by Ty Tagami | Jul 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The field in the next election for U.S. Senate in Georgia just shrank.
John King, one of the two Republicans who declared his candidacy to unseat Democratic incumbent John Ossoff next year, has suspended his campaign.
“Right now it’s clear there’s little path forward to the nomination,” King said on social media site X Thursday.
The retired major general in the U.S. Army National Guard and former police chief was the first GOP official elected statewide to join the race. Elected Georgia’s insurance and safety fire commissioner three years ago, King announced in May that he would challenge U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of St. Simons in the Senate GOP primary.
Carter had jumped into the race days after Gov. Brian Kemp announced he would not be running against Ossoff, opening the Republican primary.
The names of other potential GOP candidates have been tossed around, but so far no one else has stepped up to challenge Carter.
King was already behind on campaign fundraising. He and Carter reported gathering a similar amount from donors in their April through June federal filings, but Carter loaned his own campaign another couple million dollars, putting him well ahead of King.
Neither could match Ossoff’s fundraising prowess. The Democrat collected more than $10 million during that same period, ending the second quarter with over $15 million.
More Republicans could jump in, including college and pro football coach Derek Dooley. The son of legendary Bulldogs coach Vince Dooley is rumored to be favored by Kemp.
King, meanwhile, will run for re-election to his state post.
by Ty Tagami | Jul 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Federal dollars that Georgia has been counting on to cover afterschool program costs have been disbursed.
The administration of President Donald Trump was expected to release funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program July 1 but withheld it until this week.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods had been calling on the federal government to release the money since early July.
“I deeply believe in fiscal responsibility, which means evaluating the use of funds and seeking out efficiencies, but also means being responsible – releasing funds already approved by Congress and signed by President Trump,” Woods said July 7. He repeated that message last Friday upon hearing reports that the money would be released Monday.
Monday came and went, but the Georgia Department of Education said it had not yet received the money.
Finally on Wednesday, the agency confirmed receipt of its $40.6 million share.
Nationally, the program serves about 1.4 million youths through state education grants that are in turn paid for with about $1.4 billion from the federal government, according to the Afterschool Alliance.
It is the largest single funding source for a program that provides afterschool learning for more than 27,000 youths in at least 230 Georgia communities, according to the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network. The organization attributed the administration’s decision to release the funds to a collective effort by parents, program leaders, youth advocates, “community champions” and bipartisan efforts by lawmakers.
“Working parents in particular are breathing an enormous sigh of relief,” the group added.
Last Friday, while still awaiting the funds, Woods underscored how important that money is.
“With a new school year about to begin,” he said, “it’s critical that all approved funds are made available to ensure students start strong and educators have the support they need.”
by Ty Tagami | Jul 23, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A two-year-old Georgia law requiring teachers to use the “science of reading” in their lessons has led to literacy gains in the state’s lowest performing schools, the Georgia Department of Education announced Wednesday.
House Bill 538, which passed unanimously in the state House of Representatives and with just one ‘no’ vote in the Senate, called on the state agency to overhaul teacher training and develop new literacy tests.
The education department responded last fall by sending literacy coaches to 60 schools that had been performing in the bottom 5%.
Scores on the new reading tests improved 15%, with the strongest gains in kindergarten, according to the agency.
The law, which took effect in July 2023, required all public schools and school systems to provide onsite teacher training, with model lessons for students and prompt instructional feedback. It also required all teachers in kindergarten through third grade to complete literacy training by the beginning of this month.
The education department coaches reached 1,000 teachers and affected 18,000 students, the agency said, noting that teachers reported improvements in their confidence, their instructional ability and their use of data.
“Targeting intensive supports where they’re most needed, by placing coaches directly in our most challenged schools, has shown immediate promise,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said, adding that the initiative laid “a strong foundation for lasting, statewide literacy success.”
by Ty Tagami | Jul 22, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The Georgia Republican Party has returned money contributed by a family associated with a financial institution that the federal government alleged was a Ponzi scheme.
Saying he was not obliged to return the money but felt it was a “moral duty,” state GOP Chairman Josh McKoon announced Tuesday that the party had delivered $36,844 to the court-appointed receiver for First Liberty Building & Loan.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in federal court two weeks ago that the Georgia company had bilked investors and that its owner and president, Brant Frost IV, had paid himself and his family $5 million while making $570,000 in political contributions.
Last week, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, called on politicians to return any money received from First Liberty or Frost and his family.
McKoon said he followed the court receiver’s suggestion to return all such contributions that the party had received since the beginning of 2021.
Frost and his family are well-known in GOP circles. His son, Brant Frost V, is chairman of the Coweta County Republican Party.
“I am profoundly saddened that members of our conservative movement, along with many others, were misled by false promises of safe investments,” McKoon said. “This has left countless Georgians facing uncertain futures and financial distress.”
by Ty Tagami | Jul 22, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Five years after COVID-19 caused many Georgia kids to start skipping school, absenteeism rates remain stubbornly high, with students scoring worse in core subjects like math and reading.
A special committee of the state House of Representatives is studying the issue ahead of next year’s legislative session with the goal of producing laws that can reverse the trend. The first presentations at the Georgia Capitol Tuesday indicated that many of the likely causes relate to poverty, although mental health also plays a role.
More than one in five students missed more than 15 days of school in 2024, nearly double the rate in 2019. The rate missing six to 15 days climbed to 42%, six points higher than in 2019.
“A crisis is building,” said Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, a member of the committee.
Wade and fellow lawmakers heard that reasons as obvious as uncorrected vision and illness are driving absenteeism.
“Asthma is the leading cause,” said Garry McGiboney, a former state Department of Education official, the first expert to testify. He said diabetes is also a big driver.
“If you look deeper into that, one of the reasons why is because it’s difficult for school systems to implement an asthma or diabetes management plan, especially if they don’t have a school nurse.”
McGiboney led a volunteer panel that studied absenteeism for the group Get Georgia Reading. Their resulting report published in June said children with asthma were twice as likely to miss school and cited an American Lung Association report that children with asthma missed 8.3 million school days nationwide.
Justin Hill, a deputy state school superintendent, said illness is a top driver of absenteeism but that weather, family emergencies and vacations also contribute. High school students who skip school often cite fatigue, he said.
Carol Lewis, president and CEO of the group Communities in Schools, a non-profit with the mission of keeping kids in school, said many high school students are tired because they are helping to care for siblings or holding down jobs to help pay family bills.
She said lack of mental health services is a barrier, noting that many chronically absent students lost family members during the pandemic. Basic needs are a problem too, she added, such as clean clothes, feminine hygiene products, food, housing and internet service.
McGiboney recommended that the state enforce a law requiring the chief superior court judge in each county to form a multi-agency student attendance committee. Those committees can be effective, but not all counties have one, he said.
Wade, Gov. Brian Kemp’s House floor leader, said some schools don’t have a nurse and asked if getting one into every school would help. McGiboney responded that it would be one of the most important things the state could do.
The committee will meet two more times, with the next hearing scheduled for Sept. 22 at the Capitol.
