Education
Faculty at Georgia colleges facing diminished role in hiring university presidents
The Georgia Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public universities, is set to consider a rule change at Tuesday’s meeting to reduce the role of faculty members in selecting university presidents. Under the current rules, when a vacancy occurs and the university system chancellor and regents decide to conduct a national search, they create […]
Georgia High School Association OKs bans of transgender athletes
The Georgia High School Association has changed its rules for determining the gender of a student athlete in a move that will prevent transgender students from playing on teams that match their gender identities. The association, which oversees sports in 465 public and private schools across the state, approved the change with a unanimous vote […]
Kemp signs off on laws he says will keep ‘woke politics’ out of public schools
Gov. Brian Kemp cemented much of his planned education policy Thursday, signing a raft of bills aimed at keeping controversial ideas out of the malleable minds of Georgia’s youngsters. At a signing ceremony in Forsyth County, Kemp touted recent investments in public education. “This session, we built on that momentum, fully funding the QBE school […]
Georgia college students learning hard economics lessons as cost of living rises
Gaggles of dogs frolicked about on Kennesaw State University’s campus green Wednesday, wagging their tails as groups of students scratched their furry heads and tossed them tennis balls. It was part of a university initiative to help students relieve some stress as they head into finals, and college students across the state are dealing with […]
Ossoff promotes HBCU and Atlanta Beltline federal funding during Congress’ spring break
Sen. Jon Ossoff capped off a three-day tour of Georgia Wednesday with stops in Atlanta touting federal money for the Atlanta BeltLine Trail and the city’s historically Black colleges and universities. “Since I took office, working alongside Sen. Rev. (Raphael) Warnock, we have secured more than $250 million in supplemental investment for Georgia’s HBCUs,” Ossoff […]
LGBTQ community, people of color in the crosshairs of banned book movement
Students in one Pennsylvania school district were not allowed to read a biography of the first Black President, Barack Obama. In some Tennessee classrooms, a nonfiction comic book about the atrocities of the Holocaust is banned. And one school district in Wisconsin banned from libraries a picture book about a gay rights activist who was […]
More than 1,500 books have been banned in public schools, and a U.S. House panel asks why
WASHINGTON — A U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee panel on Thursday examined why thousands of books, predominantly written by marginalized authors, have been banned from public schools, and the impact of those actions on students and teachers. “Most books being targeted for censorship are books that introduce ideas about diversity or our common humanity, […]
Pause on federal student loan repayments extended by Biden through Aug. 31
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “If loan payments […]
Republicans pass transgender sports ban in final moments of legislative session
Republicans used a last-minute legislative maneuver to slip language that could lead to banning transgender athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams in public schools into a bill targeting so-called divisive concepts in classrooms. “It was laid on our desks probably 15 minutes or so before we voted on it,” said Brookhaven Democratic Rep. Matthew […]
Bill proposing ban on free-speech zones at college campuses clears Georgia Legislature
So-called college free-speech zones could soon be nothing but a memory in Georgia after the Senate passed a bill Monday designed to expand free speech areas at Georgia’s public schools campus-wide. “House Bill 1 will protect and clarify the First Amendment rights our students should enjoy on our public colleges and universities,” said Sen. Bruce […]
Georgia recess requirement bill awaits Kemp’s signature
This story was updated at 1:25 a.m. Tuesday, April 5. Georgia’s more than 740,000 public elementary school students could be spending more time climbing on jungle gyms and racing down slides thanks to a bill passed by the Legislature. House Bill 1283 requires schools to schedule 30 minutes of recess per day for children in […]
Upcoming U.S. Supreme Court cases could curb colleges’ use of affirmative action
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices could fundamentally reshape the college admissions process later this year when it takes up two landmark cases challenging affirmative action in higher education. The court recently agreed to hear two cases that challenge race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and […]