A mostly Democratic group of lawmakers have reintroduced bills to increase public education funding for economically disadvantaged students.
Senate Bill 128 and House Bill 245 would allocate additional funding for school systems with “students living in poverty.” The bills define this group as students whose families qualify for SNAP or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits, are in foster care, or are without stable housing.
The proposed legislation would change the Quality Basic Education formula for funding public education, which awards funding to school districts based on the type of program taken, the kind of student that takes them and time spent in such programs. The General Assembly sets the “base amount” that a district can receive per student, and a “weight” can be applied to that amount for certain types of programs, including English language learning programs or programs taken by a student with disabilities.
HB 245 would introduce a 1.75 funding weight for programs taken by students who qualify as “living in poverty.”
SB 128 proposes grants awarded by the State Board of Education to local school systems to provide supplementary services to “students living in poverty” in an amount equal to the number of such students multiplied by 25% of the base amount. The bill also stipulates that at least 90% of the grant needs to go toward “direct program expenditures” for those students.
The extra funds proposed by the bills would amount to around an additional $2,000 per student and $2 billion of extra funding for school districts, according to both bills’ lead sponsors.
Democratic State Sen. Jason Esteves, a former educator and school board member, is the lead sponsor of the Senate bill, which has 19 cosponsors in total, all Democrats.
“Teachers and districts and low-income communities across the state face unique challenges, and we must provide additional resources through a poverty weight or an opportunity grant,” he said at a Monday press conference.
Esteves was joined by Democratic State Rep. Phil Olaleye, the lead sponsor on the House bill, as well as other members of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Asian American Pacific Island Caucus and Hispanic Caucus.
Democratic State Sen. Nikki Merritt said many students are still affected by the disruption in education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
“We can’t claim to be a family-friendly state and a state that’s number one in business when this is the current state of affairs when it comes to our education,” she said.
Parents Shar Bates and Cozzie Walker and students Rebecca Mebratu and Yana Batra also provided their testimonies on the importance of funding public education for disadvantaged students.
Esteves introduced a similar bill two years ago, but it did not go to a vote.
On the House side, Democratic lawmakers have also previously introduced a bill for grants for programs benefiting students living in poverty, but that bill failed as well. This year, four Democrats and two Republicans are cosponsors of HB 245: Democratic Reps. Lydia Glaize, Karlton Howard, David Wilkerson and Olaleye, and Republican Reps. Tyler Paul Smith and Gerald Greene.
Olaleye said in an interview after the press conference that he’s “fortunate” his bill has bipartisan support this year.
“It goes to show that poverty as a challenge and a barrier facing Georgia’s children isn’t just an issue recognized by Democrats or Republicans or urban or rural Georgians, but it’s a universal, wide challenge that affects all,” he said. “This bill, and an opportunity weight specifically, provides us with the means and the resources and the flexibility for each school district to address that issue as they see fit.”
Republican State Rep. Chris Erwin, the chair of the House Committee on Education, said he thinks this year is a good time to consider changes to the QBE formula, adding that lawmakers should look at the measures other states have taken to address educational disparities.
He said lawmakers could consider a poverty weight or a line item in the funding formula to make up for the cost of further training for teachers who are teaching students with economic disadvantages.
“There’s also the need to reevaluate whether or not we are working with the special needs students or the poverty needs children the way that we should be, so obviously I think, in being an educator in my past, is that this is something that we ought to make a priority and start paying attention to in this state,” he said.
WABE’s Rahul Bali contributed reporting to this story.
