ATLANTA – Legislation guaranteeing parents input into their children’s education cleared the Republican-controlled Georgia Senate Tuesday.
The bill, which passed 33-21 along party lines and now moves to the state House of Representatives, is part of an education agenda being pushed by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp that includes measures prohibiting the teaching of certain “divisive concepts” in Georgia schools and banning transgendered students born male from competing in girls’ sports.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights would give parents the right to review curriculum and other instructional material during the first two weeks of every nine-week grading period in public schools.
Principals or superintendents who receive a request for information from a parent would have three working days to provide it.
If the principal or superintendent is unable to share the information within that timeframe, they would have to provide the parent a written description of the material and a timeline for its delivery, not to exceed 30 days. Parents not satisfied with a local school’s decision on a request could appeal to the school district and, beyond that, to the state.
Parents also would be able to opt out of sex education instruction for their children and could prohibit photos or videos of their children unless necessary for public safety.
“At the end of the day, parents know what’s best for a child before the government,” said Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas
Senate Democrats argued the legislation is unnecessary because parents already can play a role in their children’s education if they choose to.
“Parents are invited to back-to-school nights and parent-teacher conferences,” said Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta. “They can attend school board meetings and many do. They can elect school board members.”
The bill would create an adversarial relationship between parents and teachers when they should be working together, Parent said.
“This bill creates a process for investigation and appeals … document production efforts that contribute to an atmosphere of censorship and overburdening of teachers,” she said.
Parent predicted the bill would worsen an already troublesome shortage of teachers in Georgia.
Supporters countered that a Parents’ Bill of Rights has become necessary in Georgia because in-home instruction during the coronavirus pandemic has shown parents what their children are learning that, in some cases, conflicts with their values.
“Our parents have learned more of what their children are being taught than ever before,” said Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone. “That’s what’s caused some of these concerns.”
“How can you sit here and fight against the rights of parents?” Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, asked the bill’s opponents from the Senate well. “We are simply returning control back to the parents that they have lost.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state awarded more than $422 million in federal economic stimulus grants Tuesday to help communities across Georgia improve their water and sewer systems.
The grants are part of Georgia’s share of $4.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed a committee of 13 Georgia lawmakers and state environmental agency officials to review applications submitted by local communities and choose which would receive grants.
“Because we remained focused on protecting lives and livelihoods throughout the pandemic, Georgia is now in a position to make strategic, transformational investments in our state’s water and sewer infrastructure,” Kemp said.
“I am proud to know that we have worked hard to prioritize projects which address pressing public health and environmental issues, support economic development, and enhance our ability to be good stewards of our water resources for generations to come.”
The money will be used to improve drinking water treatment, extend drinking water service into high-need areas, improve sewer systems and improve wastewater treatment.
The Water and Infrastructure Committee included Mark Williams, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and Rick Dunn, director of the state Environmental Protection Division.
The state awarded more than $400 million in federal stimulus grants three weeks ago for broadband projects.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed bipartisan legislation Monday that prohibits the state from doing business with companies that are boycotting Israel.
The Georgia House and Senate overwhelmingly passed different versions of House Bill 383 last year. It didn’t receive final passage until early in this year’s session when the House agreed to the Senate version.
Taking a stand in support of Israel is particularly important in the wake of growing anti-Semitism in the U.S. and across the Western world in recent years in the form of physical and verbal attacks, Kemp said during a brief bill-signing ceremony at the state Capitol.
“This legislation pushes back against that shameful and inexcusable prejudice,” he said. “It reasserts that hatred has no place in Georgia.”
The bill specifically takes aim at the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a Palestinian-led effort supporters say is to pressure the Israeli government into granting full civil rights to Palestinians.
“The movement is not about criticizing Israeli policy,” said Anat Sultan-Dadon, Israel’s consul general to the Southeastern United States. “It’s about denying Israel’s right to exist.”
House Bill 383 is limited to companies with five or more employees with state contracts valued at $100,000 or more.
Georgia and Israel have longstanding ties. Israel has maintained a consulate in Atlanta since 1956, and Georgia has had a presence in Israel since 1994.
The two countries carry on a trade relationship worth $800 million a year. More than 100 Georgia companies do business in Israel, while more than 90 Israeli companies are in Georgia representing industries including financial technology, cybersecurity, health care, aerospace and e-commerce.
Kemp said the Georgia Department of Economic Development is planning to send a delegation on a trade mission to Israel next year. A trip planned for last year had to be postponed due to COVID-related travel restrictions.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Libertarian Ryan Graham of Atlanta entered the race for lieutenant governor Monday touting a platform of education reform and personal freedom.
Graham, 36, an IT project manager, is especially critical of standardized testing, which he said emphasizes “teaching to the test” at the expense of harder-to-measure but more meaningful student outcomes.
“We’re spending more money than ever, administering more tests, assigning more homework, requiring more hours, and none of it has improved outcomes,” he said. “It’s time to do something fundamentally different, not just more of what we know doesn’t work.”
Graham also called for less government overreach into the lives of citizens, especially COVID vaccine mandates.
“The decision to receive a vaccine is between an individual and their health-care provider,” he said. “No government has the authority to make that decision for you.”
In keeping with the longstanding Libertarian position on drugs, Graham said Georgia should decriminalize drug possession and legalize marijuana.
In the area of voting rights, Graham said he supports fair ballot access laws, ranked-choice voting and replacing Georgia’s voting machines with hand-marked paper ballots.
“I want there to be more choices that represent more Georgians,” he said. “If independents and minor parties are not actively blocked from ballots … more people could actually vote for someone who represents them and not just against the other guy.”
With Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan not seeking re-election to a second term, the field of candidates for lieutenant governor this year is crowded.
GOP candidates include Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller of Gainesville, state Sen. Burt Jones of Jackson and Savannah activist Jeanne Seaver.
Democrats running for lieutenant governor include Georgia Reps. Renitta Shannon of Decatur, Erick Allen of Smyrna, and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone; Dr. Jason Hayes of Alpharetta, and attorney Charlie Bailey of Atlanta.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Election years in the General Assembly are typically marked by politically motivated legislation.
But the trend is on steroids this year, as majority Republicans push a conservative agenda aimed at GOP base voters on topics from gun rights to abortion to what goes on in Georgia schools.
On Feb. 9, for example, legislative committees approved bills prohibiting Georgians from obtaining abortion-inducing drugs through the mail and forbidding transgender students born male from competing in girls’ sports.
That same afternoon, a committee also began debating a bill guaranteeing parental involvement in their children’s education.
Critics have derided the bills as unnecessary at best.
“What we’re seeing over and over this session is a solution in search of a problem,” Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, policy and outreach director for the group Public Education Matters and a former Atlanta Board of Education member, told members of the Senate Education and Youth Committee.
Several factors are at work making this election-year legislative session different, said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.
An unusual number of Republican lawmakers are running for statewide office this year and are seeking to establish their conservative bona fides with voters, Bullock said.
The list of those seeking higher office includes Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, R-Gainesville. He is running for lieutenant governor in the May GOP primary against state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Miller has garnered attention by introducing legislation to eliminate Georgia’s income tax and abolish absentee ballot drop boxes.
Early in the session, a constitutional amendment sponsored by Miller to allow only U.S. citizens to vote in Georgia was shot down because it failed to muster the two-thirds vote necessary for passage. Senate Democrats argued the measure isn’t needed because such a prohibition already exists in state law.
But the need for lawmakers to establish a high profile this year goes beyond those seeking statewide office. The General Assembly redrew the House and Senate maps last November in a redistricting process carried out every 10 years to account for population changes reflected in the U.S. Census.
As a result, many legislators will be shopping for votes from a lot of new constituents who aren’t familiar with them, Bullock said.
“The new districts are like open seats,” he said. “Being on the right side of one of these issues could help them form a connection with voters.”
Bullock said legislative Republicans also feel threatened this year by victories Democrats scored during the last election cycle, when President Joe Biden carried the Peach State and Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock became the first Georgia Democrats elected to the U.S. Senate since the late Max Cleland in 1996.
“[Republicans] see the handwriting on the wall.” Bullock said. “They see that Georgia is not a red-red state anymore.”
But if Georgia Republicans are backing a conservative agenda to appeal to GOP base voters, conservative activists say that’s what voters want.
Cole Muzio, president of Frontline Policy Action, a Georgia-based Christian organization, said polls the group has conducted among Georgia parents, grandparents and guardians have found strong support for “fairness in girls’ sports” and a high level of concern that schools are indoctrinating students in polarizing ideologies like critical race theory.
“We’ve seen a culture shift, from a values perspective, that’s largely gone unreported,” he said.
Republican leaders say there’s more to this year’s conservative agenda than election-year politics and are defending the merits of their legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan dismissed arguments from Democrats and their allies that the bills are unnecessary.
“This is not coming out of the blue,” Dugan, R-Carrollton, said of Senate Bill 377, which prohibits the teaching of nine “divisive concepts” in Georgia schools, colleges and universities.
Critics warn the bill’s language is so vague it could make history teachers afraid to talk about certain controversial subjects.
“We create a state of fear,” Robert Costley, executive director of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders, said during a recent hearing. The group has not taken a formal position on the bill.
“If [teachers] do something wrong, we should hold them accountable,” Costley added. “But they shouldn’t have to be afraid to serve.”
But Dugan said there’s nothing in the divisive-concepts language – the heart of the bill – that prohibits an honest teaching of history.
“If you look through the nine bullets, the first half say, ‘You can’t,’ and the last half say, ‘You must,’ ” he said. “It says, ‘You must teach history, slavery, the Holocaust, the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage.’
“But you can’t use your students in a manner that’s going to diminish their self-esteem. You can’t hold them culpable for something they had nothing to do with.”
Dugan denied accusations the bill is politically motivated.
“I’m doing this bill because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
