Issue Position: Fighting for Quality Education

Issue Position

Rep. Dunahoo is married to a public school teacher, Elaine Dunahoo who has taught in the Hall County school system for 28 years, and is committed to maximizing local control of education. In addition, 5 family members of 8 are teachers in Georgia. An opponent of excessive standardized testing, Dunahoo believes in the basics of a quality education and training a skilled workforce to enhance Georgia's ability to attract new businesses and jobs. The legislature fully funded QBE for the first times in 2018,2019. Currently with a reduced projected tax budget and a Covid crisis on our hands; the state was forced to cut school funding but avoided furloughs of staff and teachers. Education still receives the largest slice of the budget pie with a $10.6 billion dollars (almost 50% of the entire budget) an increase of $707 million over the prior year even with present budget cuts. While education is a very worthy cause, legislators are striving to balance the budget and money not received simply cannot be spent in any area. State agencies are tightening their belts and have to be good stewards of funds provided by the state under the current conditions in which the state must operate. Rep. Dunahoo was honored to support the state budget that increased education funding and teacher salaries by more than $500M since his first year in the Legislature. A college education should be attainable by all and there are scholarships, work programs, and the Hope in place for this. However, the government provides 13 years of free education and college degrees cannot be "free"; nothing of real value is free. Someone must pay for it, whether it is education or freedom itself. Free tuition is already available in Georgia colleges and technical schools for students who EARN it. This should be a motivator for students to perform at their best in school where mediocrity has become a big problem for teachers and schools.

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