The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DEFENSE/MILITARY
Trump proposed increasing military spending by $54 billion and to cut nonmilitary programs by the same amount, proposing to add thousands of additional troops, hundreds of new warplanes and dozens of top-of-the line ships.
He’s also asked the Defense Department to draft a plan to take decisive action against the Islamic State. And although he seems to have sidelined talks about reducing the role of NATO, he has insisted that other nations in the alliance increase their defense spending.
And the U.S. Army decided to move a new brigade to Fort Benning, bringing about 500 additional troops to the base in Columbus by October.
Georgia is one of the larger recipients of defense spending. About $6.4 billion in Defense Department contract work was performed in Georgia in the past fiscal year, employing about 50,000 people. The state is the fifth-largest host of active-duty troops, with about 137,000 troops, and officials are bracing for another round of negotiations over base closures.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to put $20 billion into a school voucher program, but his budget released in March had only a quarter-billion dollars for a “private school choice” program and an additional $168 million for charter schools.
It’s unclear how much of that money would flow to Georgia, but the state would be affected by his proposed school budget cut of 13 percent.
Georgia would likely lose its share in a $193 million reduction to a group of programs for disadvantaged students. Georgia would also lose the $33 million it gets from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, a $1.2 billion before- and after-school program that Trump’s budget would eliminate. The president also wants to do away with the $2.4 billion Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program, a teacher training program that delivers $62 million to Georgia.
Another hit to schools would come from reductions in the agriculture budget, which would shrink 21 percent. Department of Agriculture dollars cover the freeand reduced-price school meal programs said to be the main source of nutrition for many students with little food at home. Georgia gets more than $758 million from that.
“The cuts would be tough for any district, there’s no question,” said Claire Suggs, a policy analyst for the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
Georgia gets about a half-billion dollars a year in Title I funding, which augments the budgets of high-poverty schools. Trump wants to add $1 billion nationally to that program, with the money dedicated to establishing systems of “student-based” budgeting and open enrollment so students can switch from one public school to another, taking their government funding with them.