SB431: SB431 Education; enrollment of foster care students within two school days of a request for enrollment by such student's parent or legal custodian; require

Georgia law already sets rules for how schools transfer and share student education records and how new students get enrolled, including a provisional enrollment process. This bill changes several of those rules. It creates a new, uniform definition of a 'school business day' and replaces scattered references to 'school day' or 'business day' throughout several sections of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated with that term. The bill's central change requires a receiving school to enroll a foster care student, either permanently or provisionally, no later than three school business days after getting a completed enrollment form from the student's parent or legal custodian. If a school misses that deadline because it has not received the student's records, it must connect the family with regional and state education officials, and the Department of Education can order a corrective action plan. The bill also requires quarterly reporting on enrollment disputes and, separately, allows inclusive postsecondary education grants for students with intellectual disabilities to be used at qualified private postsecondary institutions, tying award amounts to HOPE scholarship levels. It removes a 2028 sunset limiting eligibility for these grants. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Requires receiving schools to enroll foster care students, permanently or provisionally, within three school business days of getting a completed enrollment form from a parent or legal custodian.
• Creates a standard definition of 'school business day' and swaps that term in for 'school day' or 'business day' across eight different Code sections in Title 20.
• Requires schools that miss the foster care enrollment deadline to give the family contact information for a regional education official and the Department of Education's chief privacy officer, and allows the state to impose a corrective action plan.
• Requires RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) student affairs officers to file quarterly reports on enrollment disputes and foster care contacts, summarized annually for legislative leaders.
• Removes a specific time limit that previously restricted when a parent or legal custodian could request a student's education records.
• Expands inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) grants for students with intellectual disabilities to qualified private postsecondary institutions, basing award amounts on HOPE scholarship levels, and repeals the grant program's 2028 sunset date.

Foster care students and their caregivers, public school administrators and enrollment staff, parents and legal custodians seeking student records, Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) staff, the Department of Education's chief privacy officer, and students with intellectual disabilities seeking inclusive postsecondary education grants at public or qualifying private colleges.

Foster care students, who often move between homes and schools, would get a firm three-day enrollment deadline instead of facing open-ended delays while records transfer. Families would also gain a clearer path to get help if a school stalls, and more students with intellectual disabilities could use state grants at private colleges.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-1-9 to add a formal definition of 'school business day' used throughout the title.
• Section 3 adds subsection (c.1) to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-670, setting the three school business day enrollment deadline for foster care students and creating the notification and corrective action process for missed deadlines.
• Section 3 also requires RESA student affairs officers to file quarterly reports on disputes and foster care contacts, submitted to the Department of Education and summarized annually to legislative leaders by November 1.
• Section 4 updates O.C.G.A. § 20-2-720 definitions for 'education record,' 'legal custodian,' and 'parent' used in the parental records inspection rules.
• Section 5 replaces 'school day,' 'school days,' 'business day,' and 'business days' with 'school business day(s)' across eight listed Code sections, including the Parents' Bill of Rights (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-786).
• Section 6 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-3-494 to let eligible private postsecondary institutions offer IPSE programs, ties grant amounts to HOPE award levels for those students, and removes the program's prior sunset limitation.
• Section 7 makes the Act effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.

1. 2026-05-11Effective Date 2026-05-11
2. 2026-05-11Act 494
3. 2026-05-11Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2026-04-02Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
6. 2026-03-31House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
7. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
8. 2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)Primary sponsor
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Elena Parent (D, SD-044)
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)

1. PassedSenate voteFebruary 6, 2026

   49 yea, 0 nay (0 not voting, 5 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #525

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   168 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #825

3. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

   51 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 2 absent)

   Agree To House Substitute: Senate Vote #944

• foster care students
• school enrollment
• student records privacy
• special education grants
• education law