Education Funding in Georgia: Financial Challenges for Schools Remain Lawmakers reached a critical benchmark with the 2019 budget: For the first time since 2002, they sent school districts the full amount of money calculated by the state’s formula for funding
Georgia lawmakers created multiple pathways to shift public funds to private schools in recent years. These schemes risk reducing money available to invest in public schools and critical state services including early learning, higher education, and community health. Little is
Georgia lawmakers reached a critical milestone during the 2018 legislative session: They ended 16 years of shortchanging the state’s formula for funding K-12 schools. The General Assembly added $167 million to the 2019 state budget to send school districts across
Georgia lawmakers seem determined to subsidize private schools with public dollars. Witness several bills in the 2018 General Assembly to create or expand schemes to shift public dollars to private schools. It’s better to provide public schools the resources needed
Lawmakers are racing to pass a risky tax package that drains $1.4 billion a year from the state treasury once fully implemented. A better choice is to hit the pause button and send school districts the full amount of money
Bill Analysis: House Bill 482 (LC 33 7253S) Georgia lawmakers are considering a plan to allow parents to take state money to pay for private schools and educational services. House Bill 482 creates an individual Education Savings Account, or ESA,
Shrinking state funding for student transportation and rising costs are making it more difficult for school districts across Georgia to get children to and from school safely. The worsening financial pinch leaves districts with aging bus fleets on the road
Georgia’s Senate appears poised to act on an expansion of the state’s tax credit scholarship for private schools. This is despite a lack of reliable evidence on the existing program’s effectiveness or any proper safeguards to ensure it’s a good
Gov. Nathan Deal’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 provides nearly $9.8 billion to educate Georgia’s 1.7 million public school students, a boost of nearly $353 million over current funding. Most of the increase goes to student enrollment growth, routine
The teachers at Alice Coachman Elementary School in Dougherty County are quick to tell you the students are smart. They may lack foundational skills but not intelligence. The declaration captures the promise of so many children in poverty and the
The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute works to advance lasting solutions that expand economic opportunity and well-being for all Georgians.
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute
The Georgia Budget Primer is GBPI’s signature annual examination of state revenues and investments. It outlines Georgia’s budget changes, trends and impacts regarding taxes, education, health care, human services and criminal legal systems. This year we are taking special care to describe how federal funding contributes to Georgia’s budget.
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