SR 553: Senate Study Committee on Funding for Charter School Capital Improvements; create

Georgia's traditional public schools can tap several funding sources for buildings and facility upgrades, including state and local capital outlay funds, bond financing, and the Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST). Locally approved charter schools generally lack comparable access and often rely on operating budgets, donations, or private financing instead. This resolution sets up a temporary Senate committee of five senators, three picked by the Senate President and two by the Minority Leader, with a chairperson named by the President. The committee can hold up to four meetings, gather testimony from charter school leaders and financial experts, and study funding disparities. It can recommend legislation in a report filed with the Secretary of the Senate. Members get standard legislative allowances funded through the Senate's budget. The committee is abolished automatically on December 1, 2026.

• Creates the Senate Study Committee on Funding for Charter School Capital Improvements, made up of five state senators.
• Directs the committee to review current capital funding mechanisms and compare access between charter schools and traditional public schools.
• Authorizes the committee to gather testimony from charter school leaders, education stakeholders, and financial experts.
• Limits the chairperson to calling no more than four committee meetings.
• Allows the committee to recommend legislation or other action in a report filed with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee ends.
• Sets the committee to automatically dissolve on December 1, 2026.

Georgia's locally approved charter schools and their leaders, traditional public school districts that use funding tools like E-SPLOST and bond financing, state senators appointed to the committee, and education and financial stakeholders who may be asked to testify.

The study could lead to legislation changing how charter schools pay for buildings and repairs, which currently rely more heavily on operating budgets and private funds than traditional public schools do. Any concrete funding change would require separate future legislation, since this resolution only creates a study process.

• Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at five senators, three appointed by the Senate President and two by the Minority Leader, with the President naming the chairperson.
• Paragraph (3) lists study duties, including comparing charter and traditional public school capital funding and examining E-SPLOST, bond financing, and capital outlay grants.
• Paragraph (4) caps the chairperson at calling no more than four meetings.
• Paragraph (5) provides member allowances under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8, capped at five days unless additional days are authorized, funded from Senate appropriations.
• Paragraph (6) requires any adopted findings or legislative recommendations to be filed as a report with the Secretary of the Senate, approved by majority vote of a quorum.
• Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026.

1. 2026-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
2. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2026-03-27Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
4. 2026-03-27Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
5. 2025-04-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
6. 2025-04-03Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)Primary sponsor
• Harold Jones (D, SD-022)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)
• Elena Parent (D, SD-044)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

   48 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 3 absent)

   Consent Calendar For Senate Study Committees: Senate Vote #875

• charter schools
• school funding
• education policy
• legislative study committees
• school construction