Championed as a quasi-voucher bill by its author, House Bill 140 would expand Georgia’s private school scholarship tax credit program from $50 million to $80 million, diverting an additional $30 million in potential state revenue from the general fund. The program provides dollar for dollar tax credits to taxpayers who… [Read more]

Gov. Nathan Deal deserves a pat on the back for his support of state Rep. Stacey Evans’ proposal to lower the GPA requirement for the lottery-funded HOPE Grant, which will give more students access to workforce education at technical colleges.
Still, much more needs to be done if the… [Read more]

New Plan Continues $1 Billion Underfunding of QBE
The overview of Georgia’s 2014 fiscal year budget for K-12 education report reviews the proposed FY 2014 budget and the impact it has on early childhood and K-12 education.  Georgia continues to shortchange its K-12 students. The Quality Basic Education (QBE) program,… [Read more]

Georgia Balances the Books by Making Higher Education Less Accessible
The overview of Georgia’s 2014 fiscal year budget for higher education report analyzes the impact it has on higher education. Georgia plans to continue down a path that makes its university and technical college education less available to all but… [Read more]

Georgia should increase support for education and workforce development and reverse its recent course of cutting spending for services vital to the state’s economic health.
I pressed that point during my remarks at our annual policy conference last Friday, as 180 business leaders, educators and policymakers got together… [Read more]

We often hear about the social and cultural differences that divide Georgians of different backgrounds –but what about the economic differences that divide Georgia too? The state’s gap between the haves and have-nots has never been greater, and unless reversed, it will continue to undermine opportunity and economic… [Read more]

School kids in five states will be spending at least 300 more hours learning next school year, as calendars are expanded for certain schools in those states. Education leaders in Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee are taking this step because a growing body of research indicates… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, Claire Suggs | Comments (1)

After reading that Georgia lawmakers are considering sinking $50 million into an expansion of a private school scholarship program that is unaccountable to taxpayers, we started wondering what $50 million could do to enhance teaching and improve learning in Georgia’s public classrooms. For starters:

Restore all the state funds… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, Claire Suggs, Education | Comments (3)

About 40 percent of Georgia university students drop out before earning a bachelor’s degree. The rate is even higher for technical college students, 80 percent of whom never complete their associate degree programs.
For many, the reason is inadequate preparation for the demands of post secondary study. And in Georgia… [Read more]

GBPI recently released education report Survey Says: Trouble for Schools is referenced in this article on the state charter school amendment; read full article here.