Blog Budget and Taxes Higher Education Inclusive Economy for Immigrants K-12 Education Wesley Tharpe Sine Die 2018: Education Gets its Due March 29, 2018 / April 2, 2020 by Wesley Tharpe A fully funded K-12 education formula. Hasty and sweeping tax changes. Georgia’s first foray into need-based financial aid for college students. A harmful anti-immigrant measure left on the cutting room floor. Georgia lawmakers left those legacies from the just-ended 2018 General Assembly. March entered with a controversial income tax cut and went out with the […] Read more » Budget & Taxes Education Higher Education K-12 Legislature State Budget
Blog Budget and Taxes Higher Education John McCosh K-12 Education Legislative Watch Day 39: State Budget, Education Vouchers and More March 27, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by John McCosh | 1 Comment on Legislative Watch Day 39: State Budget, Education Vouchers and More As the 2018 General Assembly nears the closing gavel, Georgia lawmakers are trying to find a path to use public dollars to boost private schools, provide need-based aid for college students and impose rules that target immigrants in counterproductive ways. They’re also putting the finishing touches on Georgia’s spending plan for the upcoming 2019 budget […] Read more » Budget & Taxes Financial Aid HB 217 HB 664 HB 713 Higher Education immigration K-12 Legislature private schools SB 405 SB 452 tax breaks
Blog Higher Education Jennifer Lee Bill Proposes Grant for Working Georgia College Students with Financial Need March 7, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Jennifer Lee Bill Analysis: Senate Bill 405 (LC 21 5954 S, AM 21 3929) Georgia needs more people with higher education to meet workforce needs. Georgia can better leverage its talent and its strong colleges and universities by knocking down financial barriers to student success and making common-sense investments in financial aid. The Georgia Senate recently passed […] Read more » college college-tuition Financial Aid Higher Education HOPE Scholarship Need-based Financial Aid SB 405 Technical College System of Georgia University System of Georgia
Blog Claire Suggs K-12 Education Lawmakers Push to Shift Public Money to Private Schools March 5, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Claire Suggs Georgia lawmakers seem determined to subsidize private schools with public dollars. Witness several bills in the 2018 General Assembly to create or expand schemes to shift public dollars to private schools. It’s better to provide public schools the resources needed to ensure all students reach the state’s ambitious learning goals before lawmakers consider these bills. […] Read more » Education Education Savings Account HB 217 HB 482 HB 664 K-12 private schools
Blog Budget and Taxes Higher Education John McCosh K-12 Education Crossover Day Delivers Mixed Bag for Education, Tax Policy March 1, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by John McCosh Legislation to allow the use of state money for private schools stalled on Crossover Day 2018, while a proposal to give students more time to qualify as HOPE scholars also now faces a more convoluted path to passage. Meanwhile, a risky tax cut package designed to reduce Georgia revenues by $1.4 billion once fully phased […] Read more » Budget & Taxes Crossover Day Education Georgia General Assembly HB 482 HB 918 HB 928 Higher Education HOPE Scholarship K-12 Legislature private schools State Taxes
Blog Claire Suggs K-12 Education Time for Lawmakers to Choose Students Over Tax Cuts February 26, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Claire Suggs Lawmakers are racing to pass a risky tax package that drains $1.4 billion a year from the state treasury once fully implemented. A better choice is to hit the pause button and send school districts the full amount of money the state’s own K-12 funding formula calculates they should get. The General Assembly is underfunding […] Read more » Budget Budget & Taxes Education education-funding funding-formula HB 918 K-12 public-schools tax cuts
Claire Suggs K-12 Education Reports Private School Savings Accounts Lack Oversight, Could Prove Costly February 22, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Claire Suggs Bill Analysis: House Bill 482 (LC 33 7253S) Georgia lawmakers are considering a plan to allow parents to take state money to pay for private schools and educational services. House Bill 482 creates an individual Education Savings Account, or ESA, program. The program would allow parents to redirect state money to pay for tuition and […] Read more » Claire Suggs Education Education Savings Account ESA HB 482 K-12 private schools
Blog Higher Education Jennifer Lee Invest in College Students Like They Invest in Themselves February 22, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Jennifer Lee Lizzie Mathias balances a full-time course load at Middle Georgia State University’s campus in Macon, works about 40 miles from there in Cochran. And she is interning at a domestic violence shelter in her hometown of Dublin, about an hour’s drive from the college. She’s served in the Middle Georgia Student Government Association every year, […] Read more » college Education Higher Education HOPE Scholarship need-based aid tuition
Claire Suggs K-12 Education Reports Shrinking State Funds Trigger Student Bus Safety Concerns February 12, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Claire Suggs Shrinking state funding for student transportation and rising costs are making it more difficult for school districts across Georgia to get children to and from school safely. The worsening financial pinch leaves districts with aging bus fleets on the road past their intended life, concerns about student safety and far fewer dollars to invest in […] Read more » Budget bus Claire Suggs Education K-12 Transportation
Blog Higher Education Jennifer Lee Support Students by Removing HOPE Seven-Year Time Limit February 9, 2018 / January 14, 2020 by Jennifer Lee – Update on Feb. 26: House Bill 218 proposes to extend the time that students have to use the HOPE Scholarship from seven to 10 years after high school. – Update on Feb. 20: House Bill 928 proposes to extend the time that students have to use the HOPE Scholarship from seven to 15 years after high […] Read more » college Higher Education HOPE Scholarship tuition University System of Georgia
