HR1947: HR1947 House Study Committee on Education Finance; create

Georgia funds its public schools mainly through the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, set up in 1985, which calculates state money to local school systems based on student counts and program types. Local systems must also spend a required local share of property tax revenue (the five-mill share) to participate, and the state supplements poorer districts with equalization grants. This resolution creates the House Study Committee on Education Finance to review whether this funding system is still fair and workable, and to look at ways to simplify the QBE formula and better help high-poverty districts. The committee would have five House members, including several committee chairs, meet as needed, and could recommend legislation. It must file any report before the committee is abolished on December 31, 2026.

• Creates the House Study Committee on Education Finance to examine Georgia's school funding system.
• Directs the committee to study the QBE funding formula, equalization grants, the local five-mill share, and other education financing mechanisms.
• Sets committee membership at five House members, including three specified committee chairs and two appointees chosen by the Speaker.
• Allows the committee to recommend legislation or other action based on its findings.
• Provides legislative allowances (travel and per diem under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8) for up to five meeting days unless more are authorized.
• Abolishes the committee on December 31, 2026, requiring any report to be filed before that date.

Members of the Georgia House of Representatives serving on the committee, local school systems and their finance staff, students in high-poverty districts, and anyone tracking how the state distributes education funding through the QBE formula and equalization grants.

If the committee finds problems with how Georgia funds schools, it could recommend changes to the QBE formula, the local five-mill share requirement, or equalization grants, which affect how much money local school districts, especially poorer ones, receive each year.

• Paragraph (1) formally creates the House Study Committee on Education Finance.
• Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at five House members, naming three required chairs and two Speaker appointees, with the Speaker designating the chairperson.
• Paragraph (3) charges the committee with studying education financing issues and recommending action or legislation.
• Paragraph (4) leaves meeting scheduling to the chairperson's discretion.
• Paragraph (5) funds legislative member allowances through House appropriations, capped at five days unless extended.
• Paragraph (6) requires any adopted report to be approved by majority vote and filed with the Clerk of the House before abolishment.
• Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 31, 2026.

1. 2026-03-31House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
2. 2026-03-31House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-27House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-03-25House Hopper (House)

• Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)Primary sponsor
• Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)
• Jan Jones (R, HD-047)
• Robert Dawson (D, HD-065)
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)

• education funding
• school finance
• QBE formula
• property taxes
• legislative study committee