There’s a renewed focus on early education under the Gold Dome. Here’s why.
If you’ve been paying attention to the various education bills lawmakers have introduced this legislative session, you may have noticed that several of them have directed money toward early education — kindergarten or earlier. Research has long shown the benefits of early ed, especially for students from low-income households.
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the need for a more robust early education system, as parents struggled to balance working from home and finding affordable, quality child care programs.
This year, Georgia lawmakers have proposed new legislation aimed at solving some of those problems. Here are some of the ideas they’ve proposed.
Requiring kindergarten
If you just did a double take, maybe you didn’t know that Georgia’s compulsory education law currently requires students to start school in first grade, although most school districts offer kindergarten. In recent years, plenty of lawmakers have attempted to pass bills that would require kindergarten. None have been successful, but this year could be different. At least two bills would require students to attend kindergarten before entering first grade. A Senate bill is sponsored by some Democrats and Republican Billy Hickman, chair of the Education and Youth Committee. The other is part of an ambitious bill aimed at improving literacy in Georgia’s public schools. One of its sponsors is House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington.
Making age requirements more flexible
This can be a sticky issue. Current state law requires children who are 5 years old by Sept. 1 to attend kindergarten and those who are 6 years old by the same date to attend first grade. However, education officials say the law has been unevenly applied, as some parents have opted to “redshirt” their children by sending a 5-year-old to an extra year of pre-kindergarten or waiting until their child is 6 to send them to kindergarten.
A new House bill would let parents choose when their children should start kindergarten. An early literacy bill would let schools retain kindergarten and first grade students who aren’t ready to move on.
Funding for pre-K students
Georgia’s lottery-funded pre-K program served roughly 54% of the state’s 4-year-olds during the 2024-25 school year. House Republicans have proposed using $9.7 million in lottery revenue to fund before-school, after-school and holiday care for low-income pre-K students. They want to earmark an additional $2 million in lottery funds to expand an existing five-week summer program to prepare low-income students for pre-K.
Democratic representatives have introduced a bill that would expand pre-K access by establishing a pilot program for 3-year-olds during the 2027-28 school year.
Building on existing literacy legislation
A bill from the 2023-24 legislative session requires child care providers and pre-kindergarten teachers to receive training in “structured literacy,” which focuses on breaking words into sounds for early readers. The legislation is concentrated on the early grades because research shows the importance of reading proficiently by the third grade. To reach that benchmark, experts say, literacy education needs to begin before kindergarten.
“We know that learning doesn’t begin the first time a student steps into classroom; it begins at birth,” Burns said at a news conference last week announcing a new literacy bill.
The new legislation requires early screening of students for learning disabilities and expands the presence of K-3 literacy coaches to every public elementary school in the state.
About the Author
Martha Dalton is a journalist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writing about K-12 education. She was previously a senior education reporter at WABE, Atlanta's NPR affiliate. Before that, she was a general assignment reporter at CNN Radio. Martha has worked in media for more than 20 years. She taught elementary school in a previous life.
