<p>When Gov. Sonny Perdue upset incumbent Roy Barnes in 2002, the votes of teachers angry over Barnes' aggressive education reforms were given much of the credit.</p><p>Four years later, Perdue might find at least some of those votes harder to collect.</p><p>Last week, Perdue unveiled a slate of issues he said showed that education is his top priority in this year's assembly of the Georgia Legislature.</p><p>He proposed a 4-percent pay raise for teachers, revived a push for smaller class sizes that's been stalled the past three years and introduced a plan that would require at least 65 percent of all school system money to be spent in the classroom.</p><p>During his State of the State address on Wednesday, he also announced a $100 gift card he'd like the state to give public school teachers to help buy extra classroom supplies.</p><p>Among dozens of teacher contacted by the Associated Press since Perdue, a Republican, unveiled his plans, most say they welcome those initiatives.</p><p>But they also cited his last three years in office, when their raises were smaller and education saw more cuts than new spending. Many questioned the governor's motives for making education a priority just months before he will seek re-election.</p><p>"We appreciate a raise, but to a certain extent it's an insult," said Stella Irving, a physical education teacher at Pleasant Grove Elementary School in Henry County. "I think this is just him saying 'I hope I get re-elected,' and then we won't see another raise until the next governor."</p><p>In 2002, Georgia teachers _ generally considered a voting bloc that leans Democratic _ defected in large numbers from Barnes, a Democrat, after his 2000 education reforms.</p><p>They complained that Barnes unfairly blamed teachers for low-performing schools and balked at proposals in his plan like an effort to no longer guarantee tenure for new teachers.</p><p>"Let's say I voted for Perdue, but it was more of a vote against Barnes," said Elizabeth Gould, who retired from Murray County schools after 34 years last year and now supervises education students at Dalton State College.</p><p>Now, she says she's leaning against supporting Perdue again.</p><p>From the time Perdue took office, he said he wanted to treat teachers with respect.</p><p>But when he took office in 2003, Perdue inherited a recession-plagued economy that required him to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from the state budget each of his first two years in office.</p><p>Teachers received no pay raise in 2003, the equivalent of a 1-percent raise in 2004 and a 2-percent raise last year.</p><p>During those three years, the premiums teachers and other state employees paid for their health insurance increased _ as much as 30 percent for some _ and local school systems were forced to cut programs due to reductions in state funding.</p><p>Perdue and the Legislature also froze parts of the plan to reduce class sizes in Georgia, an element of Barnes' reforms that most teachers supported.</p><p>Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan said the governor has always wanted to boost teacher pay more, but tight budgets made it impossible. He said election-year politics have nothing to do with this year's education push.</p><p>"Education has been the governor's top priority since he's come into office _ this is just the first year we've had revenues enough to make a sizable investment," McLagan said. "We inherited something along the lines of a $600 million deficit and a government that had been run into the ground by our predecessors.</p><p>"It took this much time to turn the ship around."</p><p>At least some teachers seem willing to give Perdue the benefit of the doubt. McLagan said teachers have been showing up at Perdue events throughout the state in the past week and appreciate the raise, gift card and other changes _ which include freezing insurance premiums this year.</p><p>"Of course, we're never going to be satisfied with the money we get _ that's human nature," said Kevin Fore, a special education teacher at Haynes Bridge Middle School in Alpharetta. "I know Perdue has fought for what he could get for us the past few years."</p><p>Fore, who said he voted for Perdue in 2002 and plans to do so again, said freezing health care premiums is his favorite part of the governor's proposal.</p><p>But others like Dick Williams, a math teacher at Bryan County Middle School, aren't as impressed.</p><p>Williams declined to say who he voted for in the 2002 governor's race, or who he plans to support this year. But he said he'll be weighing the governor's performance over his entire term, not just what he called election-year stunts like the gift cards.</p><p>"If teachers need more money for supplies, why not fund supplies through the system instead of trying to bribe teachers with a gift card?" he said.</p><p>In his re-election bid, Perdue is likely to face either Secretary of State Cathy Cox or Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who will square off in the Democratic primary. He has no announced opposition in the Republican primary.</p>
