In a guest column, Stephen J. Owens, education director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, urges the 2024 Legislature to finally reform the way Georgia funds its public schools. Owens previously was a research and data analyst at the Georgia Department of Education.
Owens’ column is part of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution series in which education advocates set out an agenda for the 2024 General Assembly session that begins on Jan. 8.
By Stephen J. Owens
As a father of four, I often hear the phrase “That’s not fair!” shouted several times a day. “Fair” to my kids means that everyone gets the exact same. This sentiment, rooted in the idea that fairness means equal treatment for everyone, is frequently echoed in discussions about pre-K-12 public school funding.
In my role as education director for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, I have spent years in the study and advocacy of equitable public school funding. Georgia students are being held back by an outdated and inequitable education funding system that fails to address the specific challenges faced by those in poverty, hindering their academic success and overall well-being.
It’s time for the state to reshape its approach to fairness by providing additional funding to educate kids in poverty and shore up its school bus programs.
Credit: GBPI
Credit: GBPI
Children in poverty are at higher risk for toxic stress, food insecurity and adverse health outcomes. Georgia has one of the highest child poverty rates in the country. In a recent GBPI school district survey, leaders reported that family financial hardship limits a school’s ability to unlock every child’s potential. When asked to provide the level of challenge educating students in poverty schools faced, 68% of school leaders ranked it a four or five, five representing the most challenging. Only 3% of respondents reported that poverty posed no challenge at all.
Robust and tailored pre-K-12 public school funding can help lift high school graduation rates, and education is strongly associated with stable employment, higher income and longer life expectancy. Bearing in mind both the benefits of education and the needs of Georgia’s children, consider that Georgia’s education funding mechanism, the Quality Basic Education Act does not provide any specific funding to address poverty and Georgia is one of only a few states not to do so.
What QBE does do is operationalize fairness by allocating every school district a base amount of money to provide the state constitution-required “adequate public education.” Since school boards can levy local taxes to augment the state amount, QBE includes an equalization grant to level the playing field between rich districts and poor. However, changes to equalization in the wake of the Great Recession have ensured that QBE is far from a truly equal formula. Last year, for instance, Clayton County schools received $1,245 less per student in state and local funding than neighboring Fayette County, due to the uniquely American policy of tying school funding to local property values.
In light of Georgia’s students’ urgent needs, QBE needs immediate reform. This is a position affirmed by Christy Todd, the Georgia Teacher of the Year, and State Superintendent Richard Woods in a recent op-ed. Todd and Woods both made a compelling case for modernizing the QBE formula to consider the impact of poverty on student performance.
Beyond funding disparities, Georgia’s transportation system also demands attention. In the 1990s, the state paid over half of the cost of busing students, but budget cuts have shifted 80% of transportation costs onto districts. If Georgia lawmakers returned the state to a 50-50 partnership with districts, it would mean $340 million more to stave off bus driver shortages that result in longer route times and dangerous overcrowding.
These are long-term fixes, but the General Assembly also has a chance to do a one-time modernization of Georgia’s school bus fleet with the unprecedented state reserves. With less than a third of the current reserve amount, state lawmakers could allocate the replacement of every school bus currently in service. Not only would this ensure that all children arrive at school in a safe vehicle, but it would also give districts a chance to leave expensive diesel engines for healthier and cost-effective fuel alternatives. The impact would be felt in every schoolhouse and community in our state.
Some may look at these proposals and gawk at the cost, but we’re all paying the price of ignoring it. Schools that pay to fix old buses or support kids in poverty must pull from other areas of their budgets. That can mean larger class sizes, fewer arts and music programs, and older, out-of-date classroom materials. Nobody mentions that it’s technically fair if every child is denied an adequate education equally.
This legislative session presents an opportunity to transcend this elementary view of equality. By championing policies that address the specific needs of our diverse student population, such as those outlined here, we can ensure that every child in Georgia has an equitable shot at a quality education. It’s an investment in our future, one that promises benefits not just for individuals but for the entire community.
Let us seize this moment for the sake of our children and the prosperity of our state.
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