Carter: Deal Attempting Another Election-Year Fix for a Problem He Created

Statement

Sen. Jason Carter issued the following statement after Gov. Deal announced he would seek to expand the HOPE Grant program after he cut it significantly in his first term. The governor's reversal comes in direct response to Carter's calls to restore the HOPE Grant.

"Gov. Deal broke the HOPE Grant and it took an election year for him to care about the devastation he caused," Carter said. "His failed reforms to the HOPE Grant led 45,000 students to drop out of technical colleges in a single year. That has real economic consequences.

"Over and over again, this governor fails to act until a crisis and bad headlines threaten his reelection. We've seen him do it before with rural hospitals, child welfare, transportation and our schools.

"Georgia's skyrocketing unemployment is a consequence of years of devastating cuts to our schools. Businesses don't want to invest in a place that's not investing in its own people, and our workers aren't being equipped with the skills they need to fill the job openings we do have."

Carter led the effort in the State Senate against the governor's cuts, and has worked to restore the program. Sen. Carter is running ads this month pointing out that Gov. Deal's cuts to the HOPE Grant led 45,000 students to leave technical schools. In a speech to the film industry last month, Carter pointed to Deal's cuts to the HOPE Grant as a chief reason for the skilled labor shortage in the industry.

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