Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission members agree the state should send extra dollars to school districts to help them better meet the needs of low-income students but “extra” now means much less than it once did. The commission is
Many Georgia students started college for the first time this fall. That’s good news for Georgia as the state says it needs 250,000 additional college graduates to meet its workforce needs by 2020, according to Gov. Nathan Deal’s Complete College
New federal policy provides Georgia an opportunity to increase access to higher education for many young Georgia immigrants who are now eligible to work without threat of deportation. Current policies that prevent these potential students from paying in-state tuition rates
An updated version of this report is available Georgia’s effort to overhaul the formula it uses to split about $8.5 billion per year in state money among its 180 school districts is gaining momentum despite important omissions. A governor-appointed commission
School is starting this week for many Georgia children but education ended much too soon for many of the state’s adults. Nearly 866,000 Georgians from 18 to 64 are without a high school diploma or GED. Georgia is home to
Georgia’s economic well-being is threatened by the high numbers of adults without a high school diploma or a General Equivalency Development credential (GED®). Nearly 866,000 Georgians ages 18 to 64 do not have a high school diploma or GED. Georgia’s
A new legislative proposal to create a statewide “Opportunity School District” aims to boost student achievement at Georgia’s most challenged schools. Close scrutiny of the measure is warranted before its proposed drastic and permanent remedies are passed into law. Georgia
Georgia’s governor proposes in the 2016 fiscal year to eliminate State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP) coverage for bus drivers, school nutrition workers and other “non-certified” school district employees who work fewer than 30 hours per week. This move could take
Georgia lawmakers are considering legislation to allow parents to take state dollars for private educational use. House Bill 243 proposes to create Education Savings Accounts (ESA) to set public money aside for educational services, including private school tuition, textbooks and
The governor’s proposed $978 million budget for Georgia’s lottery funded programs in the 2016 fiscal year falls short of meeting the needs of the state’s youngest students and some of its oldest. High class sizes and low teacher salaries threaten
The Georgia Budget Primer is GBPI’s signature annual examination of state revenues and investments. It outlines Georgia’s budget changes, trends and impacts regarding taxes, education, health care, human services and criminal legal systems. This year we are taking special care to describe how federal funding contributes to Georgia’s budget.
