Tuesday, August 22, 2023
This week, we look at the start of a robust effort to improve literacy in Georgia schools, reaction to former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles in Fulton County, and a federal judge’s decision to temporarily suspend implementation of curbs on gender-affirming care for transgender minors in Georgia.
‘Most solvable problem’
“Amazing,” raved Jeanne Seaver, former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
“Exciting,” gushed Roger Moss, chairman of the Savannah-Chatham County school board.
“Georgia’s most solvable problem,” enthused Scott Johnson, a Marietta business executive.
The outpouring of optimism was inspired by the inaugural face-to-face meeting of the newly established Georgia Council on Literacy in Statesboro earlier this month. The council’s job: to fix the state’s dismaying literacy rate.
The task is daunting and the implications of failure profound, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
The percentage of third-grade students in Georgia reading on grade level or above increased by 3 percentage points in the past year, according to statistics released by the Georgia Department of Education in late July. Still, that meant that one-third of all third-grade students in the state can’t read at grade level or above.
Locally, at a news conference earlier this month to discuss the data, the Savannah-Chatham County school superintendent, Denise Watts, lauded an 11-point improvement in reading scores among the district’s 3rd graders. The state’s data indicated, however, that 43.5% of the 2,735 3rd graders in the Savannah-Chatham County system were still reading below grade level.
‘Witch hunt’
In a week during which former President Donald Trump is likely to be a no-show at a presidential candidate debate sponsored by his own party and have his mug shot disseminated worldwide after his arraignment in Fulton County, Coastal Georgia Republicans are in an uproar.
One thing’s certain: There’s no evidence that Donald Trump’s deepening legal entanglements have softened his support among those Coastal Georgians who matter most: Republicans voting in their party’s primary on March 12. If anything, they’ve hardened them.
Gauging the political winds accurately, U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter of Pooler took a hard line.
The five-term congressman called on for an investigation into “DA Willis’ WITCH HUNT against the former president,” then asked when former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams would get indicted and finally — borrowing an oft-used argument from Trump himself — declared, “If the Biden Administration can do this to President Trump, they can do it to you too.”
On the Democratic side in Georgia, there was barely a peep.
After touring an Early Head Start program on Anderson Street on Savannah’s east side, a stone’s throw from the home where he grew up, Sen. Raphael Warnock took questions Monday from reporters about his plans to introduce bipartisan legislation to boost support for early childcare.
Asked at the end of the news conference for comment on events in Fulton County, he urged restraint:
“We in America operate by certain democratic principles. Nobody’s above the law. And the defendants in this case, including the former president, shouldn’t be treated any better than anybody else [and] shouldn’t be treated any worse. And so, we should all sit patiently and allow the process of jurisprudence to take its course.”
Judge: Some transgender care can continue for now
Georgia is one of at least 20 states that have recently adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Georgia is also the latest place where federal judges have stopped the enactment of these laws while supporters of transgender rights litigate the measures.
The injunction, published Sunday, by Judge Sarah Geraghty of the U.S. Court of the Northern District of Georgia allows Georgia’s medical community to continue prescribing hormonal therapy for minors who identify as transgender while the full court case against the law continues. It does not stay the prohibition on surgical interventions, The Current’s Margaret Coker reports.
The decision is a temporary win for the Georgia parents of transgender children and the state and national advocacy groups who are plaintiffs in the case against the state. Judge Geraghty’s ruling also adds weight to questions about whether Georgia and other states are using ideological or medical arguments to limit care for people with so-called gender dysmorphia.
ICYMI
- “‘Donation’? More questions after jail vendor’s $160K payment to Glynn sheriff” (The Current, Aug. 18, 2023) “It’s a donation. It’s an advance. It’s actually a ‘donation slash grant.’ The financial semantics around the $160,000 payment from a jail vendor to the Glynn County Sheriff, which he says he will use to buy new police cruisers, continues to cause confusion.”
- “‘Pathetic’: Voters of color slam Biden’s performance on the economy” (Politico, Aug. 18, 2023)“The president has to sell his record on the economy — in which he has a credible case to make — and it simply isn’t resonating with voters of color who supported him in the first place. In fact, they don’t see much progress as having been made at all.”
- “Trump cancels press conference on election fraud claims, citing attorneys’ advice” (Associated Press, Aug. 18, 2023. “Former President Donald Tump now says he won’t be holding a news conference next week to unveil what he claims is new “evidence” of fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election — even though no fraud has ever been substantiated — citing the advice of lawyers as he prepares to face trial in two criminal cases that stem from his election lies.”
- “Political violence in polarized U.S. at its worst since 1970s” (Reuters, Aug. 9, 2023) “The Nov. 5 killing of Anthony King was among 213 cases of political violence identified by Reuters since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump on the U.S. Capitol. Three academics who reviewed the cases say they add to growing evidence that America is grappling with the biggest and most sustained increase in political violence since the 1970s.”
- “A ‘No to foreign cops’ state Constitutional amendment” (James magazine, Aug. 10, 2023) “I [State Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah)] intend to introduce a House Resolution in the coming General Assembly session that would allow Georgia voters to decide on a 2024 ballot question asking if the Constitution should be amended to codify the current statute requirement that Georgia peace officers must be U.S. citizens.”
With passion, Georgia’s literacy council goes to work
Literacy rates among K-12 students, if not reversed, imperil the vision of Georgia as a top business hub, Scott Johnson, the literacy council’s chairman, warned in remarks to the council in Statesboro.
Federal judge halts portion of Georgia’s law on gender-affirming care for minors
The ruling also adds weight to questions about whether Georgia and other states are using ideological or medical arguments to limit care for people with so-called gender dysmorphia.
Medicaid is ‘vitally important’ for people in rural areas. What’s at risk in Georgia.
Medicaid coverage is “vitally important” in rural areas, Alker said. On average, 52% of kids in rural areas are covered by PeachCare for Kids, Georgia’s Medicaid plan for kids, according to the Georgetown study, while Medicaid covers 13% of non-elderly rural adults.
Child labor in the US: an embarrassing past that Americans may think they’ve left behind
With numerous reports of child labor violations, many involving immigrants, occurring in the U.S., along with an uptick in state legislation rolling back the legal working age, it’s clear that Hine’s work is as relevant today as it was a century ago.
‘Donation’? More questions after jail vendor’s $160K payment to Glynn sheriff
Glynn County officials believed a $160,000 infusion from the jail’s telecom provider was a “donation” to the sheriff’s office. Documents show it was a bonus in exchange for new costly video visitation.
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