AJC Get Schooled

DeKalb County student Sarv Dharavane is competing in the Scripp’s National Spelling Bee this week for the third year in a row.

Sarv, a sixth-grader at Peachtree Middle School, came in third place in the national contest in 2025. Shortly after last year’s contest, Sarv told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was already looking ahead to the 2026 competition.

Now it’s time to see if his hard work has paid off. Sarv studied hundreds — if not thousands — of words to prepare, and selected a few that he thinks are the mark of an expert speller. Read more: https://bit.ly/4nPHABy

Watch the competition online or on TV through Ion.
📅 Semifinals: 8-10 p.m on Wednesday
📅 Finals: 8-10 p.m. on Thursday

Here are the answers:

1. b; 2. c; 3. a; 4. c

Think you could hold your own in a state or national spelling bee? Take our full quiz at the link in the comments below.

🖋️ : Cassidy Alexander

Should Atlanta Public Schools agree to continue to divert millions in property tax revenue to fund the city’s $5.5 billion Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative?

The school board has been wrestling with that question since Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens unveiled a plan this week to extend six of the city’s eight Tax Allocation Districts.

TADs work by "freezing" the property tax base in specific areas; as property values rise, the resulting surplus is directed to redevelopment rather than the general fund. Dickens wants to extend six TADs until 2056, a move that requires approval from APS, the Atlanta City Council and the Fulton County Commission.

Atlanta Board Chair Jessica Johnson weighed in on the feasibility of the mayor’s plan in an op-ed for the AJC.
Read her take here👉 https://tinyurl.com/545et9je and share your thoughts in the comments.

Atlanta can invest in the city’s growth and public education Future partnerships with the city of Atlanta must include stronger accountability, a revisit of pilot payments and a deeper analysis of existing caps on corridor TADs.