school districts have eliminated or significantly reduced furloughs. He said that under the budget plan, all school districts should be “mathematically” able to eliminate furloughs, although all might not be able to do so because of other budget needs.
In another boon to school systems, each district’s bandwidth for digital learning will increase from 3MG to 100 MG for the next school year. Woods said this will allow schools to “expand the reach of digital learning.”
Hank Huckaby, chancellor of the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents, said that $2.5 million to create a Georgia Film Academy would enable the state’s colleges to better meet the needs of the state’s thriving film agency. The FY 2016 budget also calls for $4 million in bonds for this film academy.
He said the academy would allow the University System to consolidate different film programs and “leverage our resources, avoid duplication and meet needs for this industry.”
The academy would include certificate programs for specific skills such as camera operator or set designer. The Technical College System of Georgia will also participate.
Huckaby also called for raises for faculty and staff, emphasizing that professors have received only one pay raise in the last six years and that the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and other schools now pay professors far less than flagship institutions in other Southern states.
“We have fallen behind,” Huckaby said. ‘We are faced with our more talented faculty facing viable career options elsewhere.” He said the low professor compensation in Georgia “puts us at a disadvantage of attracting top faculty” and brings the loss of grant funding and entrepreneurial enterprises when professors leave.
He also called for support of the governor’s request for $60 million for repair and renovation of university facilities. He said the university system should be putting $90 million a year in renovation, and received $40 million this fiscal year.
New DOT Commissioner: Longtime high-level DOT employee Russell McMurry was appointed the new commissioner of the department Tuesday morning, then addressed the committees late in the afternoon. McMurry was introduced by DOT board Chairman Don Grantham.
McMurry replaces Keith Golden, whose surprise decision to retire was accepted last Thursday, Grantham said.
