Every year, school systems in Georgia publish wish lists — known as “legislative priorities” — to tell state lawmakers what changes they’d like them to prioritize. Several metro Atlanta school boards have already approved their priorities for 2025, and the lists have a few things in common.
Local school systems are asking lawmakers for more money this year to cover everything from school safety and mental health supports to transportation and early childhood education. And they oppose the expansion of private school vouchers. Education makes up roughly one-third of Georgia’s overall budget.
Here’s a closer look at some of the things local educators are hoping state lawmakers will tackle during the legislative session.
Emphasis on school safety
Nearly every school system that has set its list for the year considers school safety and security among its top priorities — which is no surprise, after four people were killed in the September shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County. State leaders have also begun announcing plans to introduce new safety-related legislation, such as detecting firearms in schools.
In recent years, the state budget has allocated grants for safety and security needs to schools. In the current year, each school received $45,000. School systems want to see that grant continue or expand; some want to see security added into the funding formula rather than as a separate grant.
The Cherokee, Cobb and Gwinnett school systems are also in favor of increasing the penalties for people who make terroristic threats in schools. Others, including City Schools of Decatur, want lawmakers to require the safe storage of firearms.
Better student-to-counselor ratio
School systems are also asking for increased funding to provide mental health supports, which has been a priority for many since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several school systems specifically called upon lawmakers to provide funding to increase the student-to-counselor ratio. The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students; in Georgia in the 2023-2024 school year, there was a counselor for every 378 students.
Fully funded transportation
There is a significant difference in the cost of providing students transportation to and from school, and the amount of funding that the state sets for it every year. Local school systems want lawmakers to close that gap.
In the current fiscal year, for example, student transportation in Gwinnett County will cost more than $156 million. The school district says the state covers about $41 million, or about one-quarter of the overall cost. In Cherokee County’s legislative priorities: The state provided 54% of the total cost of transportation in 1991, compared to 12% of the actual cost in 2021.
Some school systems, including DeKalb and Gwinnett, are also advocating that the state funding formula be changed to provide more funding for students living in poverty. There’s long been talk among lawmakers and advocates about amending the funding structure. A recent audit may push the issue to the forefront this year.
More money for younger students
School systems in Georgia are asking lawmakers to increase funding for district-offered preschool and early learning programs.
Though Georgia offers free preschool for 4-year-olds and touts great academic results for the children who participate, only 55% of the 4-year-olds in the state participated in the 2023-2024 school year. And for younger children, parents largely foot the bill of child care on their own.
Less money to private schools
Atlanta Public Schools and school districts in Cherokee, Cobb and Fulton counties are opposed to giving families state funding to pay for private school tuition. And if lawmakers are going to do that, then they want to see the same standards of accountability applied to any recipient of public funds.
In 2024, lawmakers passed the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which gives families who live in the attendance boundaries of low-performing schools the ability to apply for a grant that can be used to pay for private school tuition. The law allows up to 1% of the state’s education budget to be used for the program — roughly $140 million when the law was passed. Georgia has two other voucher programs that in recent years gave scholarships to more than 20,000 students.
Staff writer Martha Dalton contributed to this report.
Legislative priorities for metro Atlanta schools
- Cherokee
- Cobb
- DeKalb
- Fulton
- Gwinnett
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