MAGA activists across the country and here in Georgia continue to focus their attention on schools as the site of their culture war efforts, attacking teachers, librarians, books, and classroom content that they feel advances a “woke agenda.” Indeed, a third of all school children in the US now live in a state that has recently passed laws restricting, rather than expanding, what can and should be taught, effectively creating different educational possibilities based on a state government’s political orientation. This, while our children remain in danger from gun violence at school. Click through for a few alarming trends to watch: Attacks on the teaching of social and emotional development It should be a simple and non-controversial idea that in order to learn, children need to know how to get along with others and manage their own emotions. The core concepts of building emotional intelligence in children have been around as long as schools have been around. But in recent years, the Right has tried to link social and emotional learning (SEL) to the boogeyman of Critical Race Theory (which is not taught in public schools), and advance the argument that teaching emotional development is a Trojan horse for leftist “indoctrination.” Here at home in Forsyth, in the last few years, school counselors at at least one local elementary school were accused by parents of trying to indoctrinate their children by way of a social and emotional learning module. A Forsyth school administrator hired as a DEI trainer and coordinator had her job rescoped and retitled as a “community engagement specialist” despite “social and emotional health” being one of five strategic objectives of the 2025 budget plan. In neighboring Cherokee County, a new administrator hired to focus on diversity and equity in the school system was chased out of town by extremist parents. Bills in at least eight states have sought to limit or ban SEL, despite decades of research showing improved student academic and even health outcomes of SEL. Book Banning and Academic Censorship Many locals remember that starting in 2022, our Forsyth Board of Education meetings were filled with red-shirted activists clamoring for attention, insisting on reading aloud from library books they felt were “sexually explicit,” eventually filing a lawsuit, and resulting in a finding by the Office of Civil Rights that student rights had been infringed upon by district book removals--removals of books that were largely by or about people in marginalized groups. Even the youngest children’s classrooms were not exempt from reactionary book removals, as last fall, K and 1st grade classrooms had to jettison their new sets of ARC readers because a book like “Who’s in a Family” contained images of children with family structures other an one mom and one dad. In our county, even after the book removal furor of 2022 died down, teachers have continued to censor themselves and feel the chilling effect of the intense anger of right-wing activists. Parents need to proactively let their children’s teachers and principals know that they support book choices that include and represent all students. Academic Whitewashing That same spring of 2022, Brian Kemp chose Forsyth as the setting for his signing into law two reactionary education bills: the so-called Parents’ Bill of Rights; and the “Divisive Concepts” bill, which prevents classroom discussion of nine concepts including any discussion of race or racial history that would “induce psychological distress.” (The fact that this was an election year, and Kemp was being challenged from the right by David Perdue, is a salient fact here.) In a county like Forsyth, with a history of lynching and white terrorism, the restriction of how our racial history can be taught feels, unavoidably, like a turning away from and denial of that history. Into the vacuum left by restrictions on teaching real history and social studies, a for-profit company called Prager U is marketing a right-wing K-12 education curriculum that has been approved for use in Florida, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Montana, Louisiana, and Arizona. A privately-funded effort to use disputed videos to teach conservative values in public schools is gaining traction, as Louisiana recently became the sixth state to endorse educational materials produced by Prager U. Prager U is NOT a university and has no academic affiliation, but rather a media company producing short videos that push right-wing talking points and extremely conservative views of history, race, sex and gender, among other topics. For example, their video “Los Angeles: Mateo Backs the Blue” dismisses George Floyd’s murder and blames Floyd for resisting arrest, compares the BLM movement to Mexican drug cartels, and calls claims of racial injustice in policing “false.” In “Leo and Layla Meet Booker T. Washington,” the child characters ask Washington if he wishes he’d been born in a country without slavery, and he reassures them that “slavery has been a reality everywhere in the world,” and that “future generations are never responsible for the sins of the past.” More Christianity in Public Schools In a flagrant violation of the separation of Church and State, in July, the Governor of Oklahoma mandated the use of The Bible in all levels of public school curriculum, and then released a set of guidelines for incorporating it into lesson plans in every subject, cautioning, “immediate and strict compliance is expected.” The State School Superintendent, when confronted with the illegality of this, said, “We feel very confident in President Trump's nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, that, if we can — if we get sued and we get challenged, we will be victorious, because the Supreme Court justices he appointed actually are originalists that look at the Constitution and not what some left-wing professor said about the Constitution.” This force feeding of the Bible to public school students is in service of the Christian Nationalist myth that the United States is inherently and only a Christian country. Oklahoma took this action close on the heels of Louisiana becoming the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, a move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor. Dumbing Down in the Name of Culture Wars Educational historians claim that this explosion of laws dictating what can and can’t be taught in schools is unprecedented, and that local districts traditionally have had a lot of power to direct their own classroom content. The fact that schools and school curricula have become so politicized should alarm us all. A heightened sense of scrutiny of teachers and classrooms leads to censorship and restricts students' access to diverse perspectives, and restricting a school’s curriculum leads to an inevitable dumbing down of that curriculum. More than a dozen studies over the last forty years show that numerous measures of student performance, from attendance to graduation rates, increase when students see people like themselves in a school’s curriculum. Simply put, representation matters. Just this summer, Georgia’s Superintendent of Schools, Richard Wood, canceled the planned rollout of AP African American History courses after a pilot program. It is strange that an educator at the highest level of state government would decide that Georgia’s students need fewer AP course options, not more. Only public outcry and pushback from education advocates, along with the Attorney General’s clarification that college-level courses are specifically exempt from the divisive concepts law, made Wood reverse his decision. Eighteen states have passed “divisive concept” bans. A Trump Future: Increased Military Access to Schools, Less Safety, More Poverty, More Guns in Schools Project 2025 recommends “improving military recruiters’ access to secondary schools” by requiring students in public high schools to take a military entrance exam called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The proposed requirement would extend to schools that “receive federal funding,” the document says. That means the requirement would apply to students attending public schools and any private schools that receive federal funds. In 2023, the U.S. military services collectively missed their recruiting goals by 41,000 recruits, the Department of Defense said in December, attributing this to a strong economy with more options for young people, and a smaller population of those eligible to serve in the military. Also, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not currently conduct enforcement actions on school campuses, as these are considered “sensitive locations,” like churches and hospitals. Project 2025 would rescind that designation, and schools would be subject to ICE raids and a regular ICE presence. Donald Trump has vowed, “I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing Critical Race Theory, and I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.” Like most of Trump’s half-baked assertions, the feasibility of him actually accomplishing this is doubtful, but public health experts fear that even the rhetoric around it could lead to less vaccine participation and an uptick in child deaths from preventable diseases, like measles. Project 2025 calls for eliminating Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which invests in children from low-income households so they become proficient in reading and math. It would also eliminate Head Start, a federal early education program that serves more than 833,000 children living in poverty, from birth until they turn 5 years old. Head Start has served nearly 40 million kids from low-income families since 1965. Also concerning is the right’s apparent belief that our schools need more guns, not fewer. Georgia’s own Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones proposed, for the 2024 legislative session, that teachers be offered a $10k stipend to carry guns in classrooms. He made this announcement in Barrow County, the site of last week’s tragic school shooting, no less. The Georgia Association of Educators, plus every public health, pediatric health, and gun safety advocacy group opposes the idea. Earlier this year, Tennessee passed a law allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in school, without requiring them to inform parents or even their fellow teachers. Teachers, even teachers who have taken a firearms training course, are not law enforcement officers. More guns in schools is the wrong direction for us to be going. Vouchers and Inevitable School Defunding Meanwhile, the push on the part of dark money special interests for school vouchers finally succeeded in Georgia this year with the passage of SB233, sponsored by Forsyth’s State Senator Greg Dolezal. Far from increasing parental choice and driving better educational outcomes, as its proponents argued, we know that vouchers will divert funds from public schools, exacerbate educational inequalities, and lack true oversight and accountability measures. We know this because we have seen the damage done by vouchers in every state that has implemented them. Arizona’s state budget is nearly bankrupt from the cost of their voucher program; Florida is being forced to close public schools, leaving students and families in the lurch. In Indiana, costs of the voucher program have increased 263% in five years, draining the state school budget by 40%. Nowhere do educational outcomes of tax-funded voucher programs exceed or even meet those attained by public schools, with certified teachers. The Republicans’ Project 2025 would dramatically accelerate the funneling of public, taxpayer money into private hands, and also dismantle the Department of Education, along with protections for poor students, students in marginalized groups, and students needing special education. The new overturning of the Chevron deference by the Supreme Court this summer now threatens to further undermine the Department of Education and its ability to advocate for quality education for all students, including here in Forsyth, with their signed agreement with Forsyth Schools, stemming from the 2022 book removal. Why Does All This Matter? When teachers and classrooms are restricted, censored, and starved of funding, what is the cost to the future adults we are schooling? “When children are being taught very different stories of what America is, that will lead to adults who have a harder time talking to each other,” said Rachel Rosenberg, a Hartwick College assistant professor of education. With educational professionals confused about what to teach and in fear for their jobs, and students receiving an incomplete or biased education, the politicization of schools risks undermining quality education for all children. This election year in Forsyth, there are three open seats on the Board of Education up for election. The Democrats are running three strong candidates against three MAGA opponents. To halt an extremist takeover of our Forsyth school board, vote blue all the way down the ballot. 
Jessica Fleming (District 2), Debbie Stair (District 3), Claudia Wood (District 4)
Forsyth County Schools is one the best, most well-run school systems in the state of Georgia and the U.S., with an amazing strategic plan, solid administration, great teachers and support staff, and financially prudent and sound. We are three Democrats running for every open seat on the Board of Education. We are running to keep our district focused on high quality education, ensuring that students are learning in a safe environment both physically and emotionally, where teachers are trusted and supported and have full access to the best teaching materials available, and where communication with parents is high. We will fight to prevent any of the MAGA-inspired trends we are seeing across our country to influence our district, as represented by our opponents. Tell your friends and neighbors to vote Blue this November to ensure our children get the best education possible for their personal success!
The BOE also approved a decrease in M&O millage from 15.30 to 15.208 and separately a debt service for bonds millage of 1.418, no change from last year. With the increase in property values assessed by the County of 7.58%, the millage rates represent an increase in property taxes of approximately 4.13%, all exemptions being equal.
Let’s look at the overall school budget for 2024/5 and highlight what the additional $69 million is funding for this year: First the budget increase of $69 million $68 million of the $69 million is for salary and benefits for teachers, paraprofessionals and support positions. Here is the breakdown: 140 new staff members: $14 million New pay scale/Cola of 5% $20.5 million Step Increase(pay band changes) $5.3 million Healthcare and Pension increases $28.4 million Of the 140 new personnel, 118 are teachers and paraprofessionals and 9 are support positions. These numbers reflect the impact of the approved $2,500 in teacher pay as signed by the governor, pay band changes, $1,500 annual supplement for specialized instruction teachers and state-mandated increases for healthcare and the retirement fund. It’s important to note FCS is playing catch up with other districts in teacher compensation and, even with these changes, has not caught up. Teacher retention is an on-going issue and focus for FCS. FCS is BIG and well run With nearly 54,000 students, 8,000 staff members, and 42 schools, FCS is the largest employer in Forsyth County. It has the highest graduation rate in the Atlanta area at over 96%, highest SAT, and ACT scores and the highest Financial Efficiency Rating. It has the lowest cost per student of area districts. The total budget is $714.788 million, with 90.35% going to salaries and benefits and 9.65% to operating expenses. The top 5 line items are: $$Millions Instruction $523.126 Maintenance & Operations $52.712 School Administration $38.458 Transportation (bus) $36.733 Pupil Services $17.228 Central Support $16.927 Key Points on the Budget for Property Owners This budget is the operating budget, where most of your property taxes go. Capital expenditures like new construction, additions to buildings, major equipment and vehicle purchases and the like are paid for through sales taxes (SPLOSTs) and bonds and are handled separately. As highlighted in the 3rd Edition of The Kicker, funding overall is diverse. Property taxes provide 46% of funding for the operating budget and include residential and commercial property. The State of Georgia provides 47% of funding. In Forsyth County we rely more on residential property taxes than other districts for lack of commercial property development. Due to the Over-65 exemptions, where seniors do not pay the school district portion of their property taxes, FCS does not see what would amount to $60 million in additional revenue. We are one of the few counties that offer such an exemption. If you want the deeper dive: Got questions? Ask a Candidate. We have 3 BOE candidates: Jessica Fleming, Debbie Stair and Claudia Woods. We encourage you to reach out to them with questions about the BOE, FCS, their candidacy and, if you can, donate, offer support to their campaigns and VOTE!
Recently some writers from The Kicker sat down with consumer advocate and Public Service Commission (PSC) candidate Patty Durand to learn more about the Georgia Public Service Commission race, Plant Vogtle, and why Georgia isn’t transitioning more quickly to clean energy. Durand is a former resident of Forsyth and plans to run for the PSC in 2025.
Kicker: What should Georgians know about the Public Service Commission (PSC)? PD: The PSC is tasked with regulating Georgia Power, gas companies, railroads, and certain parts of Electric Membership Corporations’ (EMCs) structure. Georgia Power is a government guaranteed monopoly which was done to incentivize it to build expensive electric power lines and infrastructure during the first part of the 20th century. The PSC was set up to oversee this monopoly by regulating in the public interest, which includes ensuring reasonable profits and rates that are just and reasonable. But that’s not what they’ve been doing. Georgia Power has the blessing of the PSC to receive the highest profit margin of any utility in the country. Kicker: What should Georgians know about Georgia Power? PD: Georgia Power takes actions that benefit” their shareholders more than their customers; they’re not doing good work to provide good value to ratepayers or to offer cleaner and cheaper energy options. Georgia Power massively overspent on Plant Vogtle while blocking options like residential and commercial rooftop solar. We don’t have more renewables in Georgia because Georgia Power doesn’t want them. People are confused and deliberately misled about what the clean energy transition could do to lower our energy costs, improve our air quality, and stop climate change. The PSC could curb this, but instead they do not. Kicker: Wow, this doesn’t sound right. PD: This past year we’ve had Georgia Power asking to build more capacity with demand predictions than match reality. There has never been any accountability by the PSC for Georgia Power’s past false demand predictions. Even if demand were surging, new energy sources can and should be clean. We had the Department of Defense, Microsoft, and concerned citizens asking for any potential new energy demands to be met by expanding renewables. Despite that push, the PSC caved to Georgia Power and authorized a massive amount of new fossil fuel capacity. Kicker: How did you decide to run for a seat on the PSC? PD: I've been in advocacy for years. I led a chapter of the Sierra Club for four years, and I ran a non-profit in Forsyth County called Forsyth Forest Conservation. I decided to run for the PSC after the commission approved a so-called Smart Usage Rate plan, even though it was very bad for low-income people. It was clear to me that nobody on the PSC was advocating for Georgia Power ratepayers. In fact, no official on the PSC is even a Georgia Power customer. Many don't have a background in energy and are on the PCS because of political patronage, meaning they were big donors to the governor. The process is that a commissioner resigns between elections so the governor can appoint a member who will then appear as an incumbent during the next election. Kicker: Can you explain the controversy surrounding the PSC races? PD: PSC candidates must live in the district that they represent. However, voters across the state vote for all the candidates on the commission. Black voters in 2020 sued the state arguing that this structure disenfranchised Black voters because voters across the state can join together to dilute Black voters' right for representation in a district. The judge ruled in their favor. The state appealed. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on the merit of that claim. Instead they ruled that the federal courts should not rule on state elections. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. While this was going on, my election was one that was put on hold. The Georgia legislature decided to extend the current PSC members terms. It’s been a mess. Kicker: What can be done? PD: A lot, but I’ll give you three to start:
Kicker: How can our readers keep up with this issue? PD: My newsletter! People can sign up for it at pattyforpsc.com. And, I encourage all consumers to watch their power bills closely and ask questions. Forsyth readers are mostly getting power through Sawnee EMC and their bills will also be heavily impacted from Plant Vogtle’s cost overruns, but it’s less transparent than Georgia Power since EMC rates are not regulated by the PSC. However, everything Georgia Power does affects you because climate change affects us all. Reaching out to legislators is helpful even if you aren’t a Georgia Power customer. It’s worth noting that many Republican legislators think that GP has gone too far. As I said earlier, none of the PSC Commissioners are Georgia Power customers. You don’t have to pay your bills to Georgia Power to have your views heard. State legislatures have the power to legislate. Call them and email your legislators, especially if they are Republican, and ask them to require more lower cost clean energy like solar and storage instead of expensive gas and nuclear that has been Georgia Power’s preferred solution due to profits.
Did You Know? Voter Protection
Did you Know? Education
In response to those losses, insurers have raised premiums, narrowed coverage, dropped customers, and even entirely withdrawn from some states.
In Georgia, insurers lost money on homeowners’ insurance in five of the last seven years. In 2023 alone, the state was affected by 14 separate billion-dollar disasters, more than any state except Texas. Georgia is in the top 10 states for adverse effects from climate change like extreme heat, drought, wildfires, inland and coastal flooding. The Insurance Information Institute released statistics showing the national average for home insurance premiums as $1272. Numbers from the Insurance Information Institute, Georgia, was almost $100 more expensive at $1362. Georgia experienced the 7th highest hike in home insurance premiums in 2022. 
What’s the Soil and Water Commission (SWCC)?
Georgia formed the SWCC--with a mission to protect, conserve and improve the soil and water resources--in the 1930s, during the dust bowl era, to educate farmers on soil conservation techniques. The SWCC comprises 40 Soil & Water Conservation Districts in 159 counties, and each county has at least two supervisors on their District Board of Supervisors. In our district, one of the two supervisors is elected and one is appointed. Forsyth is part of the Upper Chattahoochee River District of the SWCC, which includes Forsyth, Hall, Dawson, White, and Habersham counties. Historically, the counties have been heavily agricultural, and as a result, the district focused on farming and rural issues. However, the land in Forsyth is now primarily residential and commercial, and yet Forsyth’s representation on the board has not changed with the times. Today, we need the District to support the majority of residents. Since its inception our district has and continues to be supervised exclusively by farmers and has focused on the needs of farmers. These supervisors are excellent representatives of the agricultural industry, but they do not represent the reality of present day Forsyth County. Although the mission of the SWCC was originally to help farmers conserve their land and water, this has changed and the mission now is to serve all people in the State. For example, one of the responsibilities of the SWCC is to review and approve Erosion and Sediment Control Plans for construction projects. The plans show the construction companies how to prevent erosion from the area of construction. These plans are very important in counties like Forsyth where extensive development is occurring. Without these plans, and their implementation, our streams would be muddy and clogged with sediments. At the last district meeting (May 2024), Forsyth county had 21 plans approved, compared to a total of only 11 for the other four counties combined. Forsyth is different from most of the rest of the SWCC’s districts. Relevant Expertise Needed for Rapidly Developing County Virtually all of the other work being done by the Upper Chattahoochee River District is related to farming. They are supporting programs such as feral swine control, no-till farming, fire watch programs for north GA counties, small farm training programs, and work by the University of Georgia extension program for farmers. These programs do not generally have direct applicability to residential or commercial developments in Forsyth. Only about 10% of Forsyth County land is farmland, and as can be observed by driving through the County (and shown by US Dept of Agriculture statistics), that percentage is steadily decreasing. Lakes and rivers now occupy the same percentage of the land as farms. The majority of the land in the County is residential, commercial and industrial. These types of land often need to install water detention/sediment retention facilities to collect runoff from the land and protect our waterways. Currently, our District does not have any programs on how to manage the detention/retention facilities. However, other districts with large percentages of suburban/urban land have developed programs to help people manage their facilities. Our district needs to implement programs to help with these facilities and the SWCC staff is ready to help us but we need representation to put our county’s changing needs on the table. Let Nature Do its Job Another technical area being ignored by our district is natural methods to help control flooding and stream flow. This might include measures such as vegetative stream bank protection or reintroducing beavers who are natural dam builders. The beavers can help improve the environment of streams, and the dams help minimize flooding during heavy rainfall events. Again, the SWCC staff is ready to help us with these types of programs, but we need someone on the commission to bring our needs to their attention. Other areas where the District could help is training/guidance for HOAs on the use of herbicides and fertilizers, or plantings that can help stabilize slopes on developed land. The District must expand its membership to include people with appropriate technical backgrounds, representing homeowners and commercial interests. Currently the Upper Chattahoochee River District is represented by 9 people, all with farming-related backgrounds. There is one open seat in Forsyth. Our district needs someone with a desire and expertise to represent the interests of the majority of the County. The Forsyth County Democrats are supporting Roger Pennifill (www.rogerforcleanwater.com ) in his bid for this non-partisan seat. He has over 40 years’ experience in environmental and erosion control projects and will work for the benefit of the residents of the County.
Did You Know: Climate Change Hits Home
Did You Know: Soil and Water Conservation Commission
In effect, if a voter chooses to submit an absentee ballot in a drop box, it is accepted, but if they choose to hand it to an election worker in person, they will have to provide an additional ID or the ballot is classified as “provisional” which requires further checks. This comes on the heels of the SEB’s recent rule change that allows boards to require “reasonable information” before certifying, without any definition of the term or its timing.
Given Georgia’s pivotal swing state status, SEB efforts to sow doubt in the election process is no surprise, as reported in a recent Kicker. Perhaps surprising is that the sessions have drawn large audiences (both in person and online) and national news coverage. Even many state Republicans disapprove of the SEB’s actions and of the former president calling the three members out by name at a recent rally, put even greater, unwelcome, scrutiny on Georgia. In response to the SEB’s attempts to re-litigate the 2020 Fulton County vote, Attorney General Chris Carr has said he refuses to use his office to do so. Noteworthy is that the former president’s allies are known to be behind seemingly-local efforts to remove voters from rolls and purposely create disruption before the November election. Put together, these actions appear designed to create delay and chaos, in the event the former president loses, with the likely ultimate goal of stopping the certification altogether. On a more hopeful note, the SEB voted against advancing a rule to require the county election boards to use paper ballots–a persistent, baseless far-right demand that inaccurately suggests counting thousands of pieces of paper under tight deadlines is akin to a bank audit. They refuse to acknowledge that the existing forms of reconciliation—done hourly as well as at the end of every voting day-- are accurate. On Tuesday, the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials (GAVREO) issued a press release calling on the SEB to stop passing new rules so close to the election. What Next: “Can’t We All Get Along?” Election deniers frequently suggest that what they are pushing for is simply election security–what everyone of any party should want– that what they are doing is reasonable. This approach might lull voters who are not paying close attention into agreeing, but our elections have been secure and the processes have worked cleanly and effectively. It is only a small, well-funded group who is trying to disrupt what has worked and they hide their effort under a veneer of “can’t we all just get along.” Disingenuous at best, dishonest at worst. Bad actors hope no one is paying attention. Pay attention. Go to the Forsyth County Board of Elections meetings. Make public comments. Keep track of the SEB meetings–write in your comments or even appear in person. Don’t let anyone think you’re not paying attention, because your vote matters.
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