SB 381: Quality Basic Education Act; grants to eligible local units of administration for students living in poverty; provide

Georgia's school funding law, the Quality Basic Education Act (O.C.G.A. Title 20, Chapter 2, Article 6), currently does not include a specific funding stream tied to student poverty. This bill adds a new section allowing the State Board of Education to give grants to local school districts (called local units of administration) to help pay for extra services and instruction for students living in poverty. The bill defines 'student living in poverty' to include students whose families get SNAP or TANF benefits, students in foster care, and students without stable housing (using the federal definition of homeless children and youth). The Department of Education would calculate each district's grant by counting its poverty-affected students and multiplying that number by 25 percent of the base per-student funding amount used elsewhere in the school funding formula. At least 90 percent of the grant money would have to go directly to programs for those students, with unspent required funds returned to the state. The grants depend on the General Assembly actually appropriating money for them.

• Creates a new grant program letting the State Board of Education fund districts for enrolling students living in poverty, subject to the legislature appropriating money.
• Defines which students count as 'living in poverty,' including those in families receiving SNAP or TANF benefits, students in foster care, and students without stable housing.
• Sets the grant formula as the number of poverty-affected students times 25 percent of the base per-student funding amount used in current school funding law.
• Requires districts to spend at least 90 percent of grant funds directly on programs for students living in poverty, with leftover required funds sent back to the state.
• Directs the State Board of Education to decide how districts must prove they qualify for a grant.

Public school districts across Georgia (local units of administration), the State Board of Education and Department of Education, and students who are in foster care, without stable housing, or whose families receive SNAP or TANF benefits.

If funded by the legislature, districts with more students living in poverty could receive extra state money earmarked for services like tutoring or support programs for those students, though the amount depends on future budget decisions rather than being guaranteed by this bill alone.

• New Code Section 20-2-193(a) defines 'student in foster care,' 'student living in poverty,' and 'student without stable housing,' the last tied to the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act definition as of January 1, 2026.
• Subsection (b) authorizes the State Board of Education to award grants to eligible districts for students living in poverty, contingent on state appropriations, and lets the Board set eligibility rules.
• Subsection (c) sets the grant formula: number of poverty-affected students enrolled at the annual count date multiplied by 25 percent of the base funding amount in Code Section 20-2-161.
• Subsection (c) requires at least 90 percent of grant funds go to direct program expenditures for students living in poverty, with unspent required amounts returned to the State Board of Education.

1. 2026-01-13Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-01-12Senate Hopper (Senate)

• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)Primary sponsor
• Jaha Howard (D, SD-035)
• Harold Jones (D, SD-022)
• Kim Jackson (D, SD-041)
• Elena Parent (D, SD-044)
• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
• Nabilah Islam Parkes (D, SD-007)
• Josh McLaurin (D, SD-014)
• Sally Harrell (D, SD-040)
• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
• Gail Davenport (D, SD-017)
• Randal Mangham (D, SD-055)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-005)
• Ed Harbison (D, SD-015)
• Freddie Sims (D, SD-012)
• Derek Mallow (D, SD-002)
• Tonya Anderson (D, SD-043)

• school funding
• education poverty programs
• Quality Basic Education Act
• homeless students
• foster care students