When we wake up on Wednesday after Election Day, there will be less uncertainty in America. But will there be greater confidence?

The election will not solve fundamental issues such as transportation, education and healthcare. In fact, it will create new questions. Successfully addressing these challenges will require strong leadership at the state and national level.

Leadership is not just about ideas and policy. It’s about taking the initiative to bring people together for a common goal. Read More»

What if someone proposed a law to tax working families $5,000 or more if they purchase health insurance? Such legislation would have no chance of passing. Yet it is, in effect, a painful reality for many Georgia families.

More than 400,000 Georgians work in small businesses that don’t offer health insurance. A fundamental flaw in the federal tax code since the 1940s excludes these individuals from the massive tax exemptions available through employer-purchased health insurance. Read More»

How has Georgia responded to the Great Recession compared to other states? The latest data from the Census Bureau tells us some things we knew and some things some might find surprising.

Everyone likes rankings, but it’s very important to make sure state-to-state comparisons are fair. Some states are very decentralized, with local government accounting for a large portion of all government spending, while state government plays a larger role in other states. Read More»

Fifteen years ago it was almost impossible to drive by a public school in Georgia without seeing at least one classroom trailer in the parking lot. Parents viewed those trailers as a threat to their children’s education, so in 1996 voters approved E-SPLOST – the special purpose local option sales tax for education that has funded hundreds of new schools and improvements to existing schools. Read More»

Technology is poised to fundamentally transform education over the next decade. It offers the opportunity to provide every child in Georgia with access to a high-quality education and new abilities to address long-term challenges such as dropout rates and remedial education. To benefit from this technological revolution, Georgia must remove the barriers to innovation – starting with funding. Read More»

It took more than 100 pages to debate the meaning of just one word. In the end, Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 vote this week that most state-authorized charter schools do not meet the definition of the word “special.” Barring other actions, 15,000 public school students who faced uncertainty for months must now search for another school to attend before the new school year begins in August. One thing is certain: We cannot allow Georgia to be known as the state that shuts down quality public schools. Read More»