With the start of a new term for many school board members across the state, monthly meetings are getting underway. It’s time for a candid discussion about what truly happens in those monthly meetings supposedly guiding children’s education.
The monthly ritual unfolds like clockwork. Board members file in, take their seats, and prepare for another evening of what can only be described as passive performative leadership. The evening begins with recognitions to set the tone. Everyone celebrates a student or employee individual achievement, or maybe the marching band’s recent statewide competition win.
Next comes the administrative minutia (during which half the audience leaves). The facilities director then updates everyone about a new HVAC system. The superintendent presents a new initiative or new curriculum the district is purchasing. Board members nod approvingly, then vote to approve a few contracts. A couple of hours later, everyone goes home feeling productive.
Meanwhile, a crisis lurks beneath this carefully choreographed performance: Only one-third of American fourth-graders read at grade level. Math proficiency has plummeted to decades-low levels. But you wouldn’t know it from most board meetings, where student achievement data often receives less attention than the new locker room decor.
This disconnect is the result of a gradual but profound shift in how school board members view their role – from ensuring student success to merely observing administrative processes. How can school board members serve their fundamental purpose, and how can citizens hold them accountable?
Guest columnist Elliot Pierce discusses the lost role of school board leadership in this week’s commentary. We also have the latest news and analysis from the last week, including:
- Legislation to make the floating homestead exemption mandatory is expected after many local governments begin to opt-out
- Gov. Kemp says tort reform is his top priority
- Georgia economy expected to slow in 2025, but remain stronger than nation overall
- Inflation rises to its highest level since July
Have a great weekend,
– Kyle Wingfield
Friday’s Freshest
A new legislative session begins as Kemp enters final biennium
As we start a new session, you have freshman legislators, full of ideas and campaign promises, learning the daily rhythm. There are pages and new aides still finding their way around the building. All the lobbyists think their bills might pass, and all the reporters are poking around to discern which of them are right about that. The time for cynicism, celebration and dejection, and, above all, relief that it ended – that time will arrive by late March. For now, optimism abounds.
Preparing for the 2025 Georgia legislative session
The new year brings a new legislative session and a new crop of issues to be debated in the General Assembly over the next three months. After the November elections, the state House will welcome 20 new representatives, including eight Republicans and 12 Democrats, among their 180 members. While the Democrats won a net gain of two seats, Republicans retained their majority in the House. Republicans maintained their 33-23 majority in the state Senate, which will welcome three Democrats and one Republican in 2025.
Georgia schools spent billions in COVID-19 relief dollars, but on what, exactly?
The feds gave Georgia’s 10 most heavily populated school districts more than $3 billion combined for COVID-related relief. Finding the information about who got what and at what cost is one thing, but trying to understand what each listed category actually means and what exactly it paid for is complicated to say the least. Much of the dashboard is coded in government jargon. Ask a GaDOE staff member for clarity and, in return, they’ll ask for a time-consuming and costly open records request.
Use the Promise Scholarship to homeschool, if you want
There has long been a belief in the homeschool community that you should never accept government funds of any kind. The thinking was that if you are willing to accept government funds, you open your doors to government intrusion. It was essentially a “we won’t bother you if you don’t bother us” mentality. But why should families consider using the Promise Scholarship to homeschool?
Legislature has a number of education issues to tackle in 2025
Getting K-12 education right is one of the most important tasks for the General Assembly. That’s why lawmakers devote the largest chunk of the budget – $13.25 billion out of the state’s $36.14 billion in general funds, or more than a third of the total – to K-12 education. But simply spending more money won’t guarantee success. The money needs to be spent wisely, with priorities informed by current best practices about student needs and sharpened by a healthy sense of competition.
The Latest
Economy
Kemp pushes tort reform, introduces tax cut in State of the State
Gov. Brian Kemp hinted at a special session if lawmakers don’t pass tort reform legislation during his State of the State address Thursday. The second-term Republican called lack of tort reform one of the biggest threats to the state’s future. The governor also announced a new income tax cut on top of cuts that brought the rate to 5.39%.
Georgia economy expected to slow in 2025, but remain stronger than nation overall
Georgia’s economy will likely see slower but continued growth in 2025, according to forecasters at the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual outlook meeting. University of Georgia Terry College of Business Dean Ben Ayers told attendees Wednesday that although employment gains will moderate compared to last year, they should still outpace the national average.
Georgia sees December tax revenue rise
The State of Georgia’s net tax collections in the month of December totaled almost $3.34 billion, for an increase of $291.4 million, or 9.6%, compared to December 2023, when net tax collections approached $3.05 billion for the month. Year-to-date, net tax revenue collections increased by $283.1 million, or a 1.8% increase.
Energy and food prices drove inflation in December
Inflation rose in December to its highest level since July with much of the increase driven by increasing energy and food prices. The Labor Department released the consumer price index – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – for December, which showed that prices were 2.9% higher than a year ago following a 0.4% increase from the prior month.
Education
Kemp proposes new money for school safety
Gov. Brian Kemp is proposing an additional $50 million for school safety grants. The new funding would bring the total for the grants to $159 million, with each school receiving $68,760, Kemp said in a news conference this week. The governor also pitched an additional $872,000 in the school funding formula to improve the ratio of students to school psychologists.
GaDOE holds multi-agency summit, launches attendance dashboard and PSA
The Georgia Department of Education is launching several initiatives to combat chronic absenteeism. “Chronic absenteeism” refers to the number of students missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, divided by the number of students enrolled. Georgia’s current chronic absenteeism rate is 20.7% – this is the 17th-best rate in the nation.
Government accountability
Tort reform tops Kemp’s legislative agenda
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed Tuesday that tort reform is his No. 1 legislative priority. Speaking at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs and Issues breakfast, the governor asked for input. Georgia ranked fourth in the American Tort Reform Association’s “Judicial Hellholes” report, dropping from the top spot only because other states had a larger volume of “abuses,” the organization said.
Is Congress even trying? 3,248 new rules vs. 175 laws
In 2024, federal agencies issued 3,248 rules and regulations, while Congress enacted only 175 laws. Despite annual variability, the data consistently reveals Congress’s abdication of its constitutional role in lawmaking, allowing federal agencies to dominate certain aspects of policy creation. Over the past decade, the average has been 23 rules for every law enacted.
FDA bans artificial red dye: What this means for consumers
The Food and Drug Administration announced that the U.S. food supply will no longer have Red No. 3, which had been primarily used in a wide range of food products, such as candy, cakes and cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frostings and icings, as well as certain ingested drugs. For over three decades, it has also been banned in cosmetics and topical drugs because of data demonstrating that it is associated with animal carcinogenicity.
Property taxes
Rural Georgia governments scramble to decide on new homestead tax exemption
The majority of Georgians voted yes in November for a statewide floating homestead exemption that would limit annual increases on assessed values of homesteads, unless a local government chooses to opt out. However, rural governments across the state are realizing the benefit of this exemption might not extend beyond suburbs near Georgia’s capital.
Hufstetler to draft bill mandating floating homestead exemption
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, expects to draft legislation to make the floating homestead exemption created by House Bill 581 mandatory — eliminating the option to opt out. When legislators first drafted the bill, Hufstetler wanted it to be mandatory, but the majority agreed to allow local taxing authorities to opt out of the homestead exemption.
Bonus
Athletes find new way to avoid taxes
Shohei Ohtani famously signed a record-breaking $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023—but with $680 million of that contract deferred, to be paid out equally from 2034 through 2043. If he doesn’t live in California during that decade, he could save between $90 million and $100 million in state taxes. The Dodgers didn’t stop there. And neither have other teams.
The state flat tax revolution: Where things stand today
In the first century of state income taxation, only four states transitioned from a graduated-rate to a single-rate, or flat, individual income tax structure. But the past four years have brought significant focus on tax relief, and, with that, something of a flat tax revolution. In the 15 months from July 2021 to September 2022, five states, including Georgia, enacted laws to transform their graduated-rate income taxes into single-rate tax structures.
Why eggs are selling for over $9 a dozen in some places—and when prices are expected to drop
The price of eggs has soared in the past few months, and shoppers are doing double takes as a dozen eggs rings up at more than $9 at some retailers. In December 2024, wholesale eggs averaged $4.62 per dozen. But prices vary significantly by region due to transportation costs, local demand and market competition, with average costs of $8.04 in California and $6.25 in New York as of Jan. 10.
Quotes of Note
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Now our nation has decided to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by setting aside a day each year not just to recall his birth, but to remember the causes he lived for, the dreams he sought, and the ideals he held so deeply.” – Ronald Reagan, when signing the bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday on November 2, 1983
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” – George Washington, 1789, first inaugural address
