Today, the Georgia Senate failed to pass Senate Bill 601, the Georgia Education Freedom Act, by a vote of 20-29. The bill would have created Promise Scholarships, offering Georgia families up to $6,000 a year for any approved education expense, such as private school tuition, tutoring, homeschool curriculum, virtual classes, college classes, therapies (for kids with special needs), or technology.

The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “What a sad day for kids in Georgia. It’s disappointing that the best interests of Georgia’s schoolchildren have once again fallen prey to politics and special-interest groups,” said Buzz Brockway, vice president of GCO. “While lawmakers will soon return to their relatively safe districts and jobs, tens of thousands of Georgia kids will be left—once again—without access to the options that would let them flourish. Simply put, a vote against S.B. 601 was a vote against the many Georgia families who desperately need help. Particularly as our state emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic where so many students are left behind, it’s unconscionable that we would deny this lifeline to families.”

A recent poll from GeorgiaCAN found that 72% of respondents favor “expanding educational options by allowing a child’s state education dollars to follow that student to the school that best fits their needs, whether that is public, private, magnet, charter, virtual, or homeschool.” Support cut across party lines, with 79% of Republicans in favor, 78% of Independents, and 64% of Democrats.

Yesterday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released state employment numbers that included major revisions going back to 1990. According to the revisions, Georgia had recovered all its jobs lost during the pandemic in December 2021. Prior to the revision, Georgia was three percentage points shy of that goal.

The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “For the January 2022 estimates, Georgia ranks 9th in the nation in recovering lost jobs due to the pandemic, having recovered 4.5% more than what were lost,” said Erik Randolph, GCO’s director of research. “Although Georgia remains short 137,600 jobs from its pre-pandemic job-growth trajectory, our state is fairing much better than other states that imposed more draconian lockdown measures due to COVID-19.”

On March 10th, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that in February the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The CPI is up 7.9% over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted.

The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “The United States is now in a precarious position where our rampant inflation rate is going to begin to infringe on the economic recovery,” said Erik Randolph, GCO’s director of research. “Stagflation could very well be just around the corner. As gas prices surge and there is no let-up in other categories, Americans will begin having to make cutbacks. The impact on the economy will be significant.”

 “We’re seeing firsthand the problem with accepting high levels of inflation as normal. When an unexpected event comes along, like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, it upends everything. The February inflation rate does not fully cover the most recent fallout from the invasion. We’re anticipating that the March CPI will be far worse, as the economic aftershocks of Russia’s war against Ukraine will be more fully baked in.”