ATLANTA — Education bills are making their way through the Georgia General Assembly, some viewed as good and others viewed as bad by education leaders in the state.

Lawmakers and educators have all been vocally supportive of fully funding the Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) K-12 student funding formula. So far, full funding has been approved in the House and Senate in the mid-year budget.

The formula hasn’t been changed since 1985. 

James Wilson of the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition said updating the QBE formula could help meet the needs of minority, disabled and low-income students, which make up majority of Georgia’s public schools.

“Georgia ranks [at the] bottom nationwide for educational equity, quality, racial equity and student achievement for Black, poor and rural youth,” Wilson said. “And without a revised formula that prioritizes the material and supportive needs of all of our students, the disparities that we see in our schools today will continue for generations to come.”

During a Feb. 21 virtual discussion hosted by Progress Georgia with a coalition of leaders and advocates known as “Georgia Organizers for Active Transformation” (GOAT), several other pieces of proposed education legislation were highlighted.

The most noted “harmful bill” discussed by several participants was Senate Bill 88, the “Parents and Children Protection Act of 2023.” The bill prevents school personnel from discussing information sensitive in nature which, according to the bill, includes sex education and information regarding a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity other than the child’s biological sex.

Georgia’s 2020-21 Teacher of the Year, Tracey Nance, spoke of the harm the bill could cause to students, if passed.

“It makes some assumptions about what educators are teaching and what children need. I want to tell you that teachers teach information and skills according to the state standards,” Nance said. “They build relationships with families, and they affirm students’ backgrounds by welcoming every child regardless of their ability, regardless of their identity or family structure.”

According to the Trevor Project’s 2022 survey, rates of bullying, suicide ideation and suicide attempts more than double among LGBTQ+ youth. Only 37% of youth report having affirming homes, Nance said.

“Keeping our schools a safe and welcoming place is absolutely critical,” she said.

Nance referenced being a supportive adult to one her students who had gay parents, and another who was bullied and called “gay” by other students. She encouraged him to talk to his parents and said she would help him in the process.

“And what did that help look like? It looked like maybe talking to his parents, connecting him with a counselor, or even being the trusted adult to listen in a time of distress,” she said. “I have been a child’s last phone call before a suicide attempt. It is scary, and kids need affirming schools and affirming places and trusted adults. I know what happens when kids don’t have that type of affirming background at school.”

Other bills deemed potentially “bad” or harmful to schools or students as highlighted during the virtual discussion included:

HB 147: “The “Safe Schools Act” requires the Georgia Professional Standards Commission to develop training and credentialing for anti-gang training and also mandates armed intruder alerts for all schools. 

“One of our key concerns with this bill is that it puts Black and brown students at high risk of racial profiling and criminalization, and it does not equip teachers with the tangible skills needed to actually support their students who may be at risk of gang involvement,” said Jonathan Peraza Campos, education and policy fellow with Intercultural Development Research Association.

SB 140: Prohibits irreversible surgery or hormone replacement therapy for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.

SB 147: Allows funds allocated to a student under the state board of education to be transferred to a schools outside of the public school system. Campos said the bill “incentivizes white flight across the state” by allowing students with more resources to leave their school districts and move to richer ones while lower income students are left behind in underserved schools across the state.

SB 154: Prevents the sale or distribution of “harmful materials” to minors in school libraries. Campos said the bill would further censor books with diverse narratives, such as perspectives of LGBTQ+ authors and authors of color. 

HB 54: Increases the amount in tax credits for contributions to student scholarship organizations (SSOs) in 2024 from $120 million to $200 million. SSOs provide scholarships to parents who plan to enroll their child in a private school. Campos said the bill appears to be part of efforts to privatize the public education system through voucher programs.

“These bigoted and frankly hateful pieces of legislation that we’re seeing only distract us from the real problems our students are facing,” said Francesca Ruhe of Georgia Youth Justice Coalition. “Our classrooms are consistently underfunded. Teachers are overworked, they’re underpaid, and there’s a growing need for mental health support and counselor funding across the state. Georgia is currently only one of five states nationwide that does not consider poverty when funding education.”

While the GOAT group plans to continue to advocate against the aforementioned bills, there are a handful of “good” bills proposed by lawmakers that the group does support:

HB 3: Authorizes the state board of education to provide grants to qualified local units of administration to supplement services and instruction to students living in poverty, as identified in the bill.

HB 297: Increases the base salary for certificated school personnel with a bachelor’s degree and no experience to $50,0000; the bill would increase the base salary for five years of experience to $65,000.

HB 7: Establishes a school-linked behavioral health grant program to provide early identification and intervention for students with mental health or substance use disorder needs.

HB 127: Seeks to provide more resources and outreach for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs.

Other education-related bills under consideration by Georgia lawmakers include:

SB 233: Establishes a new private school voucher program, which would provide $6,000 a year to families of participating students to be used toward education-related expenses.

SB 50: Allows schools to provide instruction in life guarding and aquatic safety for students in grades 9 through 12.

HB 481: Requires local school systems to conduct suicide screenings on all students ages 8 to 18. The Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Suicide Prevention Program and suicide prevention experts would develop or identify one or more age-appropriate screening tools, according to the bill.