Capitol Beat
Kemp urges lawmakers to stay cautious with state spending
by Dave Williams
Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly’s budget writers vowed Tuesday to continue a cautious approach toward spending, despite the huge surplus the state has built up during the last several years. Kemp kicked off three days of legislative hearings on the budget proposals he outlined last week by touting $5 billion in tax relief he has steered through the General Assembly and pitching his plan to accelerate additional tax cuts that took effect this month. “We chose a smart fiscally conservative path,” Kemp told lawmakers in a remote video hookup from Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum. “We need to stay on that path.” …State Economist Robert “Bob” Buschman said the nation is likely to suffer a mild recession during the first half of this year, with the U.S. Gross Domestic Product expected to decline by 0.1% during the first quarter and 0,7% during the second quarter. …Kemp said the pay increases he is recommending for state and university system employees as well as public school teachers should help serve as a buffer against recession. “With the pay raises and the jobs we’re creating, that keeps people working,” he said. “We’ll be in good shape.”
The Brunswick News
School system, college recognized for Marine Life program
By Lauren McDonald
Glynn County Schools and College of Coastal Georgia are celebrating their recent win for a program that supports students with intellectually disabilities as they transition into adulthood. The Georgia School Board Association recognized the local school district with the Leading Edge Award for its Mariner Life program, offered in partnership with CCGA.
The Augusta Chronicle
Augusta Prep student’s research earns leading spot in national scientific talent search
Joe Hotchkiss
An Augusta Prep student researching chronic kidney disease is a top scholar in the nation’s oldest science and math competition for high school seniors. Emily Huo of Martinez will find out Jan. 24 if she becomes one of 40 finalists to compete for more than $1.8 million in awards in a weeklong competition in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. The nonprofit Society for Science has held the event since 1942. Huo was one of 300 scholars chosen from 2,162 entrants in 712 high schools across 46 states, Puerto Rico and 10 countries. She won a $2,000 award and an additional $2,000 for Augusta Prep. …Huo’s mother is a nurse, and her father is a retired physician now engaged in medical research. Taking her scientific pursuits outside the classroom, she joined Augusta University’s Summer VolunTeen Program for rising high-school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing health careers. That led Huo to a campus lab studying chronic kidney disease, an incurable illness affecting about 200,000 people each year.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Minority Applicants Surge Post–Affirmative Action
By Liam Knox
Applications to colleges rose by 9 percent over all this year—and 12 percent among underrepresented minority applicants—according to a new report from the Common Application highlighting year-over-year data from the current admissions cycle. The increase in underrepresented minority applicants was driven largely by a 12 percent bump in Black applicants and a 13 percent increase in Latino applicants.
Inside Higher Ed
DEI Spending Banned, Sociology Scrapped in Florida
Florida’s State Board of Education imposed new prohibitions on DEI spending at state colleges, following a similar decision for state universities.
By Josh Moody
On Monday, the Florida Department of Education honored civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. for his “dedication to service and equality.” On Wednesday, Florida’s State Board of Education voted to prohibit spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at 28 state colleges. The vote marks the latest strike against DEI programs in a state where such initiatives have come under fire from Republican governor—and current GOP presidential candidate—Ron DeSantis, who has called such programs both wasteful and “hostile to academic freedom.” In the same meeting, the board also voted to replace a Principles of Sociology course with an American History course. The change, according to a department press release, aims “to provide students with an accurate and factual account of the nation’s past, rather than exposing them to radical woke ideologies, which had become commonplace in the now replaced course.” Now, sociology—King’s major at Morehouse College—will no longer be a core course option at state colleges. The vote follows a similar move in November at the Florida State University System.
Inside Higher Ed
4 More Colleges Face Civil Rights Investigations
The Education Department has now opened dozens of investigations into antisemitic and other bias-related incidents on college campuses since Oct. 7. But resolutions that could lead to changes are expected to take a while.
By Katherine Knott
At the University of Minnesota in October, some faculty members were allowed to post statements in support of Palestinian people on official university websites—a decision that, along with other incidents, a law professor and former regent say warrants a federal civil rights investigation. The Education Department appears to have agreed, adding Minnesota to its growing list of institutions under investigation for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires federally funded institutions to protect students from discrimination based on race, color or national origin. The department has said that law also protects against discrimination based on shared ancestry, which includes antisemitism or Islamophobia. …This week, Temple University, Ohio State University and Muhlenberg College were added to the list, along with a second investigation into the University of Illinois at Chicago—bringing the number of institutions currently under investigation to 18.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Arrman Kyaw
Educators and doctoral students offered advice and shared career experiences Tuesday in an effort to guide aspiring graduate students seeking to become teachers and to promote resources that students could access along the way. In a Jan. 16 online panel sponsored by the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, leaders and alumni from the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT), an organization that works to support students through grad school and increase educator diversity, highlighted the realities and hardships of being a teacher, as well as the ways in which the IRT benefitted their own journeys.
Higher Ed Dive
UNC Greensboro looks to cut 19 academic offerings
Recommended program eliminations span from foreign language minors to graduate degrees, which collectively enroll more than 210 students.
Natalie Schwartz, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro unveiled recommendations Tuesday to slash 19 bachelor’s degrees, graduate programs and other academic offerings in the wake of recent enrollment declines. More than 140 students are enrolled in the undergraduate majors slated for elimination, while around 70 students are enrolled in the affected graduate programs. Affected students in good standing will have the ability to complete their programs at UNCG. The university’s leadership plans to determine which programs to discontinue over the next two weeks and share the final results with the campus on Feb. 1. Any programs slated for discontinuation will no longer accept new students starting this fall, according to a university notice.
Higher Ed Dive
University of New Hampshire to lay off 75 employees to help save $14M
The public institution’s president indicated more cuts could be on the horizon, including program eliminations.
Laura Spitalniak, Staff Reporter
Dive Brief:
The University of New Hampshire is laying off about 75 employees as part of an effort to reduce its yearly expenses by $14 million. Colleges nationwide are facing significant competition for students and rising costs and the University of New Hampshire is no exception, President James Dean Jr. said Tuesday. In a message announcing the layoffs, he argued the institution must proactively make budgetary changes to address these issues. Employee compensation and benefits represent the institution’s biggest expense category, according to Dean. University spokesperson Tania deLuzuriaga said via email that a vast majority of the affected employees are staff but did not share exact figures.