Georgia’s 2024 Education Budget

The state budget for K-12 public schools is $11.9 billion in FY 2024, an increase of $1.2 billion from FY 2023. Seventy-two percent of the additional dollars ($840 million) reflect an increase in the State Health Benefit Plan for certified school employees. The employer costs for non-certified employees, including bus drivers, paraprofessionals and custodians, will also increase. The state stopped paying the employer portion of health insurance for these positions in 2012. Individual districts pay this cost today. The budget also includes $290 million to provide a $2,000 raise for certified employees starting September 1, 2023 and $27 million to provide schools with the funds to hire one school counselor for every 450 full-time equivalent students.

Rapid inflation in the past year has highlighted a longstanding problem in the state’s allocation for education funding: cost-of-living increases are not built into the state formula. Periodic raises, for one, have not kept up with the consumer price index, leaving schools to make up the difference with local property tax collection. School districts vary greatly in the amount of local taxes that can be collected, leaving a system of haves and have-nots. Without additional state investment, districts with lower property wealth will not be able to offer the opportunities students deserve.

Alongside K-12 public schools, Georgia’s Child Care Services and PreKindergarten programs provide critical support to families and their children. In FY 2024, $62.5 million was allocated for Child Care Services, which included a pay boost for state workers. The Pre-K program’s budget was $444 million, with legislators missing a critical opportunity to tap over $1 billion in unrestricted lottery reserves to boost Pre-K assistant teachers’ base pay—even with the $2,000 pay raise in the current budget, Georgia Pre-K providers are only reimbursed $20,190 for each of these professional’s salaries. Lottery reserves fund Georgia’s Pre-K, HOPE and student loan programs.

The budget for the University System of Georgia is $3.1 billion, despite sustaining a significant budget cut of $66 million dollars spread across all 26 institutions. The budget for the Technical College System of Georgia includes programs like adult education, workforce development and a $2,000 cost-ofliving increase for eligible staff, totaling $444 million. The lottery funds support higher education programs such as College Completion grants and the HOPE Scholarship. There are currently $1.1 billion in unrestricted reserves and $1.9 billion in total education lottery reserves. To appropriately utilize lottery funds, in the 2023 Legislative Session, lawmakers proposed House Resolution 281 to study lottery revenues and reserves to serve the needs of students in Georgia who are marginalized and cannot afford rising college costs.