Day 4 -- Governor Zell Miller spoke before a joint session of The General Assembly today to give his annual budget address for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 1997. Members listened intently as the Governor highlighted his $11.1 billion plan which contains initiatives ranging from greater Internet accessability in schools to privatizing more state run facilities.

The Governor said the most important priority for the future is education. This is why he has devoted 54 percent of his budget in this direction. He is proposing his third of four 6 percent teacher pay raises to bring the best teachers to Georgia. He is also proposing increased technology funding for schools to spend on equipment or technology training for teachers.

These are coming from general funds which does not even include lottery money for education. In the Governor's budget the Pre-Kindergarten program would receive enough money to keep its enrollment around 60,000 thousand children, and students in the Hope Scholarship Program would be required to maintain a B average over 45 hours instead of 90 hours.

All 1,818 of Georgia's K-12 schools would also have Internet access in the Governor's Budget. Along with all 157 public libraries, all technical institutes, and all public colleges and universities in Georgia.

The Governor has also once again required his department heads to evaluate their ongoing programs and identify at least 5 percent of their budget to be cut from low priorities, and redirected to high priorities. Last year these shifts saved Georgia tax payers $600 million dollars and this year its estimated the savings could be approximately $330 million dollars. The Governor also plans to go forward with his privatization initiatives after saving $7 million dollars in Milledgeville with the War Veterans Home, and $315 million dollars at the resort and hotel water park on Lake Lanier.

These are only some highlights of the Governor's budget. The House will take an in-depth look at his proposals and come up with its own budget and then work to find some common ground.