ATLANTA – While Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly tangle over guns, noncitizen voting and Medicaid expansion, education could become the most highly charged issue of the election-year session that began last month.
GOP Gov. Brian Kemp set the tone during his State of the State address, promising to wade into in an aspect of education Democrats and educators want the state to stay out of – what teachers can teach.
“I look forward to working with members of the General Assembly this legislative session to protect our students from divisive ideologies – like critical race theory – that pit kids against each other,” he told a joint session of the state House and Senate.
The Georgia Board of Education adopted a resolution last June essentially endorsing Kemp’s position opposing the teaching of critical race theory, which emphasizes the existence of systemic racism in America. But the resolution doesn’t carry the weight of law.
Republican lawmakers are looking to codify the GOP’s stance against critical race theory into state law with four bills – two in the state House of Representatives and two in the Georgia Senate.
All four of the bills would apply to elementary and secondary schools across the state. While only one – Senate Bill 377 – specifically targets Georgia’s public colleges and universities and the state’s technical colleges, all four mention “state agencies,” a term that includes the University System of Georgia and the technical college system.
“We must stop divisive concepts from being taught in Georgia colleges and universities and seeping down into our K-12 schools – concepts that an overwhelming majority of Georgians outright reject,” said Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, chief sponsor of Senate Bill 377 and one of Kemp’s Senate floor leaders.
“We must ensure that no student is taught to feel guilty or ‘less than’ because of how they were born.”
Educators bristle at what they see as interference in their ability to teach.
Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia Association of University Professors, called the bills “educational gag orders.”
Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, which represents elementary and secondary teachers, said Republicans are launching an “attack on public education” by injecting themselves into an aspect of education where they don’t belong.
“Educators are experts on curriculum and instruction,” she said. “Educators should be in charge of of curriculum and instruction, not elected officials.”
Besides the resentment educators feel toward politicians encroaching on teachers’ roles, dictating what can be taught in Georgia schools is also stifling to students, Morgan said.
“Children are curious,” she said. “When we have this legislation attempting to censor how we are teaching history … the teacher in many cases will not answer a question. What message is that giving the child? … Children should be allowed to ask difficult questions.”
“[Senate Bill 377] says certain concepts can be taught but only in an ‘objective’ way and without ‘endorsement,’ ” Boedy added. “To somehow divide education into divisive concepts that one can’t opine on and non-divisive ones that merit opinion is malpractice for an educator.”
One key aspect to the debate over critical race theory is whether it is even being taught in Georgia schools. Democrats say it is not and that Republicans are stirring up fear among GOP base voters to gin up support at the polls this fall.
But state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, who is running for lieutenant governor, sent a letter to the state Board of Education last month asserting that the Gwinnett County School District may have begun teaching critical race theory.
“The syllabus appears to have been since removed from the district’s website,” Jones wrote. “But the notion that the largest school district in our state would be surreptitiously injecting such divisive curriculum into our children’s classrooms – and then attempting to cover it up – is both egregious and completely unacceptable.”
Lawmakers will kick off the debate over critical race theory on Monday when the Senate Education and Youth Committee holds a hearing on Hatchett’s bill.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr raised more than $825,000 toward his reelection bid during the last half of last year, the Republican’s campaign reported Thursday.
Carr is seeking his second full term as the state’s top lawyer. He was appointed to the position in 2016 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal to fill a vacancy.
Carr was elected attorney general in 2018, winning 51.3% of the vote in defeating Democrat Charlie Bailey.
Carr’s fundraising during the last six months of 2021 brought his total contributions for the 2022 election cycle to more than $2.4 million. That puts him in a much better position than four years ago, when he had raised slightly more than $1 million through this point in the election cycle, Carr campaign spokesman Brian Robinson wrote in an email.
After spending nearly $880,000 on the campaign thus far, Carr reported more than $1.5 million cash on hand as of Dec. 31.
While Carr is unopposed for the Republican nomination, two Democrats are vying to challenge the GOP incumbent in November.
State Sen. Jen Jordan of Atlanta raised more than $650,000 during the last half of last year, bringing her total campaign fundraising thus far to more than $1.3 million, according to a report filed with the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission. She reported nearly $1.1 million cash on hand as of the end of December.
Atlanta lawyer Christian Wise Smith announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination this week. As a result, he won’t be required to file a report on his campaign finances with the state until the end of April.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Opponents of a controversial plan to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp scored a major victory Thursday when The Chemours Company announced it will not buy the mine or the company behind the project.
Chemours’ announcement came in response to a shareholder proposal filed last November by Green Century Capital Management, the investment advisor to an environmentally responsible family of mutual funds.
Chemours, an American chemical company spun off of DuPont, had been looking into acquiring Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals, which is seeking permits to mine titanium dioxide at a site three miles from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest black water swamp in North America.
Opponents have been warning the mine could damage adjacent wetlands and permanently affect the hydrology of the entire 438,000-acre swamp.
In a news release, Chemours also committed not to do business with Twin Pines or buy titanium from the Okefenokee-adjacent project at any time in the foreseeable future.
Chemours will announce a further commitment to “ensure the value of the Okefenokee is maintained” and made it clear that it has no plans to mine next to the refuge.
“We applaud Chemours’ commitment to protect the Okefenokee,” said Thomas Peterson, shareholder advocate with Green Century. “Chemours’ decision to disavow any interest in the Twin Pines project sends an important signal: The leading company in the industry is stating that titanium mining next to the refuge is a non-starter.”
Green Century is withdrawing its shareholder proposal in exchange for the public announcement of Chemours’ commitments to protect the Okefenokee.
The company’s action follows in the footsteps of DuPont, its corporate predecessor. DuPont abandoned a mining project next to the Okefenokee in the early 2000s, pledging instead to protect the area.
“These are the sorts of cases where big commitments about sustainability get tested and we learn whether corporate pledges on climate and biodiversity are to be trusted,” said Ivan Frishberg, chief sustainability officer for Amalgamated Bank, which supported the engagement with Chemours.
“We are very glad that Chemours has gone beyond requesting trust and is offering assurance that the Okefenokee is off limits.”
Scientists have maintained the proposed mining project would lower the swamp’s water level, causing serious damage to the ecology and wildlife habitat.
More than 100,000 public comments have been filed with the state and federal governments opposing the Twin Pines project. Those opponents include Bruce Babbitt, who served as interior secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Hank Paulson, who was President George W. Bush’s treasury secretary.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A state Senate committee held a hearing Thursday on three legislative proposals related to marijuana ranging from expanding Georgia’s medical marijuana program to legalizing recreational use of the drug.
But in the conservative General Assembly, the odds of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee voting on any of the measures are long at best.
Sen. Sheikh Rahman, D-Lawrenceville, has introduced a constitutional amendment calling for a statewide referendum asking voters to decide whether to legalize the production and sale of marijuana in Georgia for the recreational use of adults ages 21 and older.
Tax revenue from marijuana sales would be dedicated to education and transportation infrastructure.
An accompanying bill would spell out how the production and sale of marijuana would be regulated in Georgia, including the licensing process that would govern the industry.
“This would be highly regulated, not just selling out of convenience stores,” Rahman said.
A third bill pertains only to the existing medical marijuana program the General Assembly authorized in 2019. It would broaden the current program by authorizing more dispensaries to sell low-THC cannabis oil and for the first time allow qualifying adult patients in Georgia to receive up to 2 ounces of leafy marijuana along with low-THC oil.
Studies in the 18 states that have legalized recreational use of marijuana have found it has not led to increased use of other drugs, including opioids, Rahman told committee members.
But several opponents of Rahman’s bills who addressed the committee disagreed.
Jeff Breedlove, chief of communications and policy with the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse, cited a report from the Colorado Health Institute showing opioid abuse rose in that state after recreational use of marijuana was legalized.
“Any notion that marijuana is not a gateway drug is absurd,” said Breedlove. “This bill is dangerous to the people of Georgia.”
Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, said legalizing marijuana also would wreak havoc with commercial trucking in Georgia because of the length of time marijuana stays in a person’s system after using the drug.
“There’s no field sobriety test like there is for alcohol,” he said.
Representatives of a couple of faith-based groups also testified in opposition to legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – An Atlanta lawyer and voting rights advocate has entered the race for Georgia attorney general.
Christian Wise Smith declared his candidacy Thursday to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Attorney General Chris Carr.
“I believe in the basic promise that our country was built on – that God created all people equal and that justice and opportunity should exist for everyone. But I know that right now in Georgia, we aren’t doing enough to live up to that promise,” Wise Smith said.
“An attorney general has to know when to bring the full weight of justice to the dangerous and the corrupt, when to give someone a second chance … and have the courage to fight back when the right to vote is under attack.”
Wise Smith is a former assistant city solicitor in Atlanta and a former prosecutor in Fulton County.
He also is the founder and president of the National Social Justice Alliance, where he works to address issues of equity in citizenship and voting, and to educate young Georgians about the important of participating in elections.
Wise Smith also wrote “Wise Up Adventure Series: Chris and Key Go Vote,” a children’s book about voting.
The Cincinnati native now lives in Sandy Springs.
Wise Smith joins state Sen. Jen Jordan of Atlanta in the Democratic field for attorney general. Charlie Bailey, a former Democratic candidate for Georgia’s top lawyer, dropped out of the race recently to run instead for lieutenant governor.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
