Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Georgia Republicans are angry about Hunter Biden’s pardon.
- Judge to consider Legislature’s subpoena power
- Lawmakers hear idea for how to spend state surplus.
The Georgia Legislature could launch another attempt next year to revise the state’s decades-old school funding formula that lawmakers have long tried and failed to overhaul. A new audit might fuel the push.
The audit, released Monday, was initiated by the Senate Appropriations Committee. It sought more data on how the Quality Basic Education Act distributes billions of dollars to the state’s roughly 1.7 million public school students.
That law, passed in 1985, is something of a third rail in state politics. Long lamented by lawmakers from both parties, efforts to update the formula have fizzled among tensions between different school districts with different needs.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Case in point: an Education Reform Commission convened in 2015 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal wrote an 86-page report that led to no significant action. The audit published this week could revive the debate.
Among its findings:
- Higher per-pupil spending on instruction didn’t always translate to higher student test scores. In some cases, systems with lower spending had higher scores.
- Administrative expenses grew by nearly 30% from fiscal year 2019 to 2023. That rate was higher than inflation. Central office spending outpaced school-level administration.
State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Republican who chairs the budget-writing committee that ordered the audit, told us he was struck by the results.
“Our education spending is outpacing inflation, and we all know how bad inflation is,” he said, nodding to the growth in administrative spending.
“The data seems clear that adding assistant principals instead of teachers isn’t the answer.”
***
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
GOOD MORNING! It’s another election day. Runoffs are being held in 13 counties to decide 18 local government elections. The races include Atlanta City Council, DeKalb County Commission, St. Marys mayor and the Walker County Board of Education.
Here are three things to know for today:
- President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray. You can read about Wray, and his ties to Atlanta, in this piece from the AJC’s Bill Rankin.
- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said postal workers processed more than 99 million general election ballots this year, and nearly all of them were returned to election offices within a week.
- Trump picked investment banker and Republican donor Warren Stephens to be the next U.S. ambassador to Britain.
***
Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times
Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times
PARDON ANGER. Congressional Republicans were outraged at the news that President Joe Biden had issued a sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, ahead of his sentencing on gun and tax evasion charges.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, was among the most critical, posting several times on X about the pardons, saying in one tweet that it was “Joe Biden’s admission that Hunter is a criminal.”
“His FBI and DOJ raided Barron’s bedroom and Melania’s closet at Mar-a-Lago,” she wrote, referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s son and wife. “Joe Biden is a liar and a hypocrite, all the way to the end.”
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, was among the many GOP lawmakers who pointed out the pardon restricts any prosecutions of Hunter Biden for actions taken after Jan. 1, 2014, noting that coincides with his work for Ukrainian energy company Burisma that had garnered much attention in GOP investigations of the Bidens.
Others, like Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, took umbrage with Biden saying his son has been unfairly prosecuted to settle political scores against him.
“This is quite ironic, considering the Biden-Harris Administration has been weaponizing the (Department of Justice) against President Trump since day one,” Clyde wrote.
Georgia Democrats were mostly silent, failing to join the relatively small number of critics within the party. We reached out to aides for Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who didn’t comment.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, reposted a message from former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile who wrote that the American people “just voted for a convicted felon to return to the White House. Spare us the lectures.”
***
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
SUBPOENA POWER. A Georgia judge today will consider an issue that’s never really been questioned before. If the state Legislature orders you to come talk to them, do you have to go?
That’s what happened to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in September. A special, Republican-led committee investigating her conduct, especially as it relates to her election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump, subpoenaed her to testify. Willis didn’t go, and her lawyers, which include former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, went to court to challenge it.
The hearing about the case is today, and the AJC’s Tamar Hallerman will be there. She writes that the stakes are high for Willis:
“The outcome will also determine whether Willis must publicly answer potentially embarrassing questions about her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the outside attorney she tapped to lead her 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump and his allies.”
Willis has accused the committee of trying to punish her for prosecuting Trump. But lawmakers argue subpoenas are important tools for them to gather information as they oversee public officials.
***
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Credit: John Spink/AJC
HERE’S AN IDEA (OR TWO). Georgia has an extra $16.5 billion. Get ready for a deluge of ideas on how to spend it.
Gov. Brian Kemp and his Republican allies in the state Legislature have already announced plans to give about $1 billion of the money back to taxpayers as a refund. But that still leaves plenty left over.
State lawmakers heard one idea on Monday from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. They want lawmakers to create a child care trust fund. The idea is to put a bunch of money in the fund, invest it and then use the returns to pay for child care services.
New Mexico already does this. But there are some differences. They started out with a $300 million investment, and the fund is sustained by surplus oil and gas revenues (which Georgia doesn’t have).
Georgia could start with a much bigger investment to make the fund self-sustaining. Putting $1.5 billion into the fund would give the state roughly $100 million a year to spend on child care programs, assuming a 7.9% annual return.
Ife Finch Floyd, director of economic justice for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, calls this a “conservative approach” because it would not raise taxes. But an investment of this magnitude would be a big lift. It would require an amendment to Georgia’s Constitution.
***
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
CAREER CHANGE. Tangie Herring wanted to be an actress. She took a gap year to make a go of it, but nothing happened. She became a schoolteacher instead.
Decades later, Herring wanted to end her career in her hometown. She moved back to Macon with plans to retire in December 2025. But this time something did happen.
She left teaching, ran for office and won what turned out to be one of the closest elections in the state. She’ll be one of 22 new members of the state Legislature in January.
“I was always taught by my mom and dad, if you see a problem stop talking about it. What are you going to do about it?” said Herring, a Democrat. “That started my campaign.”
Herring’s career change wasn’t completely unexpected. She had founded a nonprofit that promoted civic engagement with young people. Back in Macon, Herring said she started looking for ways to get involved herself. That’s when it hit her.
“Why not me,” she said. “Why don’t I just run to help create the change that I want to see.”
It wasn’t easy. She faced former Bibb County School Board President Juawn Jackson in the Democratic primary. In the general election, she won by less than 300 votes.
Herring plans to advocate for teachers in the Legislature, including making sure “we are paying our teachers more and providing incentives for them to want to stay in the profession.”
And she wants to help form partnerships between industry and public schools to “revolutionize vocational training” in a way that gives more opportunities for students.
“We have so many young people who would thrive in creating a business,” she said. “We just need more opportunities in middle Georgia for that.”
***
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” trial lawyer Lester Tate will talk about President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.
Be sure to download the AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297.
On Monday’s show, state Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, and state Rep. Ruwa Romman, D-Duluth, talked about U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s recent votes on Israel.
***
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will meet with Angolan President João Lourenço and deliver remarks at the National Museum of Slavery there.
- The U.S. House returns from recess with votes this evening.
- The Senate has more confirmation votes lined up.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson will host the annual U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
***
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthday:
- State Rep. Sharon Henderson, D-Covington.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
***
AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
