The Georgia State Senate is locked in a battle over Senate Resolution (SR) 655, which would amend the Georgia Constitution "so as to protect lottery funds so that they may be reserved only for the HOPE Scholarship Program...to enable citizens of this state to attend colleges and universities within this state, for voluntary pre-kindergarten, and for educational shortfall reserves."
Governor Perdue's amendment proposal would keep proceeds from the state lottery from being spent on "pork," or legislators' pet projects. The measure has now failed twice in the Senate, falling just two votes short of the 2/3 majority needed to amend the Constitution. One final vote on the measure will be held, but Democrats, who claimed they were "shut out of the process" and had a "better plan" which was "being rejected for political purposes," are not expected to change their minds.
The HOPE scholarship, which was the brainchild of former Governor Zell Miller, has recently entered a time of financial strain, as so many Georgia students are now attending college thanks to the program, and the party-line voting of Democrats to kill this proposed amendment in favor of securing lottery funds for pet projects will only plunge the program into greater crisis.
In a bold move designed to pressure at least 2 Democrat Senators to stop playing politics with the educational futures of so many Georgia youths, thus bringing the amendment to the state ballot in November, the Georgia Association of College Republicans (GACR) has organized a "Save HOPE" rally, planned for 11am on February 8th, on the Washington Street steps of the capitol building. The rally is open to the public, and they hope to have several hundred college students from around the state in attendance.
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