Gov. Nathan Deal this week said in “many, many cases” people living in failing school districts “don’t have anything worth stealing.” He warned attendees at an engineering association lunch at the Commerce Club in Atlanta that criminals living in those school districts “go where people have nice cars, nice homes, things that are worth a criminal’s attention.”
Deal was making a pitch for his Opportunity School District (OSD) plan on the ballot next month. If approved by Georgia voters, the measure would allow the state to take over schools that failed the state’s “report card” for three consecutive years.
“Criminals go where there are things worth stealing, homes worth breaking into. That’s the very nature of criminal activity,” Deal told WABE when asked to explain his remarks further. “If they are in poor neighborhoods that’s not going to be the place that they necessarily decide that they want to commit their criminal activity.”
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