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HAPPENINGS NOW
The numbers are in after this last year in which Governor Deal billed his "reform" to Georgia’s most shining educational achievement, the HOPE Program, as both the signature issue of his governorship to date and the best way to "save HOPE". However, many in the Georgia legislature did the math, despite the smoke and mirrors, and found out that that Governor Deal's solution wouldn't work. Sadly, these legislators spoke up and were shot down, even though they were right. As State Senator Jason Carter, who led opposition to the bill in 2011, said when we started getting in the hard numbers in January that showed the Governor emptying the lottery reserves in 2012 to hide the problems he'd created: "We just didn't realize how wrong they were".
Governor Deal's HOPE "solutions", based on ideology and not in practical math, have undoubtedly increased funding problems for HOPE. What other conclusion can you make when the funding to each HOPE (Or as Maureen Downey at the AJC calls it rightfully, HOPE Lite) Scholar in the state of Georgia has been cut and then program is still on track to overspend, and at a faster rate than even before now that the effects of the Great Recession have fully washed over our state? On top of that, Deal and his crew were unable to predict how much money the Zell Miller Scholarship will need in order to stay solvent instead of breaking the bank. Now the Zell Miller Scholarship is overspent and sends students predominantly from suburban Atlanta schools to only two Georgia universities. At the same time, cuts to the HOPE Grant for our technical schools has turned 4,200 potential students away from a technical degree, a program that directly ties to our ability to train and retrain people for todays job market and to address our soaring unemployment.
There are fundamental flaws in the 2011 HOPE Lite reform; flaws that, with a little bit more scrutiny, could have been avoided and would not have penalized Georgia’s rising Class of 2011 in the process. The most painful fact of all is that there is enough money left in the fund to promote HOPE for more than a decade, if only it was used properly.
Current 5th District Happenings
Citizen Advisory Forum Monthly on 3rd Saturdays
Time: 10:30 am
Location: Cafe 45 South. ( formerly Northern Star) address 45 Peachtree Norcross, GA 30071
Next Meeting
February 18, 2012
Time: 10:30 am
Location: Cafe 45 South. ( formerly Northern Star) address 45 Peachtree Norcross, GA 30071
Next Meeting
February 18, 2012
Stay Connected
While here at the virtual office, you can read important news clippings from the local press as well as my regular reports. You can sign up for my email newsletter or check the calendar of local events. We have a list of important phone numbers and even a map of the district. Plus - perhaps most important - you can contact me through the web site with your thoughts, issues, and concerns. Of course, you can always give me a call, too. My telephone number is (404) 643-2649 his office number
(404) 463-1318
Curt Thompson
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