ATLANTA — Nearly nine out of every 10 Georgia high school students in the class of 2025 earned a diploma within four years, setting a record.
With one exception, Georgia’s on-time graduation rate has increased every year since the class of 2011. That was the first class to earn diplomas under a new federally mandated counting system that required schools to account for students who transferred away and to base the grad rate on four years of high school.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods attributed the relentless gains to strategies such as credit recovery, wherein students retake failed courses. He also pointed to tutoring and extra services for those deemed to be at risk of failure.
“While more work remains to be done, more Georgia students are graduating than ever before – and they’re doing so prepared to pursue futures full of opportunity,” Woods said in a statement Monday announcing the 2025 rates for the state and for school districts.
The 2025 statewide average was 87.2%, up nearly two percentage points from the prior year when it was 85.4%.
It has climbed nearly every year since the new method of calculation was implemented in 2011, when 67.4% graduated on time. The only outlier was the class of 2021, which experienced half of junior year and all of senior year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their rate fell a tenth of a percentage point from the prior year to 83.7%.
Then, the statewide rate started rising again, first by several decimal points a year, then by a full point in 2024, leading to the relatively big increase last spring.
Under the federal “four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate,” schools must count all students who enroll into their class year during high school. Officials can only subtract students who transfer out after confirming they reenrolled at another school.
The biggest increase — more than 6 percentage points — occurred from 2014 to 2015, when the rate reached 79%. Experts at that time attributed the gains at least in part to improved tracking of students who disenrolled, with administrators becoming more adept at keeping records that showed their former students had landed at another school.
But the gains have been grinding since then, with an annual 1-point increase or less becoming the norm. Some researchers found evidence that similar gains nationally had resulted more from teaching than from bookkeeping, with tactics such as credit recovery and increased accountability contributing to the momentum.
Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at the Georgia Governor’s Tourism Conference in Savannah on Friday, Sept. 26. (Contributed/Explore Georgia)
ATLANTA — Tourists and business travelers continued flocking to the Peach State last year, injecting billions into the economy, according to new state numbers from Gov. Brian Kemp.
A record 174.2 million traveled across the country and the globe to visit Georgia in 2024 and spent $45.2 billion, up 4% from the year before, he said in a statement issued by his office Friday.
The governor traveled to Savannah for a state tourism conference where he revealed the numbers. He credited Georgia’s cultural attractions, its communities and its scenery — from coasts to mountains — for a third record-breaking year in a row.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development said more than 17 million of the visitors were domestic travelers here for business and conventions. Their numbers were up nearly 5%, accounting for $4.6 billion in spending.
Tourism is the state’s second-largest economic contributor, according to the agency.
The influx — more than 15 times the state population of 11.2 million last year — bolstered the bottom lines of hotels, restaurants and recreation and transportation businesses.
Government also took a $5.1 billion cut, with Kemp saying the state and local tax revenues saved each household an average $1,285 in taxes.
ATLANTA — The private health information of more than 900 Medicaid recipients in Georgia may have been exposed in July, according to a state contractor.
Gainwell Technologies, the fiscal agent for Medicaid in Georgia, disclosed the incident Friday, saying an unauthorized caller gained access to a reimbursement account and was able to view payment information.
The caller wanted to access payments to providers, the company said through a spokesperson.
“There is no indication that the caller attempted to access individual member accounts; however, the caller was able to view billing statements that included the names, Medicaid member IDs, coverage and payment information for claims and date ranges for when services were provided under Georgia Medicaid,” the company said in a statement.
Social Security numbers were not disclosed in the July 23 incident, the statement said.
Gainwell contracts with the state Department of Community Health. A department spokesperson could not be reached for comment Friday.
Gainwell said it is not aware of any misuse of personal information but is offering free credit monitoring for a year to those affected. The company said it notified 912 Medicaid members whose protected health information might have been disclosed.
Anyone who received a notification letter can call IDX, the identity theft protection service that Gainwell is providing, at 1-833-788-9712.
ATLANTA — For a dozen years in a row now, Georgia has ranked at the top of an economic development magazine’s listing of the best states for doing business.
In a new report, Area Development Magazine cites affordable housing, reliable child care and transportation as key determinants for the state’s consecutive run atop its charts.
“Executives are asking not just where they can find talent, but where that talent can live and thrive,” said the trade journal, explaining what helped buoy the state’s ranking. The measure is seen as a marker of a state’s attractiveness to growing companies that can bring new jobs.
The new rankings came out a week after an August jobs report from the state Department of Labor. The Sept. 18 state release showed nearly five million employed, with unemployment basically unchanged from July.
Area Development Magazine’s rankings are based on a survey of consultants who help companies choose where to locate. They considered numerous factors, including permitting ease, workforce training, climate risks, taxes, business incentives, reliable energy infrastructure, support for technology innovation, and business-friendly policies.
Southern states led the list, with Georgia ahead of South Carolina, Texas and North Carolina. Ohio ranked fifth, followed by four more states in the South, with Michigan rounding out the top 10.
Gov. Brian Kemp credited Georgia’s ranking to a “team approach” to economic development with the legislature and local leaders.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce credited teamwork between elected officials and the business community, with President and CEO Chris Clark calling Georgia the “economic envy of the nation.”
The magazine said that the criteria are changing. Tax credits and cheap land are no longer the sole selling point as access to energy, water and housing becoming crucial.
Long-term environmental resilience will be key, too, the publication said, as insurers evaluate risk of flooding, fire, extreme heat or drought. “Expect more companies to weigh climate risk and water access with growing seriousness,” the publication said, adding that Georgia is a leader in that category.
ATLANTA — Georgia’s unique approach to Medicaid was set to expire this month, but the state just got a one-year extension from the federal government.
The Pathways to Coverage program, which requires recipients to prove that they work, volunteer or take classes 80 hours a month, will now run through 2026, with modifications intended to increase the number of people who are covered.
As of May, 23 months into the program, there were 7,463 enrolled, well short of the state’s initial projections of 47,000, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services observed in its extension notice to the Georgia Department of Community Health Tuesday.
To “streamline” compliance and expand coverage, Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration asked for and received permission to amend the program. Rather than requiring recipients to report monthly about their work and other qualifying activities, they will report annually.
And two new qualifying categories were added: parents of children under age 6 do not have to work or engage in other activities if the child is enrolled in Medicaid; and childless, able-bodied adults can meet the requirements by complying with other programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Kemp’s office said the extension “further validates” Georgia’s approach to Medicaid, which will soon be a requirement in every state under new federal law.
A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that Georgia spent two-thirds of implementation costs on administration rather than on medical assistance, with more than half of the $80 million going to contractors.
Kemp blamed the administration of then-President Joe Biden for driving up costs by obstructing implementation. Kemp praised President Donald Trump.
“Unlike the previous administration which chose to sue, obstruct, and delay, President Trump and his team have worked alongside us to improve Georgia Pathways and ultimately deliver a better program to Georgians who need it most,” Kemp said in a statement Thursday. “We look forward to continuing that partnership in the months ahead.”
