It’s time to fund excellent education in Georgia

Editor’s Note: It’s been 40 years since the Georgia Legislature has updated its funding formula for education, known as the Quality Basic Education Act. Over the years, state lawmakers have made several efforts to modernize the formula, but have been unsuccessful. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently asked several education experts their thoughts about what, if any changes, they would make to the formula. Here’s the second of these guest essays.

In August 2023, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education unveiled EdQuest Georgia 2033. At that time, the Georgia Partnership and a coalition of nonprofit and education leaders released a 10-year research framework and the first of several, two-year state policy plans to promote better educational outcomes and well-being for more Georgians.

In the initial state policy plan, we called on policymakers, education leaders and the business sector to unite around a North Star goal — ensuring 65% of Georgians ages 25 to 64 have earned a post-secondary credential of value by 2033. This audacious goal was intended to create urgency and provide a 10-year timeline for transforming how Georgia leads in the education and workforce spaces. Within this plan, we have identified the revision of Georgia’s K-12 funding formula as a cornerstone strategy to reach this North Star goal.

Since our founding in 1992, the Georgia Partnership has urged state policymakers to reform how Georgia funds K-12 education. Currently, the Georgia General Assembly funds K-12 schools through the Quality Basic Education Act and has done so since its passage in 1985.

Matt Smith is the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education’s director of policy and research. (Courtesy)

However, much has changed over the past 40 years. For example, textbooks are electronic. Some of our school buses are electric. And in schools across Georgia, district leaders have deployed physical and mental health clinicians to address students’ unmet needs. And these are but a few of the changes.

Simply put, today’s public education landscape is far more complex than it was in 1985 and consequently requires new approaches to resourcing schools to ensure all students can be successful. That is why the Georgia Partnership is advocating for the adoption of a funding strategy rooted in a set of core principles that provides an excellent education for Georgia’s children and youth. Below, I have identified four pillars of a future K-12 funding formula for Georgia.

Pillar No. 1: Safe, healthy and engaged students

The General Assembly should ensure a new formula provides significant funding for school safety, mental health supports and student wellness programs. Over the last three years, the Legislature has provided each Georgia public school a flat grant amount for school safety, regardless of size and student enrollment. If the General Assembly chooses to fund school safety grants through the QBE, legislators will need to determine whether they will provide funding based on a per-school or per-student basis. Similarly, legislators could choose to fund mental health and wellness staff or provide block grants that allow district leaders to execute programming as they choose.

Pillar No. 2: Ready graduates

The General Assembly should fund the Career, Technical and Agricultural Education program using a demand-driven approach. Districts that provide pathway programs aligned with high-demand careers would receive higher weighted funding. The formula also could provide bonus funding for CTAE concentrators who complete work-based learning experiences and who earn industry-recognized credentials.

Pillar No. 3: Excellent educators

The General Assembly should create a new funding line for the role of the teacher leader in the classroom. Teacher leaders serve as coaches, mentors and professional development leaders. They provide guidance as teachers master new instructional techniques. If the General Assembly funds the teacher leader role at the state level, legislators could determine the minimum salaries for this position. Based on their advanced roles and responsibilities, school systems would pay teacher leaders more than full-time classroom educators.

Pillar No. 4: Equal opportunity for students and communities

Forty years ago, legislators intended to address funding disparities between school districts through QBE. While the formula’s equalization grants provide state funds for low-wealth districts that struggle to raise local property tax revenue, unequal opportunity persists — for families and communities.

Also, concentrated poverty stunts student success and well-being. Georgia is one of only four states that does not address student or community poverty through the K-12 funding formula. Georgia lawmakers did make a small, but significant, step in that direction during the 2025 legislative session by providing $15 million in district grants to support students experiencing poverty. While this is a start, more funding will be needed to adequately address the challenge of concentrated poverty.