--- title: HB 31. Catoosa County; Board of Education adopt a balanced budget; require collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb31 cite_as: HB 31, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb31 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb31.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb31/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69311 date: 2025-01-15 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb30.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb32.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 129 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb31.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 31 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-01-13 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Mitchell Horner text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB31/2025 upstream_id: 1916631 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - school budgets - Catoosa County schools - education funding - local government finance --- # HB 31. Catoosa County; Board of Education adopt a balanced budget; require ## Text House Bill 31 By: Representative Horner of the 3rd A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act to reconstitute the Board of Education of Catoosa County, Georgia, approved March 30, 1993 (Ga. L. 1993, p. 4258), as amended, so as to require such board to adopt a balanced budget; to provide that if the Quality Basic Education Formula is fully funded by state appropriations such budget shall be balanced without spending down fiscal reserves; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. An Act to reconstitute the Board of Education of Catoosa County, Georgia, approved March 30, 1993 (Ga. L. 1993, p. 4258), as amended, is amended by adding a new section to read as follows: "SECTION 8.1. (a) The budget for the Catoosa County School District as finally amended and adopted by the Catoosa County Board of Education must provide for all expenditures required by law and for all debt service requirements for the ensuing fiscal year, and the total appropriations from any fund shall not exceed the estimated fund balance, reserves, and revenues. (b) For any fiscal year in which the General Assembly through the General Appropriations Act establishes a base amount for the Quality Basic Education Formula so as to achieve the full funding of the applicable provisions of the Quality Basic Education Act, Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the O.C.G.A., the budget provided for in subsection (a) of this section shall be balanced without the expenditure of fiscal reserves. (c) Subsection (b) of this section shall not apply in the event of declared states of emergency or in the event that actual revenue received by the school district does not meet anticipated revenue collections and the cause of such revenue shortfall is beyond the control of the school district." SECTION 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. A House bill would require the Catoosa County Board of Education to adopt a balanced budget each year, and to do so without dipping into savings when the state fully funds its school formula. ### Plain-language summary This bill changes the 1993 law that set up the Catoosa County Board of Education. It adds a new section requiring the board's yearly budget to cover all legally required spending and debt payments without spending more than the district's expected funds, reserves, and revenue. If the General Assembly fully funds the Quality Basic Education Formula (the state's main K-12 funding formula) in a given year through the state budget, Catoosa County's school budget must be balanced that year without using savings, known as fiscal reserves. That rule would not apply during declared emergencies or if the district's actual revenue falls short of what was expected for reasons outside its control. All conflicting laws would be repealed. ### What it does - Adds a new section to the 1993 Catoosa County school board law requiring the board's budget to cover all required spending and debt payments without exceeding expected funds and revenue. - Requires the budget to be balanced without spending down savings (fiscal reserves) in any year the state fully funds the Quality Basic Education Formula. - Creates exceptions to the no-reserves rule for declared states of emergency or unexpected revenue shortfalls beyond the district's control. - Repeals any existing laws that conflict with these new budget requirements. ### Who it affects The Catoosa County Board of Education and school district administrators, who must follow the new budgeting rules, as well as students, teachers, and taxpayers in Catoosa County whose school funding decisions would be shaped by these requirements. ### Why it matters The change limits how much the Catoosa County school board can rely on savings to balance its budget when the state fully funds K-12 education, which could affect how the district plans spending in years when state support is strong versus years with revenue shortfalls or emergencies. ### Key provisions - Section 1 adds new Section 8.1 to the 1993 Catoosa County Board of Education Act, requiring a balanced budget covering all legally required expenditures and debt service. - Subsection (a) caps total spending from any fund at the estimated fund balance, reserves, and revenues for the year. - Subsection (b) requires the budget to be balanced without using fiscal reserves in any year the state fully funds the Quality Basic Education Formula under O.C.G.A. Title 20, Chapter 2, Article 6. - Subsection (c) exempts the district from the no-reserves rule during declared emergencies or unexpected revenue shortfalls beyond the district's control. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-01-13) - Last action: House Second Readers (2025-01-15) - Sponsors: Mitchell Horner - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69311 > The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb31.md?full=1