Under the Dome | The Budget, School Surveillance, and More | Vol. 80
Volume 80
The FY26 Budget
If you know me, you will know I often criticize the state budget. What the House of Representatives just did, however, is next level bonkers. To be frank, it is out of touch with conservatives. This might be the worst budget I’ve seen ever.
Before we get into the budget, I would like to give credit to Rep. Charlice Byrd and Rep. Noelle Kahaian for being the only two Republicans to vote NO. If neither of these courageous warriors is your Representative, then your Representative voted for this garbage. Don’t be afraid to express your disappointment to them.
School Choice
The House is trying to gut school choice, only funding 32% of it. Remember that the Promise Scholarships means the student is not receiving QBE funds, meaning the Promise Scholarships save the state money while affording parents the opportunity to place their child in the schooling of their choice. Yet, at the behest of woke superintendents, Speaker Jon Burns and Chairman Matt Hatchett are trying to gut school choice in Georgia.
The House, by passing this budget, voted AGAINST school choice. This is outrageous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More Debt
Not only did the House remove provisions in the Supplemental Budget to use some money to pay off debt, now the House is going against everyone, including even the Governor, by trying to add more debt.
School Surveillance Bill – HB 268
If you recall HB 268, this bill does a number of concerning things. These concerns include instituting big brother surveillance on Georgia’s children via a state-wide database and assessment process; a reduction in a parents right to protect their child’s privacy (including fines and even jail time for failure to comply with record sharing requirements); gives broad discretion to state entities to determine assessment criteria, risking students being unfairly targeted, as what behavior exactly warrants scrutiny is left to the state to determine; expands state entities control over local schools; and takes over safety policies that very well could be handled by the local system such as whether a window needs to be locked or whether a teacher should be punished for not locking their classroom door. Much more straightforward steps could be taken to ensure safety, such as incentivizing teachers to carry firearms or helping schools hire more law enforcement. Unfortunately, the bill is more concerned with keeping democrats happy than it is with keeping children safe.
Now, Speaker Jon Burns and Chairman Matt Hatchett are trying to gut school choice and put our state in more debt so they can create what is essentially a terrorist watch list for our children. They must be stopped!
CALL TO ACTION:
The Senate must fix these catastrophic issues.
Regarding HB 268, there are better solutions. SB 17, SB 61, and SB 179 accomplish the goals of beefing of school safety without violating student privacy and parental rights. This is the Senate’s school safety package, comprised of 3 bills. The Senate Judiciary Committee should substitute HB 268 and combine SB 17, SB 61, and SB 179 in to one bill. This would move us in the right direction. Call Judiciary Chairman Brian Strickland and tell him to pass the Senate school safety package (SB 17, SB 61, and SB 179) as a substitute to HB 268! His number is (404) 656-0508!
Furthermore,
The House has passed this disastrous budget gutting school choice, putting us further into debt, and funding the disastrous policies in HB 268. Call the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and tell them keep our state out of debt! Start by calling the following people and encourage them to STAND STRONG:
Senator Blake Tillery, Appropriations Chairman, (404) 656-5038
Senator Steve Gooch, Majority Leader, (404) 656-9221
Senator John Kennedy, President Pro Tempore, (404) 656-6578
Click here to find the other members!
Unacceptable Growth
The fact is, spending is way too high in Georgia. Check out this graph:
This represents spending for the last decade. The red line is spending each year. The green line would be if we merely increased spending with inflation over that time. As you can see, we are way too high. That is why the Georgia Freedom Caucus previously released the previous statement following budget week in January:
We can do so much better.
Senator Colton Moore Passes Bill Defending the Second Amendment!
Senator Colton Moore passed the first pro-gun bill in Georgia since Constitutional Carry! On behalf of all of Georgia, we thank Senator Moore! Now, the House needs to do their job and PASS SB 163.
Here is a fun video edit from Senator Moore’s presentation of the bill:
Do you support our efforts to DEFEND COLTON MOORE, keep tyranny in check, fight against out of control spending, and cut taxes? If so, please consider donating. This will be directly used to campaign for critical conservative legislation under the dome and elect more Georgia Freedom Caucus members, like Colton Moore. Click here to support our efforts! The Freedom Caucus is how we save Georgia. Check out this video and get on board!
