Efforts to improve literacy among Georgia children could get a big boost if a new state spending plan becomes law.
The literacy plan was just one part of a $38.5 billion budget the Georgia House of Representatives approved on Tuesday. The chamber put its stamp on the budget by tweaking a spending plan proposed by Gov. Brian Kemp in January.
The budget now moves to the Senate where lawmakers in that chamber will be looking to include their priorities.
Here are some of the highlights in the House plan.
Literacy: The House budget includes more than $60 million for literacy initiatives — a top priority of Speaker Jon Burns. That includes $31 million to hire literacy coaches for every elementary school in the state.
These workers would mostly coach teachers, helping them to create lesson plans and support students. In the last school year, the state paid for 60 literacy coaches at low-performing schools across the state. State officials say test scores in those schools improved by 15%.
The coaches will be part of the state’s basic education funding formula, just like teachers, counselors and principals. The budget also includes money for professional development programs for teachers and coaches and other literacy initiatives.
“This is a massive down payment on a historic investment that will get our kindergarten through third-graders reading on grade level,” House Appropriations Chair Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, told his colleagues Tuesday.
Other education investments: The House budget also includes an additional $2.5 million for after-school and summer programs, $1.4 million for college preparatory exams and $1 million for summer nutrition programs.
The House spending plan scales back Kemp’s proposed increase to the Georgia Promise Scholarship program that helps pay for things like private school tuition, tutoring and other expenses. Kemp had proposed spending $141 million, while the House budget includes just $71.8 million. It’s a dramatic cut, but Hatchett said that’s still a 30% increase in the actual spending in the program’s first year.
Public health: The House budget adds funding for a variety of health initiatives, including $10.6 million for Medicaid dental care, $3.6 million for autism services reimbursements and $4 million for the Phoebe Health-Morehouse Consortium to create a regional campus and graduate medical education program.
The budget also seeks to aid rural hospitals by providing $3 million for stabilization grants, $3 million for emergency preparedness grants and $2 million to evaluate hospitals’ financial health.
What’s next: The House approved the budget by a vote of 159 to 4. The Senate will begin holding hearings on the 2027 budget Wednesday. It will pass its own version in coming weeks. Eventually, the House, Senate and Kemp will negotiate a final version.
“The Senate will have some good ideas as well,” Burns told reporters after Tuesday’s vote. “We’re going to do the right thing for Georgians.”
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