From the President

Leslie Mills

Ihave never been prouder to call myself a Georgia educator than during the 2013-2014 school year. As a First District RESA consultant, I’ve had the privilege to work in schools throughout southeast Georgia. I have seen educators meeting the demands of TKES/LKES, SLOs, budget cuts, higher healthcare insurance premiums and a shortened school year, while working harder than ever to achieve academic excellence.

The challenges for Georgia educators and their students have never been greater. In addition to budget cuts during the past decade, the number of Georgia children living in poverty has soared, making Georgia one of the poorest states in the nation. I call poverty the “invisible epidemic” because educators and communities throughout the state have selflessly worked to counter its devastating impact. While school personnel have not seen a pay increase in years, they continually attempt to meet the burgeoning essential needs of all Georgia students. As a result, if you walk into a Georgia classroom, you often cannot distinguish impoverished children from their classmates.

In schools throughout Georgia, teachers pack weekend bags to ensure that hungry students receive nourishing food when not in school. Summer is a particular worry. In one district, the nutrition director solicited grant money to provide children with lunches during the summer. Buses delivered lunches, and if students needed a safe environment to eat, they were invited to seek refuge on the bus. In another district that requires school uniforms, each school maintains a closet so that children from low-income families have access to uniforms. The first year that the policy was in place, a high school student from a low-income family told his principal, “Look, we are all rich now!”

Like poverty, homelessness is also on the rise. Reportedly, Georgia has more than 35,000 homeless students, but many people believe that the number is underreported. According to the McKinney Vento Act, homeless children and youth are defined as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.” This includes children and youth who are: • Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as “doubled up”); • Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camp grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations; • Living in emergency or transitional shelters; • Abandoned in hospitals; • Awaiting foster care placement; or • Living in a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

I am proud to be a Georgia educator, but I am disheartened by the decade of budget cuts. In this important election year, we must educate ourselves on each of the political candidates so that we can better educate all Georgia students. We must determine which candidates are willing to restore full funding for public education in Georgia. Learn about the candidates, and then get out and vote.

Educators must also continue to tell their stories through “Community Conversations.” If we do not tell our stories, it is likely that an inaccurate version will be told for us. n