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House · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 1123: Quality Basic Education Act; require certain schools that offer after-school programs to make such programs available to pre-kindergarten students

Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date

Georgia House Bill 1123 would require public schools that run pre-kindergarten programs and also offer after-school programs to open those after-school programs to pre-K students on the same terms as older students, starting in the 2026-2027 school year.

Read the full bill text

These buttons carry the bill's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

Currently, Georgia law has an empty (reserved) code section covering after-school programs tied to the Quality Basic Education Act, so there is no statewide rule requiring schools to let pre-kindergarten students join after-school programs. This bill fills in that code section (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-308). Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, any 'qualifying school,' meaning a public school that has kindergarten, primary, or upper elementary students and also runs a Georgia Pre-K program, must make its after-school programs available to its pre-K students on the same basis as its other enrolled students. The bill lets the Department of Early Care and Learning grant a school a waiver from this requirement for up to one school year at a time, if the school submits a written request explaining extenuating circumstances. Schools needing more time must reapply each year.

What the bill does

  • Fills in a previously empty (reserved) section of Georgia's Quality Basic Education Act to create a new after-school access requirement.
  • Requires qualifying public schools, those with pre-K plus kindergarten, primary, or upper elementary programs, to open after-school programs to pre-K students on the same basis as other students.
  • Sets the requirement to begin with the 2026-2027 school year.
  • Allows the Department of Early Care and Learning to waive the requirement for a school for up to one school year at a time upon written request explaining extenuating circumstances.
  • Requires schools seeking a waiver for more than one year to submit a new written request for each additional school year.

Who it affects

Public schools that operate both Georgia's Pre-K Program and kindergarten, primary, or upper elementary programs; pre-kindergarten students and their families seeking after-school care; and the Department of Early Care and Learning, which will review waiver requests.

Why it matters

Families with pre-K children at qualifying schools would gain guaranteed access to the same after-school programs already available to older students, potentially easing childcare logistics for working parents, while schools facing staffing or space constraints could seek a temporary waiver from the state.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-308, previously reserved (empty), to define 'after-school program' and 'qualifying school.'
  • A qualifying school is defined as one with kindergarten, primary grades, or upper elementary grades programs that also operates a Georgia Pre-K Program.
  • Subsection (b) requires qualifying schools to make after-school programs available to pre-K students on the same basis as other students, beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.
  • Subsection (c) lets the Department of Early Care and Learning waive the requirement for a qualifying school for up to one school year per written request, based on extenuating circumstances, with annual reapplication required for continued waivers.
  • Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

From the bill

“each qualifying school that offers one or more after-school programs shall make such after-school programs available to students enrolled in such school's pre-kindergarten programs on the same basis as other students enrolled in such school”

This is the bill's core requirement that pre-K students get equal access to after-school programs.

“the Department of Early Care and Learning shall be authorized to waive the requirements of subsection (b) of this Code section for such qualifying school for a period not to exceed one school year per written request”

This explains how schools can get a temporary, renewable exemption from the requirement.

Discussed in meetings (13)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. House Education Committee, February 19, 2026

    From 0:56:20 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1123 would require public schools offering both prekindergarten and after-school care to make that care available to prekindergarten students on the same basis as other students. The sponsor described families having to arrange separate care or pickups when siblings attended the same school but only older children could use its after-school program. According to the sponsor, 115 school systems offered public prekindergarten and after-school services, and the change would affect 22 systems. A member supported expanding access for children and working parents. With no substantive questions, the committee approved the bill by voice vote.

  2. House Rules Committee, February 23, 2026

    From 1:20:54 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1119

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said HB 1123 would require public schools offering both prekindergarten and after-school care for kindergarten through fifth grade to make that care available to prekindergarten students on the same basis. The presenter said the proposal arose from a prekindergarten study committee and would give working families more options. The presenter stated that 172 school systems served prekindergarten students, 112 served prekindergarten students and offered after-school services, and 22 did not offer after-school services. There were no questions. The committee later placed the bill on the next day's House calendar without opposition.

  3. House floor session, February 24, 2026 (legislative day 23)

    From 3:41:58 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1159

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1123 would require public schools offering both pre-K and after-school care for kindergarten through fifth grade to offer that care to pre-K students on the same basis. The sponsor described the measure as help for working families and said parents pay the fees set by school systems, without state or local taxpayer subsidies. According to the sponsor, only 22 of the 112 systems offering pre-K and after-school care did not already include pre-K students. Families could still choose private care or decline after-school services. There were no questions. The House passed the bill 162 to 0.

  4. Senate Children and Families Committee, March 10, 2026

    From 0:11:46 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1123 would require public schools that offer pre-K and after-school care for kindergarten through fifth grade to extend that care to pre-K students on the same basis. The sponsor described the change as support for working families, particularly those with children in different grades. According to the sponsor, 95 school systems already offered after-school care to pre-K students, while 22 excluded them. The sponsor said parents pay for the care, with no subsidy other than use of the facility, and that the Department of Early Care and Learning could grant year-to-year waivers for extenuating circumstances. One committee member asked whether differences in pre-K teacher pay arrangements explained districts' hesitation. The sponsor responded that after-school care need not be staffed by pre-K teachers and could use part-time employees or contractors. The sponsor said the department had collected districts' reasons and found similar circumstances in systems already serving pre-K students. A second member expressed support and thanked the sponsor for work on early childhood issues. The committee unanimously approved a motion to recommend passage.

  5. Senate Rules Committee, March 16, 2026

    From 0:10:59 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1123 would require public school systems offering both pre-K and parent-paid after-school services to make those services available to pre-K students on the same basis. The sponsor said the purpose was to help working families, especially those with multiple children at a school. There were no substantive questions or vote.

  6. Senate Rules Committee, March 18, 2026

    From 0:07:06 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1123 would require public schools offering both pre-K and parent-paid after-school services to make those services available to pre-K students on the same basis as kindergarten through fifth-grade students. The sponsor said the change would help working parents. In response to a member's question, the sponsor clarified that the requirement would apply only where schools already offered both programs. The committee later unanimously included the bill in its ten-measure floor calendar.

  7. Senate floor session, March 19, 2026 (legislative day 34)

    From 4:19:29 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Third Read)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said a study committee found that some public school systems offer pre-K and after-school care but exclude pre-K students from that care. The sponsor said this creates problems for working families, especially those with multiple children at one school. The sponsor explained that the bill would require equal access for pre-K students where schools offer both services. The clerk's reading also noted limited waivers. No questions or opposition were offered. The Senate passed the bill 46-0.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-07-01Effective Date
  2. 2026-05-05Act 393
  3. 2026-05-05House Date Signed by Governor (House)
  4. 2026-04-06House Sent to Governor (House)
  5. 2026-03-19Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
  6. 2026-03-19Senate Third Read (Senate)
  7. 2026-03-16Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  8. 2026-03-12Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
Show full history (15 actions)
  1. 2026-02-25Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  2. 2026-02-24House Passed/Adopted (House)
  3. 2026-02-24House Third Readers (House)
  4. 2026-02-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
  5. 2026-02-04House Second Readers (House)
  6. 2026-02-03House First Readers (House)
  7. 2026-02-02House Hopper (House)

Sponsors

  • Jan Jones (R, HD-47)Primary sponsor
  • Chris Erwin (R, HD-32)
  • Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)
  • Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)
  • Sandy Donatucci (R, HD-105)
  • Sharon Cooper (R, HD-45)
  • Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-32)

Votes

  1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 24, 2026

    162 yea, 0 nay (8 not voting, 7 excused)

    PASSAGE: House Vote #544

  2. PassedSenate voteMarch 19, 2026

    46 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 6 excused)

    PASSAGE: Senate Vote #753

Topics

  • pre-kindergarten
  • after-school programs
  • public schools
  • early childhood education
  • Georgia Pre-K

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