Another special election coming up!

State Sen. Colton Moore resigned from the state Senate yesterday. He is running in the special election to fill the Congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which will occur on March 10. Gov. Brian Kemp will announce a date for a special election to fill Moore's seat.

A special election will occur on January 20 to fill the state Senate seat formerly held by John Kennedy, who resigned as he is running for Lieutenant Governor.

Two members of the state House of Representatives have been indicted for fraudulent COVID unemployment benefits, Rep. Karen Bennett (District 94 - parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties) and Rep. Sharon Henderson (District 113 - Newton County.) Bennett has resigned her seat but the governor has not set a date for an election to fill the vacancy. Henderson has not resigned her position. Gov. Kemp has formed a committee to review the indictment charges against Rep. Henderson.

Another opening in the state House is in District 130 in Augusta, recently represented by Lynn Heffner who resigned. No date has been set for an election to fill opening here either.

House and Senate study committees on absenteeism
release their final reports and recommendations

The Georgia House and the Senate each created their own study committee to review issues and efforts to curb chronic student absenteeism.

The House report can be read here. Among the recommendations of the House of Representatives Study Committee on Student Attendance in PreK-12 Education are:

Increase the number of full-time licensed school nurses so that every Georgia school has dedicated daily coverage,
Expand the school social worker workforce to move closer to the nationally recommended 1:250 student to school social worker ratio, and
Leverage telehealth to address mental health needs.

The full Senate report is here. Among their recommendations are:

Suspend chronically absent students' participation in school athletics and extracurricular activities, and possible suspension of students' drivers licenses.
Provide vision and hearing screening at multiple grade levels,
Require public, disaggregated reporting of chronic-absence rates by school and grade,
Fund wrap-around services directly tied to attendance outcomes (e.g., school nurses, counselors, social workers, mental-health telehealth, reliable transportation, after-school and mentorship programs,) and
Prohibit cellphones in high schools.

GAE Legislative Contact Team (LCT)
Zoom call on Jan. 20, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

All GAE members are invited to become part of the Legislative Contact Team (LCT).

The LCT provides you with opportunities to help you build a relationship with your representatives in the Georgia General Assembly. The goal is for GAE members, who are constituents of their Representative or Senator, to become the local education expert they know so that you can then reach out when education bills are under consideration.

All members are asked to join - we'll provide you all the information you need, we just need you to provide your time and talents to email and build relationships with your legislators.

Join us for the 2026 kick-off session to learn more and become part of the GAE LCT. Please register for this meeting at: https://www.mobilize.us/gae/event/885599/

100 Crescent Center Pkwy, Suite 500 | Tucker, GA 30084 US

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