Georgia General Assembly · Full text

HB 912: Quality Basic Education Act; $500,000.00 in matching grants for purpose of providing home reading programs for students in kindergarten through fourth grade; provisions

Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds · Last action January 12, 2026 · Introduced

The text as LegiScan holds it, read from the PDF the legislature publishes with its margin line numbers, running heads, and page footers removed. Line breaks are joined into paragraphs here; no word is changed.

Underlined words are what the bill adds to current law and struck-through words are what it removes, as the printed bill shows them.

Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: this text, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

Back to the summary

House Bill 912

By: Representatives Wilkerson of the 38th, Smith of the 41st, Carter of the 93rd, Ballard of the 147th, Cox of the 28th, and others

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

To amend Part 9 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to grants for educational programs under the "Quality Basic Education Act," so as to provide for up to $500,000.00 in matching grants by the State Board of Education to local units of administration for the purpose of providing home reading programs for students in kindergarten through fourth grade; to authorize the State Board of Education to receive and administer federal funds for such grants; to provide for eligibility; to require the State Board of Education to develop rules and regulations; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Part 9 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to grants for educational programs under the "Quality Basic Education Act," is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:

"20-2-259.1.

(a) Subject to available funding, the State Board of Education shall provide matching grants to qualified local units of administration to provide an eligible home reading program for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. Such matching grant funds shall be distributed by the Department of Education.

(b) A home reading program is eligible for matching grant funds provided pursuant to this Code section if it is provided in partnership with an affiliated local unit of administration by a nonprofit organization that meets the following requirements:

(1) Delivers an evidence based, self-selected reading program consisting of independent reading level books that are individually mailed to the residences of or made available for electronic download to students in kindergarten through fourth grade on a weekly basis;

(2) Incorporates at least weekly telephone calls, texts, or application notifications in multiple languages to a parent or guardian to drive parental and family engagement throughout the duration of the program;

(3) Builds on pedagogical principles of literacy instruction to scaffold fluency and improve reading comprehension with student exercises;

(4) Includes a customizable portal to generate individualized data reports for analysis of student progress by program providers, affiliated local units of administration, and parents and guardians;

(5) Collects, disaggregates, and distributes detailed data on all metrics of the program, such as engagement of parents or guardians, books read, and allowable demographic data;

(6) Provides a summary of data on all students served by the program to the Department of Education;

(7) Agrees to secure the required matching funds from the participating local unit of administration and maintain auditable verification of the receipt; and

(8) The combined total cost of the program, including district matching funds, does not exceed $50.00 per student per semester.

(c) The total amount of matching grant funds provided by the State Board of Education pursuant to this Code section shall not exceed $500,000.00 each state fiscal year.

(d) The State Board of Education is authorized to receive and administer federal funds to provide matching grant funds pursuant to this Code section. The Department of Education shall serve as a state level flow through point for any available federal funding.

(e) The State Board of Education shall prescribe criteria, policies, and standards deemed necessary for the effective implementation of this Code section."

SECTION 2.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.