The Georgia House of Representatives approved a $38.5 billion state budget for next year on Tuesday with significant spending aimed at improving childhood literacy across the state.
House Bill 974, which will fund state government beginning on July 1, passed with a 159-4 vote and now moves to the Senate.
The House’s proposed budget includes $60.8 million for literacy initiatives, which House Speaker Jon Burns says is the chamber’s “number one priority” this session. That funding will support House Bill 1193, sponsored by Homer Republican state Rep. Chris Erwin, which passed the House in late February on a 170-2 vote and would place literacy coaches in elementary schools and provide one-time $15,000 grants to public school systems to buy vision and hearing screening equipment.
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