U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. created headlines when said in November he was urging all states to stop corporal punishment, which is to say in Georgia, paddling students.

Twenty-two states allow students to be paddled or otherwise physically punished, including Georgia and it's neighbors. Twenty-eight states prohibit it.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has kept up with this education issue in the closing days of 2017. You can read more about it in the links below.

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Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

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FILE - President Donald Trump arrives and walks by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to address a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Credit: AP