Director of Education

Dr. Stephen Owens

Dr. Stephen Owens is the education director at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Stephen advocates for diverse, inclusive and excellent public schools through research and data analysis.

Prior to joining GBPI in 2018, Stephen was a research and data analyst at the Georgia Department of Education. He created data visualizations to help district and state policymakers better understand school outcomes, assisted in the creation of Georgia’s plan to implement federal education legislation (the Every Student Succeeds Act), and produced analyses that shaped public policy for Georgia’s schools.

Stephen graduated from the University of Georgia, where he holds a doctorate with a focus on education policy. His dissertation centered on state-level agenda formation.

Recent Posts by Stephen

Education cover 2021 Budget Primer

Georgia Education Budget Primer for State Fiscal Year 2021

Georgia’s 2021 Education Budget Georgia lawmakers cut $1 billion from the state’s budget for the Department of Education. ...
web-bandclass Blog

Georgia at a Crossroads: Raising Revenues Sensibly or Forcing Schoolchildren to Pay for Years to Come

Key Takeaways: Due to COVID-19, Georgia revenues are lagging. State leaders must either raise new revenues or make ...
School counselor Blog

Crises Demand Counselors: Pandemic Underscores Need for More School Counselors, Mental Health Professionals

Key Takeaways School closures triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic mean that students are not receiving the mental health ...
a-5 Blog

Online Instruction Could Leave Rural Schools, Vulnerable Students Behind

Recently, Gov. Kemp ordered the state’s public schools to close for the remainder of the academic year in ...
Student working on test Bill Analysis

Potential Voucher Expansion Leaves Students and Parents at a Loss

Bill Analysis: Senate Bill 386 (LC 49 0125) Established in 2007, the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (GSNS) is ...
Student working on test Fact Sheets

What Are School Vouchers?

Vouchers Overview Georgia legislators have debated educational vouchers since the 1950s.[1] A school voucher is an amount of ...
Kids at Whiteboard K-12 Education

Overview: Georgia’s 2021 Fiscal Year Budget for K-12 Education

Governor Kemp’s budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2021 provides Georgia’s public schools $10.9 billion, a $272 million increase above current funding. The largest single addition provides funding for ...
website-teacher Blog

Reject Policies that Make Education Less Fair Across Georgia

Last fall we published a report exploring the connection between Georgia’s legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and ...
QBEfunding K-12 Education

State of Education Funding in Georgia (2020)

Georgia’s public schools are funded through a law passed in 1985 called the Quality Basic Education Act, or ...
Elementary-student-at-board K-12 Education

Education in Georgia’s Black Belt: Policy Solutions to Help Overcome a History of Exclusion

Georgia lawmakers must address the legacy of exclusion that students in the Black Belt region face.
Classroom-Elementary K-12 Education

Georgia’s K-12 Equalization Grants Explained

The state of Georgia has a constitutional obligation to provide every child with an “adequate public education.”[1] Over ...
shutterstock_726926179-websize-1 Budget Primer

Georgia Education Budget Primer for State Fiscal Year 2020

You can download and share all the images and charts in the Education Primer by clicking here.  This ...

Support GBPI Today

The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute is a 501(c)3 organization. We depend on the support of donors like you. Your contribution makes the work that we do possible.

GBPI Has New Data on Federal Policy

GBPI is committed to tracking how the state of Georgia raises and spends fiscal resources. As the federal government has promised and provided some of these, cuts to programs and funding on the federal level could have deep and lasting impacts on Georgians and on the state’s ability to meet the needs of all its residents. 

Submit your comment on the Georgia Pathways to Coverage Program

Submit public comment on Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage program extension by February 20th – just complete this easily fillable form: