Georgia Programs Saved by Politics

By James Salzer

Georgia Politics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 12, 2010

Gov. Sonny Perdue is being reminded this year that killing state programs is politically difficult even in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.

The staff of Gov. Sonny Perdue argues that grants are too small
Perdue and lawmakers said before the legislative session began that severe budget constraints would force them to eliminate long-standing programs that the state could no longer afford.

But a month after releasing his spending plans, Perdue is already seeing some of his ideas for trimming state government shoved aside, particularly those with a large number of politically active beneficiaries.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the governor’s proposal to eliminate the $29.7 million program begun in the early 1970s that provides grants to about 34,000 private college students.

To save money, Perdue has called for the elimination of grants that go to all private college students. He also wants to increase awards to private college students who earn the HOPE scholarship. The governor’s staff argues that the grants, which were cut to about $775 this year and could shrink further, are too small to make a big difference for students attending private colleges costing $20,000, $30,000 and up.


“From a policy perspective, it makes sense to focus our limited resources on HOPE-eligible students in both our public and private colleges,” the governor said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But a potent group of lobbyists, private college presidents and students have been quickly mobilized to save the program, and some House leaders are making it clear they’d cut money from the public university system before they eliminate grants to private college students.

The proposal to end the Tuition Equalization Grant isn’t officially dead, but it’s in serious trouble.

Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute think tank, said killing long-standing programs is never easy, even when lawmakers know they have to slash $1.2 billion from this year’s budget.

“This is kind of a case study in an attempt to eliminate something based on policy rationale, not political rationale,” said Essig, a former state budget analyst. “Even if you have a rational reason for doing it, it’s difficult to pull off because of the political constituency of those who take advantage of the program.”

Trey Childress, director of the Office of Planning and Budget, said Perdue knew his proposal to end the grants would face stiff opposition. “If there is a defined constituency, it’s very difficult to reverse course on something folks are accustomed to receiving,” he said.

But opponents of eliminating the program say there is more than politics involved.

“This is something that benefits the state and saves it money,” said House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans). “There are some things that should be cut, but this is one of those things that shouldn’t be cut.”

Young Harris College President Cathy Cox, a former Democratic state lawmaker and secretary of state, said Perdue’s plan doesn’t make sense because the grants are a good deal for the state.

“At first blush it sounds like, ‘Why are we helping private colleges?’ But it’s not about helping private colleges. It’s about getting Georgia students college-educated.”

Perdue has been in this situation before. He initially ran into tough legislative opposition when tried to cut funding to the various halls of fame around the state. Local lawmakers opposed the idea. He eventually vetoed funding for the Golf Hall of Fame over the objections of Harbin and Augusta-area lawmakers.

Perdue was the second consecutive governor to try to eliminate funding for elementary school foreign language programs in select schools across the state. He called the programs a limited “pilot” effort that served too few students. Parent protests saved the program for several years, but Perdue finally vetoed money for it in 2007.

Perdue has proposed closing small-town welcome centers and asked the Department of Natural Resources to evaluate money-losing golf courses, but lawmakers representing those districts have fought to save them.

Those were relatively small-time projects. Eliminating the private school grants is much tougher for Perdue because they have long had strong support from lawmakers.

They also have a large, influential constituency: about 34,000 students attending more than 40 private schools receive the grants, their parents, and the leaders of those schools who are often leaders their communities.

Under the program, all private college students were scheduled to receive a $950 grant this year. Because of spending cuts, they instead got about $775. Most states have similar private college aid programs.


Private college students with at least a B average are also eligible to receive HOPE scholarships, just like their public school counterparts.

Student Finance officials said because money is short, the state next year would have to keep the grants in the same range as this year, an amount Perdue staffers argue would be too little to really make private college more affordable.

So Perdue proposed eliminating the automatic grant, but increasing the award to private college students who earn the HOPE scholarship from $3,500 to $4,250. That means that private school students getting HOPE would end up with about the same as they would have received from the two programs together. About 40 percent of private college students receive HOPE, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission.

The change would save the state about $16 million.

“This grant began long before the HOPE scholarship, and in good economic times we pushed the amount up to help our private college students,” said Perdue, a longtime supporter of the program.

“But with all the cuts needed in the budget this year, we looked for ways to make the most of limited state funds.”

Advocates for keeping the TEG say some students may who might otherwise attend private colleges could wind up in University System schools. And that would cost the state more money because it spends far more educating a student in the public colleges than it does on the grant program.

Cox said the average income for families sending children to Young Harris College is $70,000 to $80,000. Freshman tuition at the school is $19,000, but many students receive aid from the college to help pay the bills. “$800 can make a difference,” Cox said of the grant.

Two political science majors at LaGrange College, Elissa Marks and Jamaica Thomas, were among a group of students who went to the Capitol recently hoping to persuade lawmakers to keep the grant.

“The TEG [grant] isn’t the definitive way I can go to college, but it helps me out,” Marks said. “It is definitely something that helps me not have as much of a debt to pay off when I graduate.”

Unlike Marks, Thomas said losing the grant might make LaGrange College unaffordable.

“It means a lot to me because I really do need the money,” she said.

Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Spring), who heads the House budget subcommittee on Higher Education, is a big supporter of the program. He asked the public University System to look at taking an additional spending cut, a move that could save the private-school grant program.

In trying to eliminate the program, Perdue is going against the grain of the Republican-led General Assembly. Lawmakers such as Ehrhart have spent years looking for ways to make it easier for parents to send children to private schools. Ehrhart is executive director of a private school scholarship program called Georgia Christian Schools Scholarship Fund.

Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said Perdue and lawmakers are in a tight spot and that eliminating any program is going to be difficult.

“Right now, we’re talking about do you keep a bed tax that tons of health care people are upset about, or do you get rid of the Tuition Equalization Grant or do you cut education funding some more?” he said. “That’s the kind of question the legislators are dealing with.

“The policy question is which one would produce the least negative effect on the state. The political question is which one creates the least pain politically.”

The fact that Perdue is even raising the possibility of eliminating the grants shows how bad the budget situation is, Essig said.

“It shows you the depth of the problem we have that we are talking about eliminating programs that have a political constituency,” he said. “It shows you the easy cuts have been made and we’re down to the more difficult ones.”

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© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution