Whoever said you cannot get blood out of a turnip was not a voting member of the Georgia General Assembly taking up the Midyear Budget on Thursday. Blood was pouring from the turnip as the House of Representatives passed the revised spending plan for the fiscal year that runs through June 30.

The amount of the budget for the amended year stands at 17.4 million, down 1.15 million that the House passed last spring. Bad news was spread throughout the entire 117-page budget. Teachers and state employees will continue to see furloughs and increased costs for health insurance through the end of this fiscal year. Agencies will see 6 to 8 per cent cuts across the board.

The budget now crosses over to the Senate for them to put their touches and changes, too.

One bright note was a change that the House refused to go along with under the governor's proposal on how to fund $33 million in tuition grants for students who attend private colleges. The governor wanted to use Hope Scholarship reserves, but the House said no. Representative Greene stated "that we put back the 33 million to meet the needs of our constituents who attend private colleges by not depleting Hope scholarship reserves.

Further erosion of the tax base was highlighted as the Governor's Office reported revenues in January fell again by 8.7 per cent over January a year ago. This means more cuts to the 2011 budget. Representatives will start working on the 2011 budget when they reconvene next week.

Georgia also faced one of the worst scandals to hit our state in many years concerning our schools. Representative Greene reported that "he was stunned to see that 191 plus schools are likely to undergo formal investigations regarding testing with the CRCT tests that are administered by the schools.” This only highlights what I have been saying for years that we are putting too much emphasis on testing and not enough on letting teachers teach. The pressure to meet those goals is making criminals out of our teachers and administrators. The way we do our CRCT testing and other state tests will certainly change in the coming months.

Things are beginning to heat up under the Gold Dome with many issues being debated. Thank you for the many calls and emails. Please contact Representative Gerald Greene at 404-656-0314 or by email at gerald. greene@house.ga.gov