State School Superintendent Richard Woods (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Georgia’s high-school graduation rate remained steady this year despite the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Peach State posted a graduation rate of 83.7% for the 2020-2021 school term, down slightly from the 83.8% rate achieved during the previous term, the Georgia Department of Education reported Thursday.
COVID-19 forced school districts to make a series of adjustments during the last school year, with some resorting to virtual instruction for long periods but others able to get students back into their classrooms by exercising safety precautions included mask wearing and social distancing.
“Given the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am pleased to see Georgia’s graduation rate holding steady,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said.
“Combined with the class of 2021’s increases in ACT and SAT scores, this is an encouraging indicator about the work being done in public schools. Teachers and students have continued to succeed in the face of challenging circumstances.”
High-school graduation rates have risen steadily during the past decade. This year’s rate marked an increase of 14% over the class of 2012.
Meanwhile, two Georgia high schools – Berrien Academy Performance Learning Center and Clarkston High School – have been taken off a federal list of schools targeted for low graduation rates.
“An exit from CSI (Comprehensive Support and Improvement) status means a school has done hard work that produced measurable improvements for their students,” Woods said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry
ATLANTA – With the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Georgia steadily declining, more and more Georgians are driving and traveling.
That encouraging trend is showing up in monthly tax collections reported by the state Department of Transportation.
The DOT collected $174 million in motor fuels tax revenue last month, state Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry told members of the State Transportation Board Thursday. That represents a 9.1% increase over September of last year.
During the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the agency collected $558.4 million in motor fuel taxes, a 9.4% increase over July, August and September 2020.
Revenues from the state tax on gasoline and other motor fuels plummeted when the coronavirus pandemic first struck Georgia in March of last year but were starting to recover by August 2020.
Today, tax collections are not only up over last year at this time but are even exceeding pre-pandemic levels, McMurry said Thursday. In fact, the last three months saw an increase in motor fuel revenue of $39.4 million over July, August and September 2019, well before the pandemic.
“People are out and about,” McMurry said. “These are positive signs.”
The numbers on the state’s hotel-motel tax are even more dramatic, evidence that people cooped up during the pandemic have resumed taking trips.
The DOT saw an increase of 37.5% in hotel tax revenue last month compared to September of last year and a whopping 50.3% rise in tax collections during the July, August and September quarter over those same months during the last fiscal year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A solar farm to be built in Southwest Georgia will provide clean energy to electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) across the state.
Ground was broken Wednesday on the 250-megawatt DeSoto Solar Farm in Lee County. Nashville, Tenn.-based solar developer Silicon Ranch Corp. will invest more than $220 million in the project.
“Since day one of my administration, one of my top priorities has been bringing good-paying jobs, investment, and greater opportunity to rural Georgia,” said Gov. Brian Kemp, who attended Wednesday’s ceremony.
“[It] further demonstrates the key role that our electric cooperatives and private sector partners are playing as economic development engines for rural communities across the Peach State.”
The project will be delivered in three phases over the next two to three years, with construction of the first phase due to start soon.
Silicon Ranch plans to hire more than 400 craft workers to build the first phase over the next 12 months.
The first phase will provide power to Walton EMC to provide renewable energy to Facebook’s $1 billion data center expansion in Newton County. Green Power EMC, a renewable energy provider owned by 38 Georgia EMCs, also will purchase a portion of the facility’s power output to provide to participating electric cooperatives in the state.
The DeSoto Solar Farm will use Silicon Ranch’s trademark Regenerative Energy land management model, which co-locates solar energy production with regenerative agricultural practices.
When the solar farm is operational, Silicon Ranch will restore the land to a functioning grassland ecosystem while keeping the project in agricultural production through managed sheep grazing.
“Silicon Ranch recognizes our responsibility to be good stewards of the land we occupy by taking a holistic approach to the work we do, from conception to completion and beyond,” said Matt Kisber, co-founder and chairman of Silicon Ranch.
“Green Power EMC is excited about this large-scale solar energy project,” said Wendy Sellers, board chairman at Green Power EMC. “Among the principles that rural electric cooperatives share is concern for community, and we are pleased that we can support economic development in Lee County.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA — One day after a Republican U.S. Senate rival launched a statewide radio ad campaign, University of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker released a digital ad focusing on his Wrightsville hometown roots.
The ad features Don Norton, head football coach and athletic director at Johnson County High School.
“People always talk about what a great player he was,” Norton says in the ad. “To me and to our kids here at Johnson County High School, he’s more of a role model and a fantastic human being. He treats everybody as if they are more important than he is.
“He is a small-town guy who lifts people up instead of bringing them down. … I think Herschel Walker would make a great leader. He’s humble. He’s honest. He’s sincere, and he’s always stood for the right things.”
On Tuesday, one of Walker’s three GOP rivals, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, began running a radio ad statewide highlighting his recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. In the ad, Black criticized Walker – who has been endorsed by former president Donald Trump – for what Black’s campaign called Walker’s pro-amnesty, pro-citizenship position on illegal immigration.
Walker’s campaign responded by declaring Walker backs Trump’s position on the importance of securing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock – the Democrat Walker, Black, Kelvin King and Latham Saddler want to unseat — reported his campaign raised more than $9.5 million during third quarter of this year in a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Earlier this month, Walker reported raising $3.7 million during the first five weeks of his campaign. Contributions came from nearly 50,000 donors from all 50 states.
Black raised more than $1.3 million through Sept. 30, according to his third-quarter campaign finance report.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Fulton County Chief Superior Court Judge Christopher Brasher appears before a Senate committee.
Only hours after another deadly shooting in Atlanta, several law enforcement officials told members of the Georgia Senate Public Safety Committee Wednesday what they need to lower crime rates and reduce stress on their judicial systems.
“If you want crime to come down, you need to invest in those patrol officers working the street,” said Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia. “They’re the first line of defense.
“The second step is investing in seasoned prosecutors and public defenders. We’ve been begging for resources for years. Our district attorneys and public defenders are overworked, and we’re losing good, experienced people.”
Wednesday’s committee meeting was the second of three on rising crime throughout metro Atlanta during the pandemic.
“Something’s broken. Something’s not working,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, who chairs the committee. “We need to clean up Atlanta.”
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant told the committee that crime is dropping in the city.
Atlanta police chief Rodney Bryant appears before a Senate committee.
“Our most aggressive crime reduction plans went into effect over the summer, around Memorial Day,” Bryant said. “Our murder rate at that time was 63% higher than it was last year. Now, it’s at 15% and falling. Rapes were 108% higher than last year, and now they’re at 67% higher and declining. The only numbers that are increasing are larcenies and thefts.”
Early Wednesday morning, two people – including the suspected gunman – were killed in a shooting at a Midtown Atlanta luxury high-rise, Atlanta police told local media. The shooting happened around 3:30 am, according to Atlanta police, at Atlantic House, a 32-story high rise that’s also one of the city’s tallest residential buildings.
Atlanta Chief Operating Officer Jon Keen told the committee outgoing Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms made crime reduction a top priority this year and increased the city’s public safety budget by 15%. The city also has installed about 250 additional cameras throughout Atlanta, he said.
Atlanta COO Jon Keen appears before a Senate committee.
“Our top priority is hiring additional police officers, and we have increased our hiring rates to meet and exceed our targets,” Keen said.
Crime in Atlanta is one of the factors behind a move to create a city of Buckhead, which would remove about 25 square miles – or about 18% of the city of Atlanta’s land area – and create Georgia’s 10th largest municipality. It would also include about 20% of the city’s population and cost the city of Atlanta more than $250 million in property, sales and lodging taxes, as well as business license revenues.
Earlier this week, several members of Atlanta’s legislative delegation held a press conference to criticize the move. State Sen. Nan Orrock denounced the idea as preposterous.
“This is the worst thing we can do for Atlanta but also for Buckhead and Georgia,” she said. “Carving up a capital city will increase political, social and civil disorder.”
On Wednesday, Fulton County Chief Superior Court Judge Christopher Brasher said judicial departments need better data.
“There are between 80,000 and 100,000 unentered dispositions throughout the state,” he said, meaning judges often don’t have current information on detainees and their potential criminal history.
“We also need better supervision of pretrial release detainees,” Brasher said. “There are 3,100 people in our Fulton jail right now, and that’s 600 over capacity.”
Judge Lori Duff of the Municipal Court of Monroe is also president of the Council of Municipal Court Judges.
“We have few tools in our toolboxes,” she said. “Our limited jail space is reserved for more serious offenses. Georgia does not have the resources to provide detox rehabilitation, address mental health issues, or provide financial literacy or assistance systems that can help keep people out of our system.”
The committee’s final meeting on Atlanta crime is scheduled for Nov. 3, which is also the first day of the special legislative session in which Georgia’s state and congressional districts will be redrawn in accordance with new U.S. Census numbers.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
