Georgia's state school funding formula could finally take community's poverty into account

Georgia students living in poverty could get some extra money for their education if lawmakers decide to edit the state's nearly-40-year-old funding formula.For a long time, education advocates under the Gold Dome have lamented that Georgia is one of only six states that does not allocate specific state funds to help educate students living in poverty. That could soon be changing – kind of.
What those advocates want is a change to the Quality Basic Education formula that determines the state share of education funding distributed to local schools. The QBE formula provides weighted amounts of money per student based on things like their grade level and whether they qualify for programs like special education or gifted services.
Sending more dollars to children whose families are struggling with poverty, also known as a poverty weight, could help them chart a path toward a better life and help districts focus on teaching.
'What school districts have had to do is they've had to create new schedules, they've had to literally have health clinics in schools to provide health care. They've had to host job fairs for parents' said Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat who previously served on the Atlanta Board of Education. 'They've had to do all of these things to try to play catch up for some of the issues that these parents and these families are experiencing in the community, and if we want our school systems to focus on the number one thing they should be focused on, which is educating students, then we have to do what we can to remove these barriers that poverty introduces.'
Speaking before a Senate committee Thursday, Georgia Department of Education Chief Financial Officer Rusk Roam said the department estimated a poverty weight would come with a price of about $300 million.
The $37.7 billion budget that passed the House Tuesday includes $28 million in grants designated for school systems for 'targeted support to economically disadvantaged students,' according to a document released by the House Budget and Research Office.
House Education Committee Chair Chris Erwin, a Homer Republican, said he hopes the $28 million will open the door to a full poverty weight in the education formula.
'Currently this is a one-time grant, but I see we're moving towards – we're one of six states that do not have some type of poverty weight within their formula, and this is our opportunity to look at the impact that that could have, so I would hope that we would continue to go down the road of understanding the importance of providing this to students that come in from a low wealth area,' he said.
'This is something I wish we did 15 years ago, but we are beginning that process with this, and I think it's going to end up to be very impactful for those students and for their lives going forward,' he added.
Esteves struck a similar tone. He said he thinks the 40-year-old QBE is in serious need of an update, but he's glad that the Legislature could be taking action to support kids living in poverty.
'The fact that we are now including a little bit of money as a poverty weight is a big deal. It's a good first step, but there's a long way to go to actually meet the need that we have,' he said.
Experts say meeting that need will require a great deal of work – taking into account issues like differing levels of poverty, differences between rural and urban school districts and what kind of reporting requirements there ought to be.
Ashley Young, senior education analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute said she's grateful for the prospective new funds.
'$28 million is certainly going to be useful to help students who are low-income. I do think that it could have major changes for students who do not have their basic needs met and are coming to school in these circumstances,' she said. 'And so having that additional money could be helpful. This is what we feel like a good start, but a start nonetheless. And there does need to be a more comprehensive focus in our QBE funding to address this so that it is recurring, so that it has a specific line item or a specific weight that is present within the formula to ensure that students have what they need.'
The budget is now in the Senate's hands, where it could undergo revisions. The chambers will need to agree on a final version before the legislative session ends April 4.
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