HB1114: HB1114 Quality Basic Education Act; allow for students in ninth and tenth grade to complete the high school graduation financial literacy course requirement

Georgia law currently requires high school students to take a half-credit financial literacy course during their junior or senior year to graduate. This bill changes that timing so the course can be completed in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade instead. It also expands what financial literacy and digital literacy classes must cover. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, the financial literacy course must include lessons on gambling risks, such as odds, addiction, and debt, for grades 9-12, with age appropriate gambling and money lessons added for grades 6-8 and K-5 by 2027-2028. The bill also requires K-12 digital literacy instruction on topics like AI, misinformation, and cyberbullying starting in 2027-2028, bars schools from partnering with or accepting money from gambling businesses, and requires the Department of Education to publish firearm safe storage materials for schools and families by 2028. The law would take effect July 1, 2026.

• Lets students complete the required half-credit financial literacy course in grade 9, 10, 11, or 12 instead of only in 11th or 12th grade, starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
• Adds gambling risk education (odds, addiction, debt, advertising claims) to the high school financial literacy content standards required under O.C.G.A. \u00a7 20-2-149.4.
• Requires grade level appropriate financial literacy instruction for kindergarten through eighth grade beginning in the 2027-2028 school year, covering topics like saving, budgeting, and probability.
• Requires K-12 digital literacy instruction starting in 2027-2028, covering AI evaluation, misinformation, cyberbullying, and online safety, and directs the Department of Education to build model programs and issue an annual report.
• Bans public schools from partnering with, accepting donations from, or using promotional materials from any individual or entity that operates a gambling enterprise, activity, or event.
• Directs the Department of Education, working with the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Natural Resources, to publish firearm safe storage materials for schools and families by 2028.

Public school students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, local school boards and school system administrators who set curriculum schedules, the Department of Education, and any businesses or organizations connected to gambling activity that currently work with or donate to schools.

Students would get more flexibility in scheduling a graduation requirement and earlier exposure to lessons on gambling risks, digital safety, and money management. Schools would need to adjust curriculum planning, cut ties with gambling-linked donors or partners, and distribute new firearm storage materials to families by set deadlines.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. \u00a7 20-2-149 to require K-12 digital literacy content standards covering AI evaluation, online safety, and digital citizenship, with instruction starting in the 2027-2028 school year.
• Section 1 also requires the Department of Education to develop model digital literacy programs and publish an annual report on online safety education by December 1 each year.
• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. \u00a7 20-2-149.4 so the financial literacy graduation course can be completed in grades 9 through 12, effective for the 2026-2027 school year, and adds gambling risk topics to the required content.
• Section 2 requires K-8 financial literacy instruction starting in the 2027-2028 school year and bars schools from partnering with, accepting funds from, or using materials from gambling operators.
• Section 3 adds O.C.G.A. \u00a7 20-2-308, requiring the Department of Education, with the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Natural Resources, to publish firearm safe storage materials by January 1, 2028, and requiring local school boards to distribute them to parents by July 1, 2028.
• Section 4 sets the effective date of the Act as July 1, 2026.

1. 2026-04-02Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
2. 2026-04-02Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2026-04-02Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
4. 2026-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)
5. 2026-03-31Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
6. 2026-03-27Senate Tabled (Senate)
7. 2026-03-23Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
8. 2026-03-20Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)

• Bill Yearta (R, HD-152)Primary sponsor
• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)
• Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
• Will Wade (R, HD-009)
• Miriam Paris (D, HD-142)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2026

   171 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 4 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #652

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 27, 2026

   26 yea, 22 nay (3 not voting, 3 absent)

   Motion To Table Remaining Legislation On The Rules Calendar: Senate Vote #835

3. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

   36 yea, 13 nay (4 not voting, 1 absent)

   Adoption Of Amendment #1 By The Senator From The 44th: Senate Vote #954

4. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

   46 yea, 4 nay (3 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #955

• financial literacy education
• digital literacy
• gambling risk education
• school curriculum requirements
• firearm safe storage