ATLANTA – Rural education in Georgia is getting special attention in the form of a new office within the state Department of Education that will focus on the needs of rural schools.
The Office of Rural Education and Innovation will be headed by Bronwyn Ragan-Martin, a veteran education leader who served most recently as superintendent of the Early County School System and president of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.
Ragan-Martin will take on the title of deputy superintendent for rural education and innovation starting in October.
“It is a top priority of my administration to strengthen and bring greater opportunities and economic prosperity to rural Georgia,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday.
“The Georgia Department of Education’s new Office of Rural Education and Innovation will support those efforts to renew and revitalize rural Georgia and ensure our state remains the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
“Our rural schools and districts face unique challenges and resource gaps – and many of those challenges have only intensified due to the pandemic,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods added.
“There is also, though, an opportunity for a transformational investment in rural Georgia that could change the lives of children and the course of their communities. That’s what I’m tasking our new Office of Rural Education and Innovation with working toward.”
Woods said Ragan-Martin’s experience, commitment and deep roots in rural Georgia make her a perfect fit for her new role.
Ragan-Martin has been school superintendent in Early County, a system with about 2,000 students, since 2013. She also served on the school superintendents association’s Rural Task Force from 2018 until last year.
A native of Randolph County, Ragan-Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, a master’s in English education from Georgia Southwestern College, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Valdosta State University.
The new office will be supported with federal coronavirus relief funds and work to address educational needs in rural Georgia including connectivity, teacher retention and recruitment, resources and funding, and educator development.
Ragan-Martin and the staff she brings on will join school and community leaders to address gaps brought to the forefront during the pandemic and develop a roadmap for moving beyond recovery to renewal.
ATLANTA – Democrats in the Republican-controlled General Assembly are asking GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to add Medicaid expansion to the legislature’s upcoming redistricting special session.
A letter dated Tuesday signed by 67 Democratic members of the Georgia House and Senate called the need for legislative action to expand Medicaid coverage “urgent.”
“This governor has made it clear he wants to expand the scope of the session beyond redistricting,” said Rep. Matthew Wilson, D-Brookhaven, the chief signatory to the letter, referring to Kemp’s announcement last week that he will add tackling the recent rise in violent crime to the special session agenda. … If we’re going to include other items in the special session, Medicaid expansion must be a top priority.”
Georgia Democrats have pushed for Medicaid expansion since then-President Barack Obama steered the Affordable Care Act through a Democratic Congress in 2010 with no Republican votes.
But Georgia remains among 12 Republican-run states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid, with former Gov. Nathan Deal and now Kemp citing the program’s costs.
Instead, Kemp proposed a more limited expansion, which the Trump administration approved last year. But the new Biden administration has put that plan on hold because of concerns that it includes a work requirement for Medicaid recipients.
State Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, said the governor’s limited coverage plan isn’t going to pass muster with either the Democratic president or in the courts.
“[Medicaid] is a health-care program,” she said. “When you throw in work requirements on top of that, it is not only outside the aims of the statute. It doesn’t serve the purpose of the program.”
Kemp’s proposal would apply to adults earning up to 100% of the federal poverty level, covering about 50,000 Georgians, according to state estimates.
The Democrats’ letter claims a full-blown Medicaid expansion for those with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level would cover nearly 500,000 Georgians who make too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but can’t afford to buy private health insurance.
Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, introduced a bill this month to let the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid do so through a new Medicaid “look-alike” program.
Wilson, who has entered next year’s race for state insurance commissioner, said the General Assembly could pursue Medicaid expansion on a separate track while the federal bill makes its way through Congress.
“Georgians can’t wait,” he said. “Urgency requires us to act now.”
Still, Medicaid expansion is unlikely to land on the special session agenda. As governor, Kemp has the sole power to decide what the legislature takes up during special sessions.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, also expressed reluctance Tuesday to put additional business on the agenda. He pointed out that this year’s redistricting session must be held later than usual because of a pandemic-related delay in getting the U.S. Census data needed to draw new congressional and legislative district maps.
“The delay in Census data combined with the holidays in November and December simply make a prolonged special session difficult at best, especially with the regular session happening only a few weeks later in January,” Ralston spokesman Kaleb McMichen wrote in an email.
The once-a-decade redistricting session, which is usually held in August or September, isn’t expected to start this year until October at the earliest.
ATLANTA – The Port of Savannah has become the first container port in the Southeast or on the Gulf Coast to move more than 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo in one year.
The port handled 5.3 million TEUs during fiscal 2021, which ended June 30, a 20% increase over the previous year, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) reported Monday.
The record came during a difficult year that saw major disruptions to supply chains around the globe.
“GPA leadership, our employees and our partners across the logistics community put in a tremendous effort to make this milestone possible,” said Joel Wooten, incoming chairman of the ports authority’s board.
“Growing our business by 20 percent in a single year is an amazing accomplishment and secures Savannah’s position as the fastest growing gateway in the nation over the past 10 years.”
Part of the reason for the Port of Savannah’s rapid growth in container traffic is that the authority added 210,000 TEUs of container capacity during fiscal 2021 by expanding container handling space and adding equipment at the port’s Ocean Terminal.
The port also saw a 14% increase in rail volumes at Savannah’s Garden City Terminal and a 26% increase in cargo lifts at the Appalachian Inland Port, a facility the ports authority opened in Northwest Georgia in 2017 primarily to bring exports by rail to Savannah.
Fiscal 2021 also was marked by progress on the multi-year deepening of Savannah Harbor, a $1 billion project now 90% complete and due to be completed in December. Another project expected to open this winter is the $220 million Mason Mega Rail, two sets of nine working tracks that will raise rail capacity at the Port of Savannah to 2 million TEUs per year.
“As port users continue to route additional cargo to Georgia, we are bullish on the future,” said Griff Lynch, the authority’s executive director. “We have an abundance of near-port property available for development, and GPA is right now adding millions of TEUs of additional capacity in Savannah.”
The ports authority’s trade in autos and heavy machinery also saw significant growth during the last fiscal year. Roll-on/Roll-off cargo reached 703,528 units, with the Port of Brunswick alone handling more than 685,000 units of vehicles and heavy machinery. Total Ro/Ro volume grew by 18% over fiscal 2020.
ATLANTA – Georgia high schools soon will be offering a new career pathway aimed at filling the growing number of technology jobs in the Peach State.
The state Board of Education has approved State School Superintendent Richard Woods’ recommendation to launch a career pathway in cloud computing. The pathway will include three courses: Introduction to Software Technology, Computer Science Principles and Cloud Computing.
The Georgia Department of Education began the Career Pathways program in 2013 as a way to improve Georgia’s high school graduation rate.
Starting in ninth grade, students choose among a variety of “career clusters” they wish to pursue throughout high school. Each cluster contains a series of more specific “pathways” designed to prepare students for post- secondary options including a four-year college, two-year technical college or a certificate program qualifying them for a job out of high school in a skilled trade.
“Our goal is that, when a student graduates from high school in the state of Georgia, they will be prepared for their next step,” Woods said Monday. “This cloud computing pathway is an example of the opportunities available in Georgia schools for students to gain skills that will get them ready for the future.”
Cloud computing is in high demand in Georgia, with more than 4,000 related job openings available.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) reached out to the education department with a proposed pathway that would prepare students for entry-level jobs in cloud computing. It’s part of a broader initiative that includes courses at the technical college level.
The high school courses were developed with feedback from AWS, Google Cloud, NCR, Accenture, Microsoft and other tech companies.
After completing the high school pathway, students will be ready to continue their studies in the program offered through the Technical College System of Georgia.
Marijuana for medicinal purposes must be grown indoors in Georgia under close supervision.
ATLANTA – The state commission in charge of Georgia’s medical marijuana program has announced its intent to award six licenses to companies to grow the leaf crop and convert it into low-THC cannabis oil.
Two so-called “Class 1” licenses will allow the licensees to grow marijuana under close supervision in up to 100,000 square feet of growing space. Four “Class 2” licensees will limit recipients to not more than 50,000 square feet.
“It’s a great day for Georgians who need access to low-THC oil and their families who have advocated a quality of life for their loved ones,” Dr. Christopher Edwards, chairman of the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission and principal surgeon at the Atlanta Neurological & Spine Institute, said Saturday after the commission’s board met in Walker County.
The announcement of winning licensees was long in coming. While the General Assembly first legalized cannabis oil for the treatment of certain diseases in 2015, it wasn’t until 2019 that lawmakers passed a bill giving patients a legal means of obtaining the drug inside Georgia.
The legislation created the state commission to oversee the program, but it got off to a slow start. Members of the commission weren’t appointed until November 2019, four months after the law took effect, and it took another year to release a request for proposals from interested companies.
Sixty-nine businesses submitted competitive bids for the six licenses.
The businesses chosen to receive Class 1 licenses are Florida-based Trulieve GA Inc. and Botanical Sciences LLC.
“This will expand our Southeast operations hub to our neighboring state, and we are excited to bring the benefits of Trulieve cannabis products to Georgia patients,” said Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve.
“As the largest cannabis company in Florida, built on providing the broadest patient access to medical marijuana in the state, we feel well-positioned to approach the Georgia market with the same commitment to quality products, patient access, and positive customer experience.”
Class 2 licenses will go to FFD GA Holdings, TheraTrue Georgia, Natures GA and Treevana Remedy.
Under the 2019 legislation, licensees will be limited to producing low-THC cannabis oil containing no more than 5% THC, the psychoactive ingredient that gets marijuana users high.
The drug will be sold at licensed dispensaries or specially licensed pharmacies to patients suffering from a range of diseases including cancer, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, mitochondrial disease and sickle-cell anemia.
Patients enrolled in a registry overseen by the state Department of Public Health must have a doctor’s prescription.
“Because of the dedication and hard work of the commission, we have been able to stay focused on getting the work done while always keeping patients’ needs as a top priority,” said Danielle Benson, the commission’s vice chair.
“This is a big step in the right direction, and the announcement of the six companies is an indication that help is on the way for Georgians.”
