Education
Bumpy start to expanded special needs education voucher program stresses parents
Six of Lori Ann Carter’s seven children are heading back to school Monday, and the past week has been a blur of supply shopping, open houses and preparing the little ones for a new year. The seventh child is starting school a week later, and he won’t be with his siblings. That’s because a week […]
Mask-up ordered again inside Savannah as COVID spreads; schools OK bare-faced students
Last year, Savannah became the first city in Georgia to require face masks as COVID-19 began to spread around the state. Now, as cases and hospitalizations are once more on the rise, Mayor Van Johnson is again requiring residents and visitors to mask up after ending the original order in May. “We’ve come too far […]
COVID relief helps students, teachers get ready for school days back in class
Children across Georgia are counting down the remaining days of summer freedom as they prepare to head back to school for what parents and educators hope is a year free of pandemic interruptions. Students in some of the state’s largest districts will be back at the bus stop Monday, Aug. 2, including Cobb, DeKalb, Clayton […]
Electrifying school buses will benefit local economy and children’s health
After a school year like no other, Georgia’s students are well into their summer vacations. The diesel school buses that carry nearly half of America’s students sit idle, giving children and communities a break from breathing the unhealthy air pollution these buses spread. There’s substantial evidence that breathing diesel fumes puts children and their still-developing […]
GOP furor over ‘critical race theory’ hits college campuses
Professors say the Republican crusade to root out “critical race theory” is taking a toll on college campuses around the nation—places where academic freedom is supposed to encourage thought, discussion and analysis. Much of the “critical race theory” uproar to date has centered on teaching in K-12 schools. But several high-profile incidents, combined with new […]
CDC finds racial, regional disparities as schools reopened classrooms
WASHINGTON — After last year’s abrupt shutdown of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic, increasing numbers of students returned to in-person learning. But a new study shows that racial and geographic gaps persisted as K-12 students went back to their classrooms—with non-Hispanic white kids more often the ones attending a brick-and-mortar school full-time in most states. […]
At Atlanta preschool, Ossoff says child tax credit can reduce poverty
School nurse Johnnie Thomas – Nurse Johnnie to the kids at Atlanta’s Sheltering Arms Educare Center preschool – sees the effects of child poverty first hand. Most of the students receive financial aid to attend classes there, and about 98% of the families served by the school meet the financial eligibility requirements for Medicaid, Thomas […]
Time short for parents of special-needs children to claim COVID money
Georgia parents of students with disabilities are eligible for a reimbursement of up to $500 for education expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but time is running out to apply – the deadline is June 30 – and most of the money is still unclaimed. Gov. Brian Kemp announced the program in his January state of […]
Georgia university system OKs former Deal budget chief acting chancellor
The Georgia Board of Regents Wednesday selected Teresa MacCartney, a veteran of state higher education and government, to temporarily take command of the state’s university system in July, delaying, at least, former Gov. Sonny Perdue’s chances of landing the job. The regents voted unanimously Wednesday to approve MacCartney as acting chancellor after Steve Wrigley steps […]
College athletes score a big win in the U.S. Supreme Court in NCAA dispute
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that the National Collegiate Athletics Association cannot limit educational compensation to student athletes due to their amateur status. The 9-0 decision in NCAA v. Alston was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who said the college athletics body is not exempt from antitrust law. “Put simply, this suit involves admitted […]
U.S. Rep. David Scott wants long-term scholarship funding for 1890 HBCUs
WASHINGTON—Leaders from 1890 land-grant colleges laid out to the House Agriculture Committee Wednesday how a fresh infusion of scholarship funding provided by Congress has helped those historically Black institutions educate and train the next generation of agriculture workers. Committee Chairman David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat, said their testimony would help members of the committee work to make […]
Teachers feel pressure as politicians, parents battle on ‘critical race theory’
WASHINGTON—Teachers from Tennessee to Iowa are swept up in a wave of outrage led by GOP politicians nationwide over how schools teach kids about race in U.S. history. Conservatives have pilloried much instruction about systemic racism as “critical race theory,” even when that academic term has never been mentioned. A half dozen states have already […]