From Campus to Classroom: Stories That Shape Education
- Late-night session resolved scaled-back tax cuts and the state's $38.5 billion budget amid fierce Republican disagreement over income and property tax relief.
- Lawmakers failed to meet the deadline to remove QR codes from ballots, leaving Georgia out of compliance and prompting calls for a special session.
- New measures advanced: a need-based college scholarship passed; the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act sent to Gov. Brian Kemp; cash rounding approved.
April 3, 2026 Augusta Chronicle
Jennifer Miller reports, Solomon Cohen has big dreams, and, at 31-years-old, his vegan baking skills are helping him to achieve them. Cohen recently took the overall first-place prize at the 2026 Flavor of Georgia food product competition at the University of Georgia for his line of Papa Mountain Garlic and Herb Bread Rolls.
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April 3, 2026 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
Patty Rasmussen reports, despite multiple health and family setbacks that kept her from graduating from high school, Patria Brown was a voracious reader from an early age. Now a mother of six, Brown credits that love of reading with setting her on the path she’s on today: encouraging her children’s academic dreams while pursuing her own.
April 3, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amy Wenk reports that Georgia’s labor market is treading water, according to new data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor. Georgia added 1,200 net jobs in January, basically flat from December, according to the report, the first glimpse at how the state labor market is performing this year.
April 3, 2026 GlobalAtlanta.com
Trevor Williams reports, Atlanta’s full slate of first-round FIFA World Cup competitors shook out this week with two contests that helped settle the full field for the expanded 48-team tournament. By defeating Denmark on penalties in a nail-biter of a European qualifier, the Czech Republic punched its ticket to Atlanta, giving the city another touch point with the Central European nation that has seen its economic and diplomatic engagement with Atlanta ratchet up in recent years.
April 3, 2026 Macon Telegraph
Lucinda Warnke reports, hundreds of Jones County residents braved the frigid January air to watch their commissioners vote on an amendment regulating data centers. However, after documents and news coverage revealed contact between Jones County officials and a data center developer, few felt confident that their voices would be heard.
April 3, 2026 Georgia Recorder
Maya Homan reports, in an unexpected twist, members of the House and Senate concluded the 2026 legislative session without ending their longstanding stalemate over election policy, as Georgia hurtles toward the deadline for removing QR codes from voters’ ballots without a clear solution in sight. The lack of a solution has some lawmakers calling on Gov. Brian Kemp to convene a special session to give them another shot at passing an elections bill this year.
April 3, 2026 Capitol Beat News
Mark Niesse reports that the Georgia House gave final approval to a bill Thursday that rounds in-person cash transactions to the nearest nickel. The change is a response to the Trump administration’s decision last year to stop making new pennies, which will lead to their gradual disappearance from circulation.
April 3, 2026 Georgia Recorder
Jill Nolin reports, lawmakers signed off on a plan to forego more of the state’s income tax revenue, passing a tax cut bill late Thursday night over the concerns of Democrats who questioned the math used to support the cuts. But a high-profile proposal focused on reining in rising property taxes only passed late Thursday night after being dramatically scaled back.
April 3, 2026 WABE
Meimei Xu reports, the Georgia legislature passed a bill enacting a financial need-based scholarship for students attending public colleges and universities in the state. The existing HOPE scholarship in Georgia, on the other hand, is based on academic merit.
April 3, 2026 State Affairs
Beau Evans reports, what began as a slow plow through dozens of measures at the start of Thursday’s session-ending Sine Die erupted around midnight with high-stakes moves on tax cuts, election reform and the state’s $38.5 billion budget. Tensions long simmering between majority Republicans in the House and Senate over competing pushes for income and property tax relief finally came to a boil late amid something of a bait-and-switch on tax cuts that lasted deep into the witching hour.
April 3, 2026 Georgia Recorder
Ross Williams, Maya Homan and Alander Rocha report, lawmakers failed to meet a self-imposed deadline to eliminate QR codes on ballots, setting Georgia up to be out of compliance with its own law. They also did not take any action to rein in data centers despite consumer concerns over rising power prices.
April 3, 2026 Capitol Beat News
Ty Tagami reports, people in Georgia who get injured badly enough to need an ambulance ride could worry less about the shock to their pocketbook if they have insurance and if Gov. Brian Kemp signs House Bill 506 into law. The Georgia General Assembly sent Kemp the “Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act” on Thursday, the final day of this year’s legislative session.
April 3, 2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Staff reports, just before adjourning, the House approved a scaled-back property tax measure proposed by the Senate. Senate Bill 33 allows local schools and governments to use sales taxes pay for property tax relief.
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