Ga. education funding: It’s complicated

ATLANTA — The General Assembly is unlikely to change Georgia’s education funding formula this session, legislators have told Capitol Beat.

A state Senate study committee chaired by Sen. Mike Dugan, R-carrollton, met several times last fall to consider changes to the state’s complicated education funding method, which was established in 1985. The formula provides funds to local school districts based on how many students are enrolled, using a host of additional factors to determine amounts.

After listening to testimony from educators, experts and others from across the state, Dugan said he has identified four priority areas he’d like to see updated in the funding formula. The formula should be changed to provide for more school counselors and psychologists, add funding for technology and create a mechanism to provide additional funding for schools serving students living in poverty, he said.

Dugan said legislators will likely introduce bills aimed at these areas later this session, but he does not expect the General Assembly to fully debate or vote on the bills until 2024.

“I’d rather not be haphazard with something that affects the lives of so many,” Dugan said. “Once it hits, it’s going to suck a lot of air out of the room.”

A plan to create a “poverty index” or “opportunity weight” to help school districts address the additional challenges of educating students in poverty has drawn support from across the political spectrum. But it’s not yet clear what shape Georgia’s opportunity weight will take.

“The poverty weight is a compelling necessity,” said state Sen. Nan Orrock, Datlanta, who was the sole Democrat on the Senate study committee. “We heard testimony from a number of sources … that we are in a big minority (among states) in not having that opportunity funding.”