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Jun 20 2018

How Far Will Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp Go to Gut Public Education?

GEORGIA – Today, as more revelations surface about the extremist, con-artist nature of both Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp, questions arise about just how far both Republican gubernatorial candidates are willing to go to put politics over children, and to gut our public education system. Under the leadership of Cagle, Kemp, and their Republican allies, Georgia students and teachers have seen billions of dollars cut from public education over the last seven years alone, resulting in a loss of jobs for 9,000 teachers[i] and an increase in class sizes for over 95% of Georgia school districts.[ii]

We’ve heard Casey Cagle’s own admission that he backed a bill, HB 217, that he described as “bad in a thousand different ways” solely for political gain. However, voters didn’t hear that this bill diverted over $100 million dollars from public schools to private schools, further lowering public-school funding in the state of Georgia.

Not to be one-upped by Casey Cagle, Brian Kemp has proposed to DOUBLE the dangerous effects of HB 217.

With both Republican Gubernatorial candidates signaling an all-out assault on public education, the question becomes, just how far are they willing to go to put themselves and their secret donor friends over Georgia teachers and students?

“Both Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp are too dangerous for Georgia teachers, students, and parents,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter. “Right now, Georgia ranks 35th in the nation in spending per public school student.[iii] With Cagle already looting more than $100 million dollars away from our public schools and Kemp threatening to double that absurd number, the only victims in the hostile Republican takeover of our schools are the students and teachers across the state who cannot get their basic educational needs met.”

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[i] Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “State Education Cuts Still Linger for School Districts’. https://gbpi.org/2016/state-education-cuts-still-linger-for-school-districts/

[ii] Georgia Policy and Budget Institute. “Cutting Class to Make Ends Meet”. https://gbpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Cutting-Class-to-Make-Ends-Meet.pdf

[iii] Georgia Policy and Budget Institute. “Overview: 2016 Fiscal Year Budget for K-12 Education”. https://gbpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Overview-2016-K-12.pdf

Written by PNM Admin · Categorized: Press Releases · Tagged: Casey Cagle, education, hb 217

Jun 20 2018

State Representatives, Teachers, and Parents Agree: Casey Cagle Chose Politics over Georgia Children

ATLANTA — Today, Rep. Debra Bazemore and teachers Jennifer Young and Tonya Grimmke held a press conference at John C. Howell Park declaring Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle unsuited to be Governor of Georgia and deriding Cagle for putting politics over Georgia children.

The event was held at John C. Howell Park, across the street from Imman Middle School, a public school negatively affected by Cagle’s bad legislation. The speakers used Cagle’s own words, describing how the politician backed a bill that was “bad in a thousand different ways” for political gain, and that he put his own ambition over the people of Georgia.

The press conference comes on the heels of a leaked audio recording of Casey Cagle admitting that he supported a “bad” bill solely because it would deprive another candidate in the race of millions of dollars of support.

“What Cagle did was reprehensible. It is horrible. This cannot be explained away. I don’t see how you can even justify or explain affecting 1.7 million students in the state of Georgia by your actions,” said Rep. Debra Bazemore.

“This is unacceptable… I know a lot of people think that the governor’s race is out of their hands, but this affects your children, our teachers, our communities, and our neighborhoods. I hope that you listen to the words that come out of people’s mouths and realize that they are making decisions that can help you or hurt you,” said teacher Elizabeth Goldsmith.

“If the current climate continues and we have public officials willing to sell our kids out for personal gain, that situation’s going to get worse and worse… Casey Cagle admits he did the wrong thing for our kids and families,” said teacher and parent Tonya Grimmke.

Watch the Facebook Live video of the event at facebook.com/georgiademocrat.

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Written by PNM Admin · Categorized: Press Releases · Tagged: Casey Cagle, Debra Bazemore, education, hb 217

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