State Rep. David Casas defends education policy in this op-ed:

Critics denounce the governor and the Georgia legislature if lots of new money isn't poured into public schools each budget cycle, let alone if we make cuts during lean budget years. Yet between 2002 and 2007, per-pupil expenditures increased 21 percent in Georgia, more than the rate of inflation and despite a recession.

With Republicans in charge under the Gold Dome, we have brought a new philosophy to the table. You can't just throw money at a problem. Our state has poured billions of dollars into public schools in the past two decades, yet we remain 49th in SAT scores, near the bottom in other standardized tests and have an abysmal dropout rate.

He lists a few of the proposed changes in education policy and defends inserting competition into education, something has been sorely lacking in public schools in Georgia.

He closes the article with this:

Instead of charging us with attempting to disassemble public education, advocates of public school systems should congratulate the legislature for seeking a new approach to improving our state's public schools. As Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

If we want new results when it comes to educating our kids, new delivery models will make a world of difference for children and public schools.

Georgia has become the poster child for increasing spending in education, but not much of the return on the investment.

A new directions, as Casas writes, is needed and the legislature should continue to seek that course gradually until school vouchers for every child in the state of Georgia are available.