Governor Sonny Perdue To Host Statewide Education Conversation

January 27 Event will Engage Communities Across Georgia

ATLANTA, GA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that he will lead a statewide “Community Conversation” to define educational excellence in Georgia. The event will take place Thursday, January 27 at 7:00 p.m. Governor Perdue will be joined by State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox and the Governor’s Education Finance Task Force Chairman Dean Alford.

“This will be a great opportunity to receive input from teachers, parents, and community and business leaders from around our state on how we should define educational excellence in Georgia. “I want to know what they believe are the student achievement goals of our educational system,” said Governor Sonny Perdue.

The discussion will begin with a 30-minute program featuring Governor Perdue, Superintendent Cox and Chairman Alford which will be televised on Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB). Participants at the GPB studio and twenty-two public schools around the state will view the opening program and have a follow-up conversation about what measurements should be used to define educational excellence.

There are three ways to participate in the statewide Community Conversation:

1. In Person – Attend the event at the GPB studio or remotely at a designated local public school. The event will take place on January 27th from 6:45-9:00 p.m. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. for seating on a first come, first served basis.

2. Online – Visit the www.ie2.org website to watch the conversation live and email comments.

3. By Mail – Following the broadcast on Georgia Public Television, a mailing address will be provided for feedback.

Every Georgia citizen has the opportunity to participate in the discussion. All input will be provided to the Governor’s Education Finance Task Force as it works to determine the future of financing education in Georgia.

In August 2004, Governor Perdue appointed the Education Finance Task Force to review the current QBE (Quality Basic Education) funding formula and devise a new framework for financing schools in the future. The Governor appointed State School Board Member Dean Alford to lead the Task Force. The Task Force is developing a new financing mechanism to replace QBE known as IE2, which stands for Investing in Educational Excellence.

For more information on the Governor’s Education Finance Task Force, and a complete list of members and subcommittees, please visit www.IE2.org

Attached is a list of the Community Conversation sites.