Georgia’s gubernatorial candidates traded barbs again Friday over the future of public education in the state. State Senator Jason Carter, a Democrat, backs a separate education budget to hold school spending sacrosanct. Gov. Nathan Deal rejects that as a gimmick. The issue reflects a basic disagreement between the candidates about the impact of years of austerity cuts to school spending.

Deal and Carter spoke at a forum in Atlanta organized by the Georgia Department of Education.

Carter repeated his calls to fund education first when drafting the yearly state budget. He says a separate budget would restore the credibility of Georgia’s schools in the eyes of parents and teachers.

“Politicians can’t run from it,” he told the audience of superintendents and school leaders. “And the way you know that people want to continue to hide is because they will tell you they cannot stand for a separate, truly-accountable system. That’s how you know it will work. Setting clear priorities, living by them: that’s what it means to be fiscal conservative.”

But Deal calls the idea an election year stunt that lacks specifics. In an interview after the forum, he ticked off a series of questions about the plan.

“How is he going to fund it?” Deal asks. “Is it going to have a dedicated funding source? Is it going to have a dedicated percentage of overall revenue? Just saying you’re going to have a separate budget without saying what you’re going to put into it, what the source of the revenue is going to be, that does nothing. That’s political gamesmanship. We don’t need any more political games.”

Some attendees said the idea is intriguing. Brittany Wilson is chief academic officer for Calhoun City Schools in Gordon County.

“Our Constitution of Georgia says our primary says that our primary goal is education and I think we really need to get back to that,” she said.

Nonetheless she says it may be something that makes sense only on the campaign trail.

“There’s not a lot of details to that so yes it sounds great but I don’t know what that means,” she added.

Deal and Carter will appear at another education forum Monday in Atlanta sponsored by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.