State reacts to Deal’s boost in K-12 education funding

ATLANTA — After spending hours in a conference committee Tuesday night, the Georgia House and Senate finally emerged with an agreement on Gov. Nathan Deal’s $26.2 million FY 2019 state budget. The agreement moves the bill to the floor for a vote on Thursday.

If, as expected, the budget passes the floor vote, it will be sent to the governor for his signature.

The addition of $167 million to K-12 education will bring total funding for education to $9.6 billion. Wednesday marks the end of the regular session, and the budget is usually one of the final bills sent to the floor before moving to the governor’s desk for his signature.

The governor said Tuesday the additional funding will help struggling schools.

“This investment will give local school systems the opportunity to provide the programs necessary to improve struggling schools and enhance student performance,” he said. “During my time as governor, I have consistently heard from educators who have cited a lack of funding as a barrier to achieving success in their classroom. This additional $167 million will ensure the state is fully doing its financial part to address their concerns. Finally, fully funding QBE (Quality Basic Education) provides a stronger foundation to lawmakers and stakeholders to reform this outdated formula to accommodate the needs of today’s students and 21st-century classrooms.”

State Rep. Darrel Ealum, who was a member of the Dougherty County School board before being elected to the House in 2014, was delighted with the budget — especially the end of austerity cuts and restoration of full QBE funding.

“Our FY 2019 Budget is truly an outstanding educational budget,” Ealum said. “While serving on the school board before coming to the House, I vividly recall the tremendous strain the austerity cuts placed on our board and on our school system. With this FY 2019 budget, we have fully restored the austerity cuts from my time on the board, which has resulted in the full funding of QBE for the first time since 2003. In addition, we added $361 million to our teachers’ retirement fund, and we have funded all capital outlay projects under consideration.

“This budget will add $1.427 million to our Dougherty County School System QBE funding.”

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, a long-time foe of the state’s austerity cuts, applauded Deal’s focus on education funding.

“Georgia is taking an important step forward to get school children the resources they need to succeed. For years, GBPI sounded the alarm that the state was shortchanging its own funding formula,” Senior Education Policy Analyst Claire Suggs said. “The cumulative cut since 2003 amounted to $9.2 billion in lost school funding. Schools responded by shortening school calendars, increasing class sizes, and cutting art and music programs.

“We applaud this education funding milestone as great news for Georgia’s school children. And we look forward to working with lawmakers to get the state’s public schools all the resources needed to move beyond meeting the basic needs of students to one day make Georgia a national education leader.”