Meimei Xu
| WABE
February 24th, 2026
Updated February 24, 2026,
5:47 PM EDT
The Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday to fund a literacy coach in every school offering any grades kindergarten through third grade, a major legislative priority for House Speaker Jon Burns.
House Bill 1193 passed 170 to 2 to thunderous applause from representatives.
Around 30% of Georgia’s fourth graders read proficiently or better in 2024, which is around the national average, according to the Nation’s Report Card. In comparison, this percentage is 32% for fourth graders in Mississippi and Louisiana and 33% for Florida.
“Reading is fundamental to learning. All subjects require reading. So we’ve gotta set that base,” said Republican state Rep. Chris Erwin, HB 1193’s author and chair of the House Education Committee.
Erwin added that the bill aims to promote efforts to improve reading based on the science of reading framework, which is a research-based approach to literacy adopted by the state.
Burns said the bill is “arguably the most impactful education legislation passed by this House” since the passage of the HOPE Scholarship in a press conference after the House vote.
“House Bill 1193 will have a generational impact on our children, our students, and I believe our entire state,” he said.
Under HB 1193, the Quality Basic Education formula for funding public schools would cover the beginning salary of one literacy coach for every school with any grades from kindergarten to third grade. Schools with 200 or fewer full-time students would only receive half the funding.
Erwin said a fiscal study for the bill is underway but that he doesn’t have the exact cost of funding literacy coaches. He said there are about 1,300 elementary schools that would qualify for a literacy coach.
HB 1193 received support from Democratic lawmakers as well. Democratic state Rep. Phil Olaleye said many parents don’t have the time to help their kids get a head start on developing reading skills.
“We’re not leaving anything to chance or family circumstances. We are building a system that prioritizes literacy and early learning in reading for every single child,” Olaleye said.
The bill would also set up regional literacy coaches to provide coaching and support to schools in that region.
In addition, students must be determined to be ready to enter first grade and second grade via an assessment that includes a universal reading screener. If they are “significantly at risk of not attaining grade level reading proficiency” and are still at risk following a tiered reading intervention plan, then they will be held back. Kids must attend a full-day kindergarten program unless they are assessed to be first-grade ready and are 5 years old by Sept. 1.
The legislation would require local school boards to adopt unified literacy plans, which would set measurable literacy goals for every grade level and identify ways to work with early childhood education providers to promote school readiness before age five. HB 1193 also includes literacy coaching materials for teachers based on the science of reading.
HB 1193 now goes to the Senate for further consideration.
WABE’s Rahul Bali contributed reporting to this story.
