According to Dana Rickman in the coming issue of James magazine, “During the same time period that the number of low-income children in Georgia public schools increased from 45 percent to 60 percent, state funding per student declined on average of 15 percent. The statewide austerity cut for fiscal year 2014 is $1 billion. The cumulative statewide austerity cut from 2003 through 2014 is $7.6 billion.” It’s no one’s fault that an extended sluggish economy has severely pinched education funding. But as more money starts flowing into state coffers, there needs to be a RISING focus on the number one investment that Georgia can make in its future — its public schools.
State Farm Arena a box office draw
Downtown Atlanta’s State Farm Arena is quite the box office draw. How big? From October to to March, State Farm brought in $76.2 million across 60 events, making it the third-highest grossing venue in the entire nation, behind only New York’s Madison Square Garden and the Sphere in Las Vegas, and fifth globally. Nearly 600,000 visitors took in performances from superstars ranging from Blake Shelton to Usher, plus Hawks games and events like WWE Raw. State Farm’s status as one of the premier performance venues in the world is RISING…
