Current events are forcing schools to be responsible for managing public discord on the subjects of the 1st and 2nd Amendments. It is equally unfair to put that burden on our schools as it is unfair to force teachers to carry guns. But at last I guess this is a part of making America great
Former State School Superintendent John Barge qualified this afternoon for his old job. He will face incumbent State School Superintendent Richard Woods. Barge was elected in 2010 without support from the Republican establishment. His tenure was notable for frequently butting heads with Governor Deal. In 2012, Barge opposed Republican lawmakers’ push for charter school legislation.
With qualifying for elections set to begin next Monday, another round of retirement announcements is forthcoming. Today, we spotlight that Rep Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) will be ending his tenure in the Georgia House of Representatives at the end of his term. Coleman is the Chairman of the House Education Committee. In my experience, he’s been
Yesterday I dedicated this week’s column to a stall in both momentum and political will to fully implement school choice in Georgia. Today I’d like to focus on one bill – House Bill 430 – to explain why the gap between traditional local schools and public charter schools is even larger than is usually discussed.
This week’s Courier Herald column: School Choice has been a stated policy goal of the Republican Party and most GOP candidates since before control of the Governor’s mansion switched hands in 2002. Some progress has been made. State Charter Schools were formed, then re-authorized after losing a Supreme Court case and winning on the ballot
This week’s Courier Herald column: It’s National School Choice week across the country, and several organizations will make their presence felt at Georgia’s Capitol this week. Many will be patted on the heads and told by legislators and candidates how important school choice is to them. We’ve been hearing this for years. Lately, however, tangible
This week’s Courier Herald column: The page has turned on the calendar and we have a fresh new year ahead of us. It’s a time of year brimming with optimism – even more so than usual if you’re a UGA fan. If you’re not, there’s still time to make a resolution to fix that. The
This week’s Courier Herald column: We’re now just days away from Christmas. A week later is New Years. After a brief time to give resolutions an old college try, legislators will convene in Atlanta for a statewide election year session of the Georgia General assembly. It is with these tight deadlines in mind that I
State Representative Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) is assigned to the committee that determines which public universities in Georgia get tax dollars. Recently, an open records request uncovered Ehrhart used his position to pressure the President of Kennesaw State University to act in favor of his personal bias. Ehrhart was apparently offended by the KSU cheerleaders’
We have a battle over how to document success in Georgia’s public schools, and it pits Governor Nathan Deal and the State Board of Education versus the State School Superintendent, Richard Woods. At the crux of the issue is the federal “Every Student Succeeds Act”, which requires states to file a plan with the Federal
