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2017 Legislative Session

Ga. Senate tone deaf on poverty

A recent proposal in the State Senate to address poverty shows a stunning ignorance (or indifference) to the lives of low-income Georgians. Sometimes I wonder exactly what policy makers think of poor folks, because their policy proposals don’t show a lot of knowledge about realities of living in poverty. More than one in six Georgians live in poverty, many more don’t meet the federally defined threshold, but still find themselves struggling to pay for life’s

2017 Legislative Session

Do women matter under the Gold Dome?

Three weeks into the state legislative session, where do Georgia women fit into the General Assembly’s legislative priorities? When you look at the bills Republican versus Democratic leaders are championing, there are pretty stark differences, particularly when it comes to how, or even if, women fit into their priorities. It is disappointing to see that leadership, particularly on the Republican side, aren’t interested in addressing wage disparities between men and women, or the disproportionate impact

Nathan Deal

Deal’s disappointing reforms just fuel the status quo

Gov. Nathan Deal just announced a 20 percent pay raise for more than 3,300 state law enforcement officers — amounting to nearly $79 million. Teachers, meanwhile, were offered a 3 percent “pay raise” earlier this year, even as schools continue to be so underfunded that 20 percent of Ga. school districts are still furloughing teachers. The $79 million “reform” disappointment from Gov. Deal begs the question: What if we actually invested in building our communities

Education

Prison vs. school — how should Georgia invest?

Let’s say you’re in charge of a state, say a state like Georgia, and you are deciding on budgets. What makes more sense to invest in: prisons or schools? Maybe you’d look at the overwhelming evidence that investing in quality education — from preschool through college — has significant benefits. Better school performance, better economic opportunities later in life, as well as better health outcomes are all linked to greater access to quality education. Notably,