Why is the Georgia State Economy in Such Bad Shape?

The state of Georgia's economy is not doing so well. It is grappling with both short and long term financial problems. These problems have led to the closing of mental hospitals, prison facilities, and juvenile detention centers. State workers and teachers have been affected the most by these difficult financial times in state. As a result of this they have been forced to take furlough days. Times are hard! Nobody can afford to take days without pay. Furloughs are not the solution for balancing the budget for the state of Georgia. It is hard to understand why the state of Georgia is in such a financial bind.

The state of Georgia should be doing well financially. Sonny Perdue, who has been its governor for the past eight years, is cutting costs in the states budget. One area that is seeing severe cuts is education. According to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, public K-12 education faces additional 3 percent cuts as a result of the current fiscal 2010 budget. I use to be a state of Georgia employee and I remember well when several furloughs began around 2003. During this time it was limited to just state employees. It is ridiculous for teachers to be furloughed. The Georgia lottery was created back in 1992 for the sole purpose of enhancing education funding. Considering the fact that the Georgia lottery funds which do not supersede the education budget but supplement it is why it makes no sense to say that furloughing teachers is helping to restore state funds. Where are all of the funds that re generated from the Georgia lottery? There is no way possible that a state that has a lottery should be struggling economically.

Sonny Perdue was elected governor of Georgia in 2002. One of his many campaign promises was that he would give both teachers and sate workers pay raises. Although he did give them pay raises, yet they were not significant because he increased the costs of their health benefits. He also introduced mandatory furlough days. I am sure that both teaches and state workers feel betrayed by the governor's actions. The state of Georgia has never seen such harsh economic times. If the governor wanted to balance the state of Georgia budget he should have started by taking furlough days himself. Hopefully the 2011 fiscal budget will not include mandatory furloughs for state workers and teachers.