Looking back to see what’s ahead for Georgia
In a matter of hours, 2015 will be history. But some of the biggest stories in Georgia politics this year are only getting started as 2016 arrives:
5. Opportunity School District: Gov. Nathan Deal's signature legislation from 2015 will go before the voters on November's ballot, and it promises to bring a doozy of a fight.
School districts from Atlanta to Savannah have already ramped up efforts to improve failing schools that could be taken over by the state if the constitutional amendment passes. Their new-found motivation is reason enough to vote yes, and the education status quoists will pull out all the stops against it. If OSD could comprise more than 100 schools at a time, this item would be higher on the list.
4. Transportation funding/MARTA: A $900 million funding bill in 2015 covered the big picture. In 2016 lawmakers will take a more granular look at one of the biggest challenges facing metro Atlanta and, consequently, the state as a whole. At issue will be local, 1-percent sales taxes to pay for roads and perhaps rails.
MARTA is eyeing a piece of the pennies from Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton, but the counties and their cities have other ideas. Any tax should not only weigh the relative benefits of transit vs. roads, but also encourage local governments to work together on big projects that span their borders. If not, the public will be no more likely to approve of the tax than in the T-SPLOST flame-out of 2012.
3. Education Reform Commission: This is another one that could have been higher on the list, but not because its impact is uncertain. The proposals from Deal's task force could truly transform the way Georgia funds and runs public schools.
What is unclear is how many of the proposals will make it to legislators’ desks in 2016 rather than showing up the following year, if ever. The funding-formula changes, at least, need to be tackled during this session because they underpin so many of the other ideas.
2. SEC primary: Presidential elections are always impossible to ignore, and Georgia figures to play a key role in the process.
Republican candidates, in particular, will have much on the line March 1 when Georgia and Texas lead a slate of primaries and caucuses in 12 states. Although only five of the 12 actually are home to a university in the Southeastern Conference, there’ll definitely be a Southern flavor — and perhaps a Southern stamp on the eventual GOP nominee.
1. Casinos and the HOPE scholarship: Gambling interests are making a big push for 2016, trying to put another constitutional amendment on the November ballot to allow casinos and/or pari-mutuel wagering (think horse racing) in our state.
Propping up HOPE is the veneer intended to lend respectability to this effort, but that’s a shiny object meant to distract. MGM, Hard Rock and other gaming companies would be no less hesitant to make their pitch if HOPE didn’t exist. This is about putting casinos in one of the last major U.S. markets without them, and Georgians need to be clear-eyed about whether the new tax money is worth the trade-offs for locally owned businesses, communities and families.
