FRONT STREET MEDIA

Sonny Perdue
GOVERNOR




Dear Mr. Brooks:
Thank you for your letter regarding proposed changes to the current 2-year academic programs in Georgia. Last year, I formed a working group and tasked them with investigating innovative ways to create long-term, comprehensive educational reform to make Georgia more globally competitive. This working group reviewed a provocative national report called Tough Choices or Tough Times to determine how Georgia might best reform its educational policies and practices to achieve these goals. I believe the experts serving on this group fully understand the urgency of the challenges we face, and I am confident that their leadership will bring the changes necessary to facilitate higher student achievement.
One of the things the working group discussed was the possibility of charging the current Technical College System with the administration of all technical and 2-year academic programs offered in Georgia. The group believes this would empower the University System to streamline its focus exclusively on world-class research, 4-year degree programs, and graduate degree programs. At this point, this is simply something that the working group has explored and included in its draft recommendations. No formal recommendations have been issued and no action has been taken.
While no formal report has been issued by the working group, the Technical College System of Georgia and the University System of Georgia have begun exploring the possible strategies that would be required to implement the recommendation of the Tough Choices or Tough Times working group. I believe there are efficiencies that can be found through this strategic analysis of missions of both the University and Technical College Systems that would greatly benefit our highest-level learners, and I optimistically anticipate formal recommendations of this working group.
I hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you again for writing