NEWS & OPINIONS
Recommendations for Expanding Access to Quality Healthcare
This is the sixth entry in a series of posts highlighting GCO’s new report - Increasing Access to Quality Healthcare for Low-Income Uninsured Georgians. The first entry provided an overview of the report, the second looked at Georgia’s healthcare safety net, the third...
Fellowship Friday: Relationships Open the Door to Educational Attainment
Hidden beneath academic benchmarks, league tables, and other measures of success in education, are the relationships and personal traits that fuel positive and negative outcomes for students.
State Politics DO Matter
By Jacob Stubbs, GCO Legislative Intern While I was a government major as an undergraduate, I had never really encountered anything close to actual politics. This is not necessarily a bad thing, for I was quite interested in the philosophical systems that underlie the...
Georgia Considers Privatization of Child Welfare System
A bill to privatize most of the state's child welfare services was introduced this week by Senator Unterman (R-Buford). The legislation, Senate Bill 350, would require the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to develop a plan by January of 2015 by which...
School Choice – All Options Aren’t Created Equal
In a recent article addressing school choice alternatives – particularly the Georgia Tax Credit Scholarship program and its $58 million annual cap – some integral details regarding the execution of various school choice alternatives were somewhat blended together. We...
Capitol Update – February 7th, 2014
Roads Cleared, News Coverage Still Encountering Snow Related Congestion While last week’s winter weather is in the rear view mirror, the postmortem evaluation of the government’s response continues to receive considerable coverage. The General Assembly, however, has...
State Leaders Push for Employers to Hire Ex-Offenders
Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) is pleased to see Governor Nathan Deal and U.S. Attorney Sally Yates (Northern District of Georgia) exercise their influence to encourage business leaders across the state to hire ex-offenders. They are urging employers to give...
Snow Can’t Stop This Crowd for School Choice
By Dr. Danielle LeSure, GCO's Director of Education Policy Amazingly, over 600 students, parents, teachers, and school leaders crowded the Capitol in the middle of a snow storm to cheer for school choice options—charter schools, public school transfers, special needs...
Demand for Choice High: Education Tax Credit Cap Reached in Record 22 Days
Just this past week, Georgia's Tax Credit Scholarship program reached its cap of allowable donation commitments (currently, $58 million) in well under a month. That's the earliest the cap has been reached in the program's history, three and a half months earlier than...
Despite Guidelines, Many Georgia Students Not “College Ready”
Below is a guest blog by Dr. Eric Wearne of Georgia Gwinnett College and formerly with the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. Dr. Wearne currently leads GCO's College & Career Pathways working group. **************************** By: Dr. Eric Wearne What it...
Cage-Busting Leadership: Reforming Public Education from Within
Our team at GCO had the privilege of hosting Dr. Rick Hess this week. On Tuesday, Dr. Hess, who is an education scholar (and prolific writer) with the American Enterprise Institute, spoke at an early morning breakfast attended by a group of about 45 people that...
New Report: Increasing Employment Opportunities for Ex-Offenders
This week, Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) published its first report on ways to improve reentry for ex-offenders in the state. The report focuses on increasing employment opportunities for ex-offenders and offers six recommendations for the State of Georgia to...
MEDIA MENTIONS
CENTER SQUARE: Kemp reopens parts of Georgia’s economy; some businesses can open Friday
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced plans Monday to reopen certain businesses across the state, rolling back part of the stay-at-home order scheduled to expire April 30. Gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, nail techs and...
WSAV – Georgia’s May primary could get postponed again
Humanitarian issues are the basis behind some concern that Georgia’s already postponed presidential primary election may get postponed a second time. The issue was brought up again after Governor Kemp’s order to shelter in place. Secretary of State Brad...
THE CENTER SQUARE – SNAP applications in Georgia jump sharply during COVID-19 crisis
Applications to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have increased by 79 percent in less than a week in Georgia amid the COVID-19 outbreak, state officials said. The health crisis, which has led to the social distancing requirements and...
THE CENTER SQUARE – Georgia Senate approves plan to expand Special Needs Scholarship program
A bill that could increase the number of scholarships the Georgia Department of Education awards to special needs students is on its way to the House for review. Senate Bill 386 would expand the eligibility requirements for the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship. The...
THE CENTER SQUARE – Higher tax incentives for adoption could result in Georgia revenue loss of more than $12M
Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposal to increase foster care adoption tax credits could result in a state revenue loss of $12.8 million over the next five years, according to fiscal researchers. Kemp wants the General Assembly to increase the annual tax incentive from $2,000 to...
MCDUFFIE PROGRESS – Georgia Education Savings Account debate comes in the midst of tax-credit scholarship court battle
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a Montana school choice case that could change how public funds are used to support private religious schools in Georgia, while lawmakers are expected to push for more vouchers during this legislative session.......
THE CENTER SQUARE – Georgia Education Savings Account debate comes in the midst of tax-credit scholarship court battle
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a Montana school choice case that could change how public funds are used to support private religious schools in Georgia, while lawmakers are expected to push for more vouchers during this legislative session.......
AJC – Parental paid leave makes inroads in Georgia after years of resistance
Three months of paid leave, maid service and a year of free diapers. Those are among the parental perks the Midtown software firm SalesLoft is using to lure top talent through its doors — and keep them there. SalesLoft is an outlier among companies in Georgia, which...
