Education on WACN 21 News

Atlanta Public Schools launches universal free lunch program

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:00:00 -0400

Atlanta Public Schools will offer free breakfast and lunch to every student beginning this fall, regardless of household income, under a new policy unanimously approved by the school board Tuesday night.

The Universal Free Lunch program covers all 50,200 students across APS’s 87 schools — making it one of the largest school districts in the country to extend free meals to every child, regardless of need.

What’s in the program

Free breakfast for all K-12 students, served in classrooms or cafeterias
Free lunch for all K-12 students
Free after-school snacks at all schools with after-care programs
No paperwork — no income verification, no enrollment forms, no opt-in

The program is funded through a combination of:

Cobb County schools adopt new phone-in-pocket policy for high schoolers

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:00 -0400

Cobb County School District will require all high schoolers to keep their phones in lockable pouches during the school day, starting this fall.

The policy, approved by the school board in a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, applies to all 6 traditional Cobb high schools and about 23,000 students. It’s modeled on a program that started in Yondr and has been adopted by districts in California, New York, and elsewhere.

How it works

At the start of each school day, students will be issued a Yondr pouch — a soft, magnetic-locking case — at a designated checkpoint. They slide their phone in, lock it, and keep the case with them. The pouch has no key — only a base-station unlocking device at the school’s front office can release the phone at the end of the day.

Three-year bachelor's degrees are coming to Georgia. The numbers actually work.

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:00:00 -0400

The University System of Georgia last week approved a pilot program that will let participating students finish a bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four — at roughly 75 percent of the total cost.

The reaction has split predictably. Higher-ed traditionalists think it’s a terrible idea. Reformers think it’s long overdue. Both are partly right.

Here’s my read.

What the pilot actually is

Twenty-six of the system’s 26 public universities are eligible to participate. Each will design three-year pathways in selected majors — initially mostly in business, computer science, and engineering. The first students will enroll fall 2027.