The House Appropriations Committee began work on the AFY 2017 and FY 2018 state budgets before the session even started. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, chaired by outgoing representative Tom Dickson (R-Cohutta) heard presentations from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE), the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (TRS), the Employees Retirement System of Georgia (ERS), and the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL). Dickson, a former school superintendent with a strong handle on school finance, will be missed under the Gold Dome.

An interesting exchange occurred during the portion of the hearing regarding ERS. ERS handles the retirement benefits for most state employees other than educators, though the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) which serves some classified school staff, does fall under the ERS umbrella. ERS is separate and distinct from TRS. Several years ago the legislature voted to allow ERS to move away from a defined benefit pension system (which is similar to the TRS system) to a hybrid plan that contains both defined contribution elements (similar to a 401k) and defined benefit components. In contrast to TRS, ERS also allows higher risk venture capital investment, and the subcommittee members inquired about whether the ERS staff appreciated their capability to participate in alternative investment, which are off limits to TRS.

Incoming TRS Executive Director Dr. Buster Evans did a commendable job during his first presentation to the Appropriations Subcommittee, and made no recommendation or reference to venture capital or defined contributions. However, it is important to note that the changes to ERS, which were discussed during the ERS portion of the hearing, are changes that, if implemented at TRS, would be unpopular with many educators.

Other highlights from the hearing include news of a 2 percent increase in employer contribution rates for TRS, which amounts to about $170 million, and a discussion between subcommittee members and Ted Beck, the Chief Financial Officer at GaDOE, about the very outdated software still used for school finance purposes. Subcommittee members expressed concern and sounded amenable to identifying funding for a much needed upgrade to a new web-based finance system.

The PAGE legislative team looks forward to representing Georgia's professional educators in 2017. This session, our team has expanded to include PAGE attorney Matthew Pence in addition to Margaret Ciccarelli, Josh Stephens and Craig Harper.