Ga. lawmakers get mixed grades addressing education issues during 2025 session

Matt Boedy, conference president of the Georgia chapter of the American Association of University Professors

Credit: Peggy Cozart

Credit: Peggy Cozart

Grade: B

State lawmakers should be praised for continuing to invest in higher education, especially as the system sees overall enrollment gains.

But those dollars often are offered alongside disheartening cultural control efforts (such as anti-DEI legislation) at odds with that investment. This session one of those efforts stalled at the last minute.

Illya Davis, Morehouse College philosophy professor and director of Freshmen & Seniors Academic Success

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

Grade: C

The recent Georgia General Assembly’s inactivity on such issues as HB 27, wherein, if passed, the bill would provide grants to schools for students living in poverty is disconcerting. There were several other no votes regarding educational legislation that would have helped promote a more robust and effective democracy.

The contingency of the passage of progressive educational legislation that imbues Georgia’s higher education system, particularly the advancement and promotion of the solvency and dynamism of HBCUs, should receive pride of place in the General Assembly’s governing.

The adoption of legislation: SR 474, a resolution creating the Senate Study Committee on Higher Education Affordability, is a step in the right direction, yet the journey for a more viable democracy grounded in higher educational access and completion is both desirous of implementation and a moral imperative. Therefore, obfuscation of much-needed educational legislation must shun any form of political gradualism in matters of buoying profound educational initiatives.

Georgia Public Policy Foundation

Grade: B

We applaud the passage of Senate Bill 82, which incentivizes local school districts to approve more charter schools. As only one charter school was approved at the local level in the past five years, this bill is a step in the right direction for expanding access to quality education and addressing crowded waitlists for charter schools. The General Assembly also followed up its effort from last year by fully funding the Promise Scholarship.

However, it’s worth noting neither measure’s passage was a straightforward process, such as when the House’s original budget cut $100 million from the Promise Scholarship program before it was eventually restored. The General Assembly also fully funded Georgia’s Quality Basic Education funding formula, but another year has passed without serious reforms that many lawmakers and advocates have long called for. The Legislature made progress, but that progress has often been slow and difficult. There is work left to be done on all fronts.

Lisa Morgan, president, Georgia Association of Educators

Grade: Incomplete

The final gavel of the 2025 session of the Georgia General Assembly was, in many ways, anticlimactic for supporters of public education and educators. Once again, the budget fully funds the Quality Basic Education Act, so there will be those who insist that public education is fully funded. They most likely will not point out that QBE was passed 40 years ago in 1985, so it is woefully outdated and inadequate to fund 21st century classrooms. The budget also does not include cost of living raises for teachers, even though the gains over the past seven years have been stripped away by a higher cost of living.

Two of our priorities at the Georgia Association of Educators are the restoration class size limits and the addition of a poverty weight. Reducing class size has been shown to increase student outcomes and students struggling with the challenges of poverty need more support to be successful. The House budget, at least, began to address these issues, but the final appropriation of $15 million is less than 5% of the estimated need.

There was no action on legislation to address the teacher shortage, but there will be at least one study committee to look at the issue. Similarly, legislation to consider changes to the Public School Employees Retirement System for school bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and maintenance employees must wait until the 2026 session for consideration.

All of this occurs as the federal funding for public education appears to be at grave risk. Given a widespread belief that federal cuts will require revision of the budget, the final gavel was, in some ways, pushing the pause button rather than the end.

Thus, the grade we give the 2025 session in regards to public education is Incomplete. The bare minimum of funding our public schools was met, but there is still a great deal of work to be done to support and strengthen public education for our students and educators.

Michael O’Leary, University of Georgia student who is vice chair of the UGA College Republicans chapter

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

Grade: A-

After a significant legislative session, Georgians should be pleased with the Legislature’s hard work and bold initiatives. There are three key takeaways from this session. First, the Georgia Promise Scholarship program will provide families with additional resources to increase access to more schools, furthering school choice. Second, the state has increased funding for education, including additional funding for literacy initiatives.

Finally, there has been tangible work done to enhance school safety. The state passed initiatives to create a school safety database and require districts to provide mental health coordinators. Overall, the state’s education system and school safety programs are improving, which will provide better outcomes and a safer learning environment for all children.

Stephen Owens, director of policy and advocacy for Brown’s Promise

Credit: GBPI

Credit: GBPI

Grade: F for fruitless

Concentrated poverty remains one of the largest impediments to educational excellence, and no amount of blackmailing school districts to approve more charter schools (via Senate Bill 82) or expensive private school vouchers (see: the attempt to use foster care to gain more customers for private schools in Senate Bill 152) is helping address this problem.

Apart from a flawed, but promising, last second bill to ease inter-district school transfers in House Bill 917 that won’t be seen by committee until 2026, this session saw a continuation of the status quo to reward private schools and pit charters against their traditional public school neighbors. Lawmakers should use next year to ensure that all public schools work together to ensure an integrated, excellent and universal public school system.