Category: Policy Areas

A Brief History of HOPE

  This blog was co-authored by Allie Schneider, a Southern Education Foundation Policy Fellow. HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) is Georgia’s best-known state financial aid program. Funded by the Georgia Lottery, it has provided college scholarships and grants to almost

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Keeping and Losing HOPE

HOPE scholarships financially support tens of thousands of Georgia college students each year. A first-of-its-kind study from Georgia State University’s Georgia Policy Labs examines how students enrolled in colleges in the University System of Georgia gain and lose HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships throughout

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Georgia Revenue Primer for State Fiscal Year 2022

Introduction Georgia plans to spend $27.3 billion in state money raised through taxes and fees for the 2022 fiscal year. The budget maintains nearly $850 million in cuts from FY 2020 levels, a reduction equivalent to cutting approximately 4 percent

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Warehouse worker

Why Scaling Back Unemployment Insurance Could Harm Recovery

Key Takeaways: Georgia is three days away from prematurely cutting pandemic unemployment insurance (UI). The changes will harm an estimated 347,000 Georgians and sever all UI safety net protections for 104,000 self-employed, gig-workers and part-time workers. Prematurely cutting pandemic UI

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Georgia's 2027 Budget Primer

The budget primer outlines the state budget for the year, recognizes substantial changes from the preceding year and provides a clear-eyed view on what lawmakers have prioritized for our state. This year, there will also be a focus on budget trends over the full eight years of Gov. Kemp’s tenure as we prepare for Georgia’s next leaders to take office.

Our budget primer is slated to be published the first day of the fiscal year, July 1. Join us for our virtual town hall to discuss our data, or request a physical copy of the primer to be sent to your address.

Submit your comment on the Georgia Pathways to Coverage Program

Submit public comment on Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage program extension by February 20th – just complete this easily fillable form: