GBPI In The News Savannah-Chatham schools face cramped classes January 17, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by GBPI Admin Georgia legislators have imposed revenue reductions to the public education budget, called austerity cuts, for more than a decade, and 95 percent of the state’s cash-strapped school districts have increased class sizes to help make ends mee Read more. Read more » Education K-12 schools State Budget
GBPI In The News School standards, higher education top 2015 challenges January 9, 2015 / January 15, 2020 by GBPI Admin High school standards and expectations after high school are among the top education issues Georgians can expect to see addressed by state leaders in 2015. Read more. Read more » Claire Suggs Education K-12 Legislature
Blog Claire Suggs Georgia Needs More than Just Roads to Prosperity December 19, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Claire Suggs I commute from Athens to Atlanta for work. It is not a pleasant drive, as anyone else who sits in traffic on I-85 or Ga. 316 can tell you. So I am happy legislators are talking about Georgia’s increasingly urgent transportation needs and exploring options to cover the cost of meeting them. A better transportation […] Read more » K-12
Author Claire Suggs K-12 Education Library Policy Areas Reports Money Matters: Increased Education Investment Linked to Higher Achievement December 16, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Claire Suggs Money invested in student learning matters. This is the conclusion most researchers reach after examining the relationship between funding and student achievement. It means Georgia is headed in the wrong direction as ongoing austerity cuts slashed $8.3 billion from state public school funding since 2003. Students across the state suffer the effects of these cuts, […] Read more » K-12
Author Blog Claire Suggs K-12 Education Living the Numbers: Climbing Class Sizes are Hurting Students November 20, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Claire Suggs I traveled to communities around Georgia the past few months to share findings from our recent reports on education funding, The Schoolhouse Squeeze 2014 and Cutting Class to Make Ends Meet 2014. My part is easy. I explain the numbers: how much state funding has been cut, how much local funding has fallen and how […] Read more » K-12
Author Blog Claire Suggs K-12 Education The New Normal Does Not Work for Georgia’s Students November 5, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Claire Suggs | 1 Comment on The New Normal Does Not Work for Georgia’s Students The responses we got from our annual survey of Georgia educators this summer are troubling, the stress often pouring off the pages. Here is an example from Coffee County Schools: “[The greatest impact of the QBE austerity cuts have been] class size increases, elimination of teachers, para-professionals, secretarial and administration positions, furlough days, classified employees’ […] Read more » K-12
Author Blog Claire Suggs Featured K-12 Education New GBPI Survey: Students Still Feel Budget Cuts’ Sting October 16, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Claire Suggs Here is a status report on the state of education in Georgia, from someone who knows: “Delayed instructional initiatives, depleted reserves, increased class sizes, frozen wages, deferred maintenance and negligible bus replacement. It doesn’t take great imagination to envision what could have been done over the last five years with $12.8 million in lost QBE […] Read more » K-12
Author Claire Suggs K-12 Education Library Policy Areas Reports Cutting Class to Make Ends Meet 2014 October 16, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Claire Suggs Schools across Georgia continue to scramble to meet students’ needs as they cope with years of deep cuts in state funding. A new Georgia Budget and Policy Institute survey of school systems finds districts raised class sizes and cut instructional programs in response to state cuts. A modest increase of $314 million in state funding […] Read more » K-12
Author Blog Claire Suggs Featured K-12 Education How Squeezed is Your District? September 8, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Claire Suggs The Schoolhouse Squeeze 2014 compiles the latest numbers to show how cuts at the state level and lost local property values combine to create financial stress for school districts. This year’s update to the original 2013 report features a searchable database so you can easily access information about your district, or any of Georgia’s 179 […] Read more » K-12
Author Claire Suggs K-12 Education Library Policy Areas Reports The Schoolhouse Squeeze 2014 September 4, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Claire Suggs State Cuts, Lost Property Values Still Pinch School Districts Georgia’s 180 school districts continue to face enormous financial pressures. The Georgia Legislature cut more than $8.4 billion in funding for public schools in recent years. At the same time, local funding for schools slipped precipitously following the plunge in property values triggered by the Great […] Read more » K-12
