ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia was able to allocate extra money to educate poor public school students for the first time under the House budget approved by a 171-4 vote on Tuesday.
However, the proposed $28 million is far less than what supporters claim to be needed.
House Bill 68It will spend $37.7 billion a year starting July 1st, and $73.1 billion a year. It also increases spending on prisons, offers separate bonus payments to retirees in some states, and increases judges’ salaries.
The funding system for Georgia’s 40-year-old K-12 schools offers extra money to school districts with low wealth of property that cannot be collected much by property taxes. But Democrats and others argue that the state needs to spend more on poor students themselves.
“All low-income students who come to school come from families with additional needs,” he said, and for a long time he has been actively and proactively working to recalibrate school funding. Sivilia, executive director of ED funds, was an advisor to former government government Nathan Deal. An attempt to rewrite failed Georgia fundraising ceremony in the 2010s.
Approximately 36% of Georgia’s public school students (625,000 of the state’s 1.75 million students) come from poor households. Governor’s student achievements.
House Budget Committee Chairman Matt Hatchet said it is still unclear how lawmakers will distribute the money. However, $28 million is about $45 per low-income student.
Sibilia and other experts say schools need to spend at least $1,000 extra per student and start seeing results or $625 million statewide. And more money may lead to greater improvements. Atlanta Sen. Jason Estevez, who made his own proposal earlier this year, said he wanted to see the funding raise of around $2 billion.
Hatchet suggested that more money could last in later years.
“This is the beginning of the needs that were asked,” Hatchet, a Republican representing Dublin’s poor school district, said Monday.
While 45 states and the District of Columbia spend more money on poor students, Georgia is one of five states that don’t, according to Siviria. Others are Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Poor children usually come to school behind those born to wealthy parents. This means that school districts need to intervene to improve academic performance. The district could also spend more on transportation, meals and after-school programs for low-income students, Siviria said.
Overall, Houseplan is spending another $98 million on public education for its total spend on what Gov. Brian Kemp recommends.
The budget writer allocated $25 million to create a database for troubled students. The heart of school safety bills The house passed last week.
It also has $19.6 million to provide $20,000 in mental health counselling grants to all public middle schools and high schools. The school can hire its own employees or sign contracts with others.
The state spends another $10.8 million Hire a literacy coach To help teachers improve reading guidance from kindergarten to third grade. Georgia will also spend $2 million on research criteria for literacy coaches.
There is $10 million for Georgia to pick up some of the after-school and summer enrichment programs tabs, replacing several federal pandemic relief money. The home also wants to spend $5 million to expand the number of social workers in the school. Often there are no students Return to class.
The House proposal would have Georgia borrow money to borrow money from several capital projects after he has borrowed nothing this year. By selling bonds and borrowing $321 million, as well as cutting capital projects by $75 million, there’s room for lawmakers to spend elsewhere. Georgia lawmakers cannot spend more than Kemp’s $33.7 billion in state revenues Budget forecast. In other words, in order to increase spending somewhere, you have to cut spending elsewhere.
The house will also cut the amount Georgia spends New voucher program From $141 million to $46 million proposed by KEMP. The House of Representatives said it would not project more than $46 million in demand in the program’s first year for the $6,500 vouchers that could be spent on private schools and homeschooling.
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