Georgia Southern University and six other Georgia colleges and universities will restore test score requirements for incoming freshmen in the fall of 2026. ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents voted Tuesday to rescind a temporary waiver of test-score requirements for undergraduate admissions starting with the fall semester of 2026. The [...]

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by Dave Williams | May 7, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service Gov. Brian Kemp signed what he called an “historic” $36.1 billion state budget Tuesday containing healthy raises for state employees and public school teachers. The fiscal 2025 budget, which takes effect July 1, represents an increase of $3.7 billion over the fiscal 2024 budget the General Assembly adopted [...]

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by Dave Williams | Mar 28, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate passed legislation Tuesday crammed with multiple “culture wars” provisions affecting Georgia schools. House Bill 1104, which the Senate’s Republican majority passed 33-21 along party lines, originated in the House as a measure addressing mental-health risks for student athletes. But Senate Republicans added a [...]

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by Dave Williams | Mar 20, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – The state Senate gave final passage Wednesday to controversial legislation offering private-school vouchers to Georgia students attending low-performing public schools. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 33-21 along party lines to adopt a version of the vouchers bill the state House’s GOP majority narrowly passed last week. The [...]

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by Dave Williams | Mar 14, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – A controversial private-school vouchers bill squeaked through the Georgia House of Representatives Thursday. The bill, which would provide vouchers worth up to $6,500 to help students in low-performing public schools transfer to a private school, passed the Republican-controlled House 91-82, the minimum number of votes needed [...]

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by Dave Williams | Mar 10, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $36.1 billion fiscal 2025 state budget Thursday with generous raises for teachers and state employees made possible by a huge surplus. “This is an awesome budget that addresses the needs of every Georgian from all walks of life,” [...]

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by Dave Williams |March 3, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled Georgia Senate has passed legislation that would prohibit city, county, and regional libraries from using either tax dollars or private funds on any materials offered by the American Library Association (ALA). Senate Bill 390 cleared the upper chamber in the General Assembly 33-20 along [...]

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by Dave Williams | Jan 23, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – Seven Georgia school districts will receive nearly $60 million in federal funding for new electric and low-emission buses. The Georgia grant is part of $1 billion going to school systems across the country to pay for clean buses. The money comes from the bipartisan infrastructure spending [...]

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by Dave Williams  | Capitol Beat News Service KENNESAW – Georgia’s low literacy rate can be fixed despite the dismal statistics currently plaguing educators, the head of a council of state legislators, literacy experts, teachers, and school district officials said Tuesday. “We will not shrink back from our mission,” Scott Johnson, chairman of the Georgia Council on Literacy, [...]

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by Dave Williams | Aug 10, 2023 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA – State employees, public school teachers and retirees will pay 5% more for health insurance coverage next year on average. The Georgia Board of Community Health approved the premium increase Thursday, only the second in the last six years. The increase, which takes effect Jan. 1, will [...]

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