Group says Georgia lawmakers missed a chance to expand educational opportunities

Group says Georgia lawmakers missed a chance to expand educational opportunities

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Group says Georgia lawmakers missed a chance to expand educational opportunities

Georgia lawmakers missed an opportunity to expand educational opportunities for Peach State students when they failed to pass a bill to establish state-funded education savings accounts, a nonprofit said Thursday.

The Georgia Center for Opportunity pointed to Indiana and South Carolina, which passed measures recently to create education scholarship accounts. The accounts generally allow recipients to use the money for educational expenses, including tuition for private schools.

“We’re seeing an increasing tide of states choosing to give all students access to the best education for their unique needs,” Buzz Brockway, GCO’s vice president of public policy. “It’s a shame that Georgia didn’t join that list this year.

Group says Georgia lawmakers missed a chance to expand educational opportunities

Utah’s ‘One Door’ Policy Shows the Way Forward on Safety-net Reforms

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Utah’s ‘One Door’ Policy Shows the Way Forward on Safety-net Reforms

By Buzz Brockway

The April unemployment report shows that job opportunities remain at historic highs across the country. In fact, the report came in better than expected at a 3.4% unemployment rate, exceeding expectations for the resilience and strength of the labor market.

In this environment, no work-capable person should be without a job. But the sad reality is that the very safety net system created to help people who are struggling is the same one contributing to keeping them mired in generational poverty. I’m talking about America’s social-safety net system.

As it stands, our nation’s welfare system is a fragmented hodgepodge of programs. The dozens of programs that make up “the system” have different and, at times, competing goals, inconsistent rules, and overlapping groups of recipients. 

 

Indiana and South Carolina join a growing list of states expanding educational opportunity in 2023

Indiana and South Carolina join a growing list of states expanding educational opportunity in 2023

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Indiana and South Carolina join a growing list of states expanding educational opportunity in 2023

Indiana and South Carolina have joined a growing list of states that have expanded educational opportunity in 2023. The mechanism is Education Scholarship Accounts, or ESAs, that empower all families to choose an educational option outside their locally zoned public school, if that is their choice.

Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “We’re seeing an increasing tide of states choosing to give all students access to the best education for their unique needs. It’s a shame that Georgia didn’t join that list this year,” said Buzz Brockway, GCO’s vice president of public policy. “If Georgia lawmakers had passed Senate Bill 233 this session, eligible families would have had access to $6,500 to find the best educational option for their child. As it stands, these kids will remain stuck in schools that aren’t the right fit for them. Even so, we have hope for the 2024 short session with lawmakers will have another chance to advance education opportunity for all.”

For more on the ways ESAs would help kids in Georgia, check out these resources:

Businesses fleeing cities over crime is a warning sign we can’t ignore

Businesses fleeing cities over crime is a warning sign we can’t ignore

tent camp, homeless

Businesses fleeing cities over crime is a warning sign we can’t ignore

Key Points

  • Crime is causing businesses to flee communities already experiencing a lack of opportunity.
  • As businesses flee high-crime areas, there is a negative impact on the price and availability of goods in underserved communities
  • Communities will see healthcare and community health impacts from this loss of retailers.

We keep hearing about it: Businesses and retailers fleeing downtown areas—or entire city communities—due to violence, theft, and crime. It happened in Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but it should be a warning to other cities around the country.

The exodus of companies due to crime creates a downward spiral for communities already experiencing a lack of opportunity.


LIMITED ACCESS AND HIGHER PRICES


When businesses flee a community they take convenience, jobs, and access to goods. The result is a market crisis where demand stays steady while limited access increases the price of goods and incomes stagnate or decrease. 

The inability to access goods at reasonable prices is a direct response to the loss of competition. No longer are you able to buy essentials at market value but instead you pay premium prices as supply is constrained. This is no different than what we experienced nationally over the past few years as supply constraints pushed the price of gas, milk, and other essentials higher.

This limitation of access to transportation, clothing, and food will have consequences in other areas of community health and opportunity.

THE IMPACT ON HEALTHY FOOD OPTIONS

Take the limited access to food issue. We know that lack of healthy food options in underserved communities is an ongoing problem. Cheaper food options, which are “shelf-stable,” tend to be less healthy. This creates a downward trend of poorer health outcomes like obesity resulting in a rise in healthcare costs.

Communities with a lack of affordable healthy food options get stuck in a cycle where they are less healthy, less likely to work, and more dependent on temporary, less-reliable healthcare. When we see stores closing or moving out of a community due to violence, we see smaller businesses that cannot afford to absorb the costs of throwing out healthier foods. The result is that these businesses tend to stock less perishable and more unhealthy items on their shelves.

This means that these communities become more dependent on systems and services to survive long term. Our safety-net programs are designed to be temporary systems that catch people (or even communities) at the point of tragedy to help them get back on their feet. But when opportunity flees, these individuals are left hopeless, looking for what’s next. They become trapped in their circumstance.

“…communities become more dependent on systems and services to survive long term.”

“…communities become more dependent on systems and services to survive long term.”

CRIME IS THE TRUE THIEF

Crime and the unwillingness to address crime robs communities of value. It makes these communities into societal pariahs.

Not only are these communities unable to access adequate goods, they are unable to find local jobs and services. When companies flee an area, they take hundreds of entry to mid-level jobs. In a community that is reliant on these types of job opportunities, it once again means they have no path out of their current situation.

In his study of ethics, Immanuel Kant asserted that “if you steal from him, you steal from yourself.” It’s a philosophical acknowledgment that crime steals from the entire community. It takes livelihood, property, and security away from everyone in the community including the perpetrator because it destabilizes.

While it’s hard for some to have sympathy for a mega-corporation needing to close a store, it is a warning sign to the health of that community. Vibrant communities, which we often speak of here at the Georgia Center for Opportunity, are ones that attract opportunities. They are communities so lively that everyone, even mega-corporations, wants to be a part of them. As we begin to see these companies leave a community it catches headlines, but the real-world impact is much more than a temporary blip in our newsfeed.

We must address crime in communities to keep opportunity open to all.

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