House Education Committee, January 29, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:19:17

   All right, members, if I could, let me call this, uh, meeting to order here and, uh, get started. Welcome, visitors. Thank you for coming. Uh, this, this is a e- exciting kickoff for me. I will tell you that, uh, we do a lot of work out of session getting prepared and, uh, getting to this time and, uh, meeting with a lot of groups, meeting with each other. So, uh, it is nice to get here where decisions can be made and action can be taken and helping our students and our teachers and our parents throughout this, uh, state.

2. 0:19:56

   Um, let me do this, as we always like to begin. If you are an educator, have been an educator in the room, hold your hand up. Let us recognize you for your service. Thank you. So many of you sitting out there. I often... I, I, I like to always say, uh, te- teachers are heroes and, uh, that they're everyday heroes. And you see that if you go and look in a classroom, you look inside of a school.

3. 0:20:26

   And, uh, I'm just proud of, uh, where we're at educationally in this state, where we're, uh, going educationally in this state, and how we're working with these students, uh, in this state. Um, let me do this, members. Uh, let me point out to you, if I may, that, uh, um, no committee member change. We're all back, second year of the biennial. So welcome back. Glad to see the energy and the effort.

4. 0:20:58

   Uh, I will tell you that, uh, we can add to our years of experience by 21 versus where we were at this same time last year. If you look around the room, we're a year more of experience on this team, and, uh, I'm looking forward to using that to, uh, continue to, to help our students in this state. Um, let, let's, as we always do, uh, um, um, go into a moment of, of prayer. Do you mind saying a prayer for us?

5. 0:21:30

   Uh, what number are you at, M- Chairman Dubnik? 29. We're gonna turn the mic over to you.

6. 0:21:35

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Bear with me. God, it's just a great day to be here in the state of Georgia working on behalf of children and, and families that, that you have blessed us with. Lord, I, I thank you for this opportunity to serve. Lord, I thank you for the men and women in this room who are all here around the same cause, and that's for our youngest learners. Lord, just give us wisdom and, and guidance and discernment as we make decisions to better the lives and the educational outcomes for, for those 1.8 million students.

7. 0:22:08

   Lord, we love you. We thank you for the blessings of life and the fresh air outside. Lord, just give us traveling mercies as we all leave this place and go home for the weekend. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.

8. 0:22:20

   Great. Thank you, Chairman. Let me continue, uh, members, by telling you, um, the, uh, the goals. The, the, the goals for our committee have been, in the past, three distinct goals. We talk about safety. We talk about literacy. This year, I'm gonna add a third to you here. Um, instead of what we call just great policy, we're gonna talk learning. Safety, literacy, learning.

9. 0:22:51

   I state those to you because I want you to know what's important to me and the committee that are reviewing these bills, the kind of the eyes we're looking at them. Is it something with safety? Is it something with literacy? Is it something about learning? Boy, that catches our eye very quick. Again, if it's about what color something is in the sense of the roof, the walls, the chalkboards, the whiteboards, you're probably not gonna get a second read on that bill.

10. 0:23:26

    Let's stick to what I'm talking here is safety, literacy, and learning in our schools, and you'll get a second read and a lot of attention paid to it. I also, at this time, wanna talk to all the committee members. I've spoke to all of y'all since session has started. I... You're doing an excellent job of not only communicating to your constituents, but to me, as well as, uh, our other committee members. We need that as a, as a team.

11. 0:23:57

    We work together as a team to try to accomplish this goal. We need to continue that. There's been some cases where we've got two individuals, members on the committee working on the same bill. We need to be working on that bill together, is what we need to be doing. And part of my job is to put you two together and, uh, make sure that y'all are pulling together your, your ideas and your strengths and crafting the best bill, uh, for our, our students.

12. 0:24:28

    So I wanna commend you on that communication. I want... I'd like to see that continue to happen. I wanna point out a, a, a few numbers and kinda talk about a sense of urgency to you. I- this past session, we had 99 bills committed to us. So far already this session, we've had 15. Last year, we passed out of, uh, committee 36 bills.

13. 0:25:00

    We got 26 of those completed through the House. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of bills. Now, if you remember, those 99 that we got assigned last year, they're still there. So we're up to 114 What I'm getting to is we need to make sure that we're paying attention to the right things in, in education, and we're working on the right things that's gonna move that needle for us, uh, educationally in this state.

14. 0:25:36

    And, uh, and then I want to talk a little bit about our timing, and that is where we're at. We, we have now got, um, we have completed, I believe, if I get this right, y'all help me with the math, today was the 10th se- ninth session days, so that's gonna allow us 31 more to get everything done we need to by sine die.

15. 0:26:10

    All right, that, that's the first one. The second number we gotta talk about is crossover. Um, there are five committee days, um, five Mondays, and five Thursdays by crossover. So if you add that up, unless we call a special meeting, we're, we're looking at about 10 committee meetings total to try to get all this work and get through all these bills and decide which ones move on.

16. 0:26:44

    That's gonna get here very quickly. Crossover will be here very quickly. So you need to be reading your bills, not just before we come into these meetings, but while we're on the floor. You need to be communicating them with each other, and we need to be deciding which ones we move, which ones need work, the discussion. So, uh, total session days left, 31. Before crossover, you got 19, with only about 10 committees coming, coming to you.

17. 0:27:19

    So I hope there's a sense of urgency and paying attention to what we need to get done in those 19 days, um, here. One thing that I felt and always do and have since being chairman, that we educate you a little bit on, on issues that are going on, and sometimes our agencies and, and some of their work that they are doing. Uh, we have invited with us here today, uh, Dr. Dana Rickman from the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.

18. 0:27:55

    And as you're probably aware, the top 10 issues which we stood up in the well and asked you to read, look at, pay some attention to, um, we're, we're, we're gonna ask, uh, Dr. Rickman, I see you sitting out there. I'm gonna cut on the podium microphone. I believe you also have the, uh, a media, uh, presentation you're gonna do. Um, and then members, what I'm gonna ask you to do is hold your questions to after her presentation, and then we'll allow you to ask some questions.

19. 0:28:27

    Dr. Rickman, if you would, get you to, to, uh, um, answer those questions as asked. So with that, Dr. Rickman, step up there. Uh, if you would, introduce anybody with you, and I am gonna turn the podium mic over to you.

20. 0:29:07

    Apologies, that took longer than it, it should have. Uh, good afternoon. I'm Dr. Dana Rickman, uh, President and CEO of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. Is this on?

21. 0:29:16

    We're turning it up right now-

22. 0:29:17

    Okay.

23. 0:29:18

    ... in hopes that it is.

24. 0:29:20

    Thank you. Uh, thank you, Chairman, for inviting us, uh, to speak today and for, uh, passing out the top 10 in, o- on the floor. It's really meaningful for us to have these kinds of connections and have an opportunity to share our work. As I mentioned, I'm Dr. Dana Rickman. With me is Matt Smith, our policy advisor, or f- uh, director of policy. He actually wrote the document, and so most Q&A is gonna go to him. Matt is a rain man of education policy. And I also have with me, uh, Dr. Robert Gaines, who's our chief of staff, who helps with external affairs and connections.

25. 0:29:51

    And for those of you who may... We also, if you don't have a hard copy, we brought extras. If you, if you wish to take extras, we have some for you. Uh, but as mentioned, I'm gonna be presenting on the top 10 issues to watch in 2026. Very brief history of the partnership, just in case you're not familiar with us. We were founded in 1992 by a partnership between the Georgia Chamber and the Georgia Economic Developers Association. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan research think tank that really looks at the intersection of education policy and workforce development policy.

26. 0:30:23

    And so we have a very large board. Lot of, some board members in our room. Chairman Erwin is on our board. Uh, but we're also le- we are always led by a business leader in Georgia to really look at that workforce pipeline from early learning all the way through post-secondary. We conduct research, publish report, and convene state leaders through our state policy work. We also support community and regional engagement. We have rural learning networks, communities of practice, and we run an education policy fellows program as well. Brief background on the top 10.

27. 0:30:53

    It's an annual publication. You'll notice this is our 22nd edition. Uh, time flies when you're having fun. Uh, but the top 10 really provides a research-based, nonpartisan analysis on a variety of education and economic development topics. We do not write this in a silo, though it would be much quicker if we did. Uh, we pull together leaders from across the state, other advocates, other stakeholders, uh, state agency leaders, local leaders, uh, in the fall, and really talk about what's going on. What's the new research? What's the legislature gonna do?

28. 0:31:25

    We are always wrong when we ask that question, but we really try to make this a timely issue that really digs into some of the hot topics that we know are gonna be discussed. But also, we like to take time to raise up maybe a couple of issues that we think should be hot topics that are not being discussed. And so We try to inform and help, especially leaders like yourself, really understand the nuance and complexities of these issues and try to find research-based materials for you to help support your work. With that, I am not going to go through all ten.

29. 0:31:59

    It used to be a joke. We'll just do five minutes on each and you see people doing the math and they fall over. But our top ten is, as you may have noticed over the past year in particular, education policy landscape is shifting. It's shifting a lot and with a lot of uncertainty. And Georgia still finds itself in a bit of uncertainty, but we know the federal government is delegating more authority and decision-making to state agencies and school districts. We don't know how far that's going to go, but we know that it's coming. And also the '26 elections will bring significant change in state leadership starting in 2027.

30. 0:32:32

    So this is, we feel the partnership and with a lot of our coalition partners, it's a real opportunity for a new generation of leaders to really advance an affirmative future-focused vision for education and connected to that workforce development that expands educational opportunity and leverages Georgia's considerable assets that we have. And so in issue one, real briefly, we're just ready to release a two-year policy plan developed in collaboration with our coalition outlining priorities that will help the state and community leaders identify common interests, shared goals, and coordinated strategies through 2028 that will move us toward our 10-year goal of 65% of our adult population having a credential of value.

31. 0:33:16

    So that kind of goes into that and really sets the stage for the rest of the issues. The rest of the issues are divided into three sections. The first section, investing in talent. Issue two through four really identifies factors that promote educational and economic opportunity to close the talent and skills gap. So things like early learning, career pathways, teacher quality. We know that there is a teacher quality plan coming out from a Senate resolution. And so how does that fit in to really support our teachers over the long term?

32. 0:33:46

    The second section really looks at optimizing local strategies. As a local control state, we have a lot of great things happening across in the districts. And so it's really looking at how do we support those things. And so obviously student attendance, literacy, and community hubs, expanding healthcare access. And then the final section looks at aligning priorities and investments. How do we reconfigure state systems and strategies to make sure our investments really align with priorities and yield the outcomes as defined by policymakers?

33. 0:34:18

    Are we getting our bang for our buck? How do we leverage everything that we need to do? And finally, issue 10 is a new strategy for us. It's a letter entitled A Message for the 2026 Candidates and anybody running for office this year. It may be helpful to you. I don't know. But as previously mentioned, it is an election year. But we sort of stakeholders and general public really have an opportunity to help inform current leaders and up-and-coming leaders of a unified vision for Georgia that supports quality early learning options, teacher excellence, and high-value career pathways.

34. 0:34:53

    And so that just kind of sums up that. And real briefly, I thought it would be helpful to you guys knowing the chairman's focus on safety, literacy, learning. There are sort of three particular issues that I really think would be helpful for you all to dig into. The first one, career pathways. It really looks at building the case for why Georgians should enter these pathways and think about career pathways in high school and those transitions into post-secondary. And so a lot of this will fall on the higher ed committee, but there's a lot that's going on in K-12 to really strengthen those career pathways and really tie them to economic development opportunities, especially across the state and rural.

35. 0:35:32

    So we're looking at rural communities that want to grow their own workforce. How do we tie those together for seamless transitions? And how do we think about retooling those pathways to meet student, community, and workforce needs? A key action that can be taken here is invite employers and community leaders to engage in career pathway development process at the regional level. And so thinking from a state level, what kind of state structures need to be in place to support those communities to do that work? Student attendance is obviously another big issue for everybody.

36. 0:36:02

    The barriers, the problem, and I'm sure all of you have dug into this and had study committees about it, but it's not a one-size-fits-all problem, right? The barriers include everything from chronic health conditions to housing, food insecurity, disengagement of students, anxiety, depression. It really depends. The solutions really depends on the particular student. Also, the reasons for high absenteeism for first graders can be significantly different than a ninth grader or a 10th grader who's chronically absent.

37. 0:36:35

    And so we really think about creating a community-wide strategy that engages students, parents, educators, civic corporate leaders to address the root causes of chronic absenteeism within that particular community. And then even deeper than that, more layered than that, the age of the child. We're talking about elementary, middle, high school. So it's very complicated, but I think a community-wide approach can be really helpful here. And finally, literacy I know is a very big topic that, you know, the impact of literacy, we all know the lifelong impact and the relationship between early learning, language development, long-term returns.

38. 0:37:09

    One of the things that we've seen in our own research, the Georgia Partnership had a grant from the Georgia Department of Education to really look at all the federal money, the ESSA funds, the relief dollars that came in and what districts were doing with it. And we did a deep dive into literacy and how they were implementing the literacy reforms. And the ones that were most successful, the ones that were making the most progress, had a literacy coach in every school, every elementary school that they were doing. And so this issue really looks at where we are in implementing the literacy reforms that have been set out by the state, but some of the best practice models that we've seen.

39. 0:37:47

    and kind of comparing, uh, you know, regional approach to literacy coaches versus in-school. Uh, but you have to be very careful there of requiring a literacy coach in every school. You have to look at the supply issue. There's not a lot of unemployed literacy coaches who are trained properly, uh, just sitting out there waiting for a job. And so we also have to address, how do we make sure we have enough trained-up literacy coaches that we're not actually taking excellent elementary school teachers out of the classroom and making them literacy coaches? You know, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

40. 0:38:18

    So it's a very complicated, uh, suggestion and solution, but we have to look at both supply and demand as we move forward. And you can see some of the overarching themes that cut across. And so finally, uh, leave you with a couple of questions, and I can bring, um, questions for you, and I can bring Matt up if you have overall questions, is for you all, how can the general assembly support student success and wellness? Which is why we're all here. And some, you know, suggestions that we've already talked about. Speaker Burns has a bill around a reading coach in every elementary school.

41. 0:38:52

    Uh, at GOSA, they have a literacy coordinating coach. And so thinking about the supply and demand problem, the literacy coordinating coach at GOSA can coordinate amongst the different literacy coaches that we have now. We have some at the RESAs, we have some doing it through Georgia DOE, we have some that are just in the districts. And so how can we sort of use them as a bridge to maybe a train-the-trainer model that we're, they're all delivering the same level of quality as we think about building up the workforce.

42. 0:39:24

    And so how do we support a regional approach as we move toward that? And so, again, it's complicated, but there's work that's going on that we can help. Um, and then especially, you know, s- uh, big kudos to the general assembly really looking at student safety and mental health, and so continuing to look at shoring up student safety and mental health. Um, uh, I commend you for the student advocacy specialists that are now out there. Uh, and finally, in attendance, just really looking at how to support...

43. 0:39:55

    I know we have the district and school attendance, uh, community work that's being done. How do we support that? How do we support communities and give them what they need, the infrastructure, especially the smaller communities that may not have a lot of resources to really dig in and do that? You know, how can we support that and maybe provide them a framework? And then last, you know, questions to you all, for us, what knowledge, tools, or resources do you need, uh, to help execute your work? And we stand ready to, to help bring those to you. And so I'll invite Matt up if you guys have questions on anything I've said or if there's another issue that I listed that you'd like to ask about.

44. 0:40:31

    Great. Thank you, Dr. Rickman. Uh-

45. 0:40:34

    Thank you

46. 0:40:34

    ... obviously, uh, thoroughly done and well thought out. Um, I have been able to read through all of your, uh, issues, the top 10 issues. I think you were spot on with all 10. Um, uh, of course, I always would work with the number. I, I like your talk about literacy-

47. 0:40:54

    Mm-hmm

48. 0:40:54

    ... but I, I think that is a very impactful issue-

49. 0:40:58

    Mm-hmm

50. 0:40:58

    ... that we're gonna be addressing this session, um, and doing quite a, quite a lot with. And, uh, it would be my priority number one on there. I understand y'all have a numbering case there, uh, yourself.

51. 0:41:10

    They're not in any priority order. They're all very important.

52. 0:41:13

    Thank you. Well, thank you with that. Um, Rainman, that's an interesting- ... uh, uh, nickname, Matt. Uh, I'll have to remember that one.

53. 0:41:22

    Yeah, you can call me savant, just don't put the idiot part on the end.

54. 0:41:26

    Well, very good. Uh, good job with this and how you communicated it, uh, Matt. Members, I'll open up, uh, questions on their top 10 issues or anything that Dr. Rickman has brought to your attention. Number 28, is that you?

55. 0:41:45

    It's me.

56. 0:41:46

    Floor leader.

57. 0:41:47

    Yeah.

58. 0:41:47

    Go right ahead.

59. 0:41:48

    So depending on the weather this weekend, I'm gonna count myself as an educator if I have to do one more evening of virtual-

60. 0:41:54

    Mm-hmm

61. 0:41:54

    ... educating my fifth and fourth grader. Um, no, just kidding, but I appreciate what you guys do, and thank you for your research. One of the questions that I have is, uh, what... I always now, Chairman Dubnik's not in here, so I guess I'm getting away with this, but being on the appropriation side is, you know, sometimes it's not necessarily that, that we need... Do we need to continue to invest in education? Yes. But where we're investing those dollars, have y'all spent any deep dives in programs and processes that we are spending dollars in a 20th century manner that is not meeting the 21st century need?

62. 0:42:33

    And to me, I think that I want to be a part of trying to determine where we can focus back in those dollars, where they're, you know, you're getting synergy, you're getting, you know, a little bit more bang for your buck, and it goes further. Um, and I, I just, I would love to know if you guys have any specific data. Obviously, today may not be the right place, but I would love to hear from you, and I'm sure Chairman Dubnik would agree with me that we, he is a very conscientious appropriator. He wants to ensure that those dollars are not just being thrown at the wall.

63. 0:43:05

    I don't think that that happens often, but I do think that we have dollars that are being spent ineffectively in our state, and I want to be a part of putting them where they need to go.

64. 0:43:16

    I think I can take that question. I think one thing that we've really been d- doing in terms of advocating for, um, quality basic education reform is the idea, for instance, when we talk about things like technology and, um, whatnot, that that's something where we could, um, through those particular formula, be able to communicate and recast our priorities. Because part of what's happening to a certain extent is, is you have 21st century priorities, and you have a 1980s formula. And so part of the misalignment there does create opportunities, I think, for districts to continue to do business as usual, where there might be opportunities to innovate and opportunities for them to be more creative if we gave them- The, the foundation to do so, and so that's part of it.

65. 0:44:07

    I think the second part of it too is, and I think the General Assembly is interested in this as well, is talking about from the standpoint of evaluating the impact of your policies and how we can, to our second chapter, optimize local innovation, be able to take what they're doing, and then integrate that into agency, um, regulations as well as state level, uh, policy. And I think that that could be really crucial too, because then that would invite our community members as well as our school superintendents and our school level leaders to, um, take more chances and to be more creative in this space and feel like they have the backing of people like you.

66. 0:44:46

    Yeah. I, I think investments in a, in a robust statewide data system that really allows a good evaluation of the different innovations that are going on across the state, 'cause we do have a lot of great stuff going on across the state, but typically it's up to the local district to really evaluate for themselves how it's going and, and different outcomes. And some districts have a great capacity to do that, and some don't. Um, and so being more uniform across the state on how we look at that to really identify those programs that are working really well, that we wanna elevate with our priorities, and others that we think were working, but then once we do a rigorous evaluation, you know, maybe not, how do we shift?

67. 0:45:22

    And so to provide more guidance to districts about what we're learning, especially from each other, from, from the individual districts, would be really helpful.

68. 0:45:29

    Great. Thank you. Number 11, uh, representative, is that Wilkerson?

69. 0:45:34

    Yes, Mr. Chairman. Yes. Uh, th- thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess to follow up with, uh, the floor leader's question, y- you know, we've talked about QBE reform over the last few years, but my understanding is that w- when you actually determine what it takes to get a, an education in 2026 now, it's gonna be a lot more expensive than the QBE that we have. So it's not necessarily that we're wasting money, it's just that it's gonna take a lot more money to do. And, um, is that kinda your perception, that the '80s formula is good for the '80s, but not necessarily for this year and ...

70. 0:46:09

    Yeah, I, I think the formula itself is pretty sound, but again, it was sound for the '80s, uh, in, in what's in it. Uh, but also too, I mean, to your point, I think if we did a cost study of what it would cost to get the outcomes that we're looking for, it would be a lot more money than we're putting in now. However, as we think about, um, reforms and how much money we wanna put into education and things of that nature, if you know sort of the goal is here, but you're only here, it does help you prioritize. Like, we can only afford, you know, 70% of what we're really going for, what's that 70% that we really wanna prioritize?

71. 0:46:46

    Is it literacy, safety, and learning? Is it something else? And so to help districts, especially if they're facing budget crises, know where to prioritize their money, think about what's the priority for our education system, and sort of go from there. It's just like when you home budget. It's like, I would love to have a maid every day- ... uh, but my budget does not support that. And a chef, it doesn't support that either. Uh, but it does support maybe once a month I get in-home help for half an hour, and sort of it really helps you prioritize to have a good sense of that.

72. 0:47:14

    Okay.

73. 0:47:15

    And the-

74. 0:47:15

    And the second question I follow up, I apologize, is at some point, and I, I think this is the second time we've had a meeting and the people have presented, I would love to get an understanding of how literacy and, and math competency's going down and graduation rates are going up. Um, we've spent a lot of conversation about the success that we've had with literacy over the last few years, but if you look at the rates, they're actually going down as far as proficiency, and maybe there's a gap in there somewhere that everybody's basic now and not proficient or something.

75. 0:47:45

    I don't know what the levels are, but I would love at some point to understand why there's that difference.

76. 0:47:51

    Well, we can have that conversation, yeah.

77. 0:47:53

    Yeah. Thank you.

78. 0:47:54

    Number 24, is that Secretary Hilt?

79. 0:47:58

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Wilkerson, you stole my thunder. Um, you had a message for candidates a- and this will be my message for candidates. Any candidate out there that's bragging about Georgia's ed- uh, graduation rate needs to take a look at our reading levels-

80. 0:48:14

    Mm

81. 0:48:15

    ... 'cause the two can't coexist. I just had to get that off my chest. But, uh, I, I do have a real live question for you. Um- ... I'd love to know what issues 11, 12, and 13 were, and, and I ask that because those are gonna be the 2027... I'm trying to look around the corner, and, and I'll just... There's a few I jotted down that I kinda hear about or that are percolating. Uh, technology in the classroom, how do we address those changes and needs? Teacher safety, uh, how do teachers feel in the, their environment they're in?

82. 0:48:45

    Student population, mi- net migration. Student population is changing significantly. In our area, it's going down fairly drastically. What impact is that gonna have? And if we've talked about it, it was referenced, innovation in education. You know, we've been doing the same thing for 100 years. What, looking around the corner, what changes are there? And then QBE funding. You know, a lot of my parents feel like, "I'm paying more, but it's going all toward administration and not toward classroom," and, and how do we make some changes there? Those are my 11 through 15.

83. 0:49:12

    I mean, you hit the nail on the head. Those were, were ours too.

84. 0:49:14

    Yeah.

85. 0:49:16

    I, last year we did, uh, last year's edition had AI and innovation and QBE, and it'll probably be in next year's. Uh, but those are, are the ones, just the accelerated trends of everything, both in terms of technology. Um, another one that is not as sexy but really important is our accountability system. Uh, I, I, I think that Georgia's accountability system is due for an overhaul and to really rethink what we use accountability for, um, in terms of... I mean, I see it as a tool, like a hammer, that you can use it to build a house or you can beat somebody over the head with it till they bleed.

86. 0:49:52

    Um, and I think we need to think about how do we use it as a house builder, and to, to use it to, for, we talked about, you know, the best bang for your buck, to help districts really identify their priorities and figure out where they're strong, where they need to put their resources. I think there's a lot of room around our accountability system that we really need to look at in a serious way.

87. 0:50:13

    And to your point, um, Chair Hilton, I think another thing that's really important too, not... You hear a lot of times policy makers talk about going back to basics, but the idea too in our research we found as well that when we talk about student engagement-

88. 0:50:26

    Mm-hmm

89. 0:50:26

    ... and we talk about student curiosity, um, you need to think about how technology can be used for that. But then also when we talk about how important it is to have a trusting, caring adult, and how much it is to talk through things, and to think about critical thinking and project-based learning and all these things. And so the innovations are right in front of us, and so in a weird way we're saying that having a quality teacher is much more important than the technology. Technology can be an aid or a complement to teaching and learning, but at the end of the day what we need to make sure we're doing is equipping teachers and students with the knowledge, the skills, and abilities to think and do in the 21st century, and technology can't be a substitute for that.

90. 0:51:08

    I, just as a really quick aside, a digression, some of the kids in my house, they do the i-Ready. They've got to level 150 or whatever. Now they're, they're like, "I don't wanna do this anymore." "I'm gamed out," you know, in terms of their app. And so part of it is, is that technology was used as an aid, now it's kind of being used as a crutch, and now they're like, "I actually wanna read a book," or, "I actually wanna do the math on a worksheet." And so it's really interesting that students are, even at an elementary level, are like, "Okay, I'm all kind of teched out now." And that's an interesting, um, thing that we've been hearing from our school systems-

91. 0:51:40

    Mm-hmm

92. 0:51:40

    ... that they're saying, "Okay, now how do we, um, turn the devices off and actually have robust learning and robust, robust interaction between teacher and student, and more importantly, between student and student?" So.

93. 0:51:51

    And your, your question about AI is, is really important. What we're hearing from our business friends is that, you know, the business community has embraced AI and ChatGPT and all of these things, uh, but in the school systems we've kind of, like, "Don't use it." Uh, you know, put, put it away, like, and but as students come out of the educational system, the business leaders are way ahead of them. And so we need to figure out how to incorporate learning how to responsibly use AI and the tools, and so they're ready to be competitive in the workforce, uh, when they come out, and we don't want them to be behind.

94. 0:52:26

    So we don't want to be afraid of AI. We need to figure out how to incorporate it into the lesson planning, how to teach it responsibly. Uh, my kids' school, they have, you know, computer lab and they, they have taught them sort of ethics around using a computer, and ex- ethics around surfing the web and things like that, but there's no discussion around ethics around AI, uh, and ChatGPT. And so that, those feel like some obvious things that, you know, I don't think the legislative body, but just in terms of things to look at in education. And also for everything that we think about for students, we need to think about for teachers as well.

95. 0:52:58

    Mental health. What's the mental health attendance of teachers? The school climate and culture, not just for students, for teachers as well. And so it should be a students and teachers discussion across all of these.

96. 0:53:09

    Okay. Let, let me do this, members. Uh, good job at making a Christmas tree blink up here. Um, so I, I'm gonna take a, a few and then I'm gonna ask a few le- Are, will y'all be around after the meeting?

97. 0:53:23

    Yes.

98. 0:53:23

    We will.

99. 0:53:24

    Because I, I think some of this can be grabbed then. Number 14, is that Representative Carter? Is that you?

100. 0:53:31

     Yes.

101. 0:53:32

     You, you've been blinking for a while. Go right ahead.

102. 0:53:35

     Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, uh, for the presentation. Uh, I do have a couple questions. I'll wrap them in one. Um, I believe all of us are thinking about QBE.

103. 0:53:47

     Mm-hmm.

104. 0:53:47

     And, um, the state school superintendent when he was at Rockdale County, uh, Board of Education legislative breakfast, he said that it was a priority for him to address QBE. So, um, I guess I d- I don't understand why, if it's on all of our minds and we know we need to deal with, like what is it really gonna take, uh, for us to, uh, upgrade QBE? And I know it's, I know it's massive. But how do we really do that? 'Cause I think we've heard, at least four of us, it's on our minds, and probably everyone who's, who hasn't spoke yet.

105. 0:54:22

     That's my first thought. And then the literacy, thank you, uh, for what you, uh, what you guys, uh, have been studying and looking at doing. It's because we've got pockets of literacy coaches.

106. 0:54:32

     Mm-hmm.

107. 0:54:32

     So how close are we to, um, creating whether there is a network to understand who is already providing them and where the need is, and do we use that to offset the balance of providing additional literacy coaches? 'Cause at the end of the day, we know it's gonna cost us-

108. 0:54:52

     Yeah

109. 0:54:52

     ... some money. So, you know, does it help? And the, my last question kind of ties into the literacy. Um, we're taking care of our kids. Well, all of them are kids. So we're taking care of the, the elementary school kids. But we know that we, we have issues from K, K5 to 12, so how do we, in addition to addressing literacy on the front end that we can fix that and the kids can be reading by third grade, but then how do we then come back to address the gaps that we have?

110. 0:55:25

     And I echo my friend down there that says, "Everybody's talking about these graduation rates, but y'all folk can't read."

111. 0:55:32

     Yeah.

112. 0:55:32

     So, yeah.

113. 0:55:33

     Yeah. Uh, well, I think there are better measures of success in college in, uh, any kind of post-secondary readiness than simply graduation. I feel like that's a floor, then we can go way up. But I'll, I'll take your questions backwards. Um, in terms of literacy past third grade, in the legislation that was passed, it's really focused on, uh, to third grade. But a lot of districts, and Marietta City is a great example of this, so you should, uh, talk to Dr. Rivera about what he's doing. But they are training all of their educators ...

114. 0:56:05

     middle school and high school as well in the science of reading approach, um, and really looking at sort of accelerated remediation for those students with the science of reading principles that, that we're teaching now and really expanding the work that they had started. Of course, he started this work well before the pandemic, so they had a head start.

115. 0:56:24

     Yeah.

116. 0:56:24

     Um, but really he sort of got his, you know, K to three, or, uh, early learning to three set and then expanded through the rest of the district. And I think that's where a lot of this is gonna have to go, uh, to make up that difference for the, the students that are already in the pipeline. The second question about coordinating, yes. The, that's the job of the literacy coordinating coach at GOSA that was, uh, funded last session.

117. 0:56:48

     Mm-hmm.

118. 0:56:48

     And so that's a new position, but she's in there now and as part of the, the state literacy plan, uh, that the literacy council is working on, she's looking across all the different pockets of literacy coaches and really aligning what they're doing. They're applying, uh, benchmarks and standards for quality of service and all these kinds of things to really get a sense of where we are in terms of supply of literacy coaches and what they're doing. And so that's the first step to answer that question, so we need to keep supporting that. First question about QBE, uh, it takes political will.

119. 0:57:22

     Um, it, you know, when you open up these formulas, there's gonna be winners and losers. It, the, that is just the case of it. And so thinking about how to, uh, grandfather in some of the losers so they don't, you know, and doing it over time, but y'all, Mississippi did this. And so if they can do it, I feel we, we could do it as well. Um, but a lot of it is just political will, and it's really hard and messy as well.

120. 0:57:46

     Yeah.

121. 0:57:46

     Yeah, and I would add to that, too, that our formula is one of, I believe, 8 to 10 of the 50 that is a mixture between a student enrollment and a program, um, enrollment formula. And so what, it makes it really difficult sometimes when you're saying, "Okay, well there's a student, has these particular assignments," CTAE or remediation or whatever, and then you also have to figure out how to support time and effort for teachers, how you need to work through categorical grants. And so, um, not that I have like a pat recommendation, but some of our states like Tennessee, for instance, have figured out a way to make it a student formula and take the program part of it, but not have those kind of hybrid things where you have to kind of make a de- a decision between are you funding program, are you funding student?

122. 0:58:33

     The idea is, is that we put students in the center of it, and then we're allowing program considerations to then flow up through that. And so, um, there is an opportunity. You're right, it takes political will, but I think it's also one of those things where it's so unwieldy that people kind of have discussions, legislators of do we modernize it? Do we, um, tweak it? Do we discard it entirely? And we're not here to propose one of those three, but they all come with trade-offs.

123. 0:59:02

     Yeah.

124. 0:59:02

     Great. Let, let me do this. Uh, I've got many of y'all blinking. I'm gonna take one more and then ask the others to go offline to, with y'all after the meeting, please.

125. 0:59:13

     Sure.

126. 0:59:13

     I believe has been blinking the longest, number 16.

127. 0:59:16

     Oh, thank you, Chair.

128. 0:59:17

     Is that

129. 0:59:19

     Thank you. I appreciate it.

130. 0:59:20

     That's Representative Lupton.

131. 0:59:20

     It has, uh, it has been blinking a while. Um, I'm taking a look at the 10... This is a wonderful, um, resource. What wasn't on my bingo card was expanding healthcare access. Could you go into a little bit, like I mean, these are the top 10. These, you know, we're not even talking about down to 15, and healthcare access is here. Is it... Can you get into that a little bit?

132. 0:59:43

     Yeah, I mean, just in terms of health and healthcare access in this particular issue is, uh, physical health and mental health.

133. 0:59:49

     Mm-hmm.

134. 0:59:50

     But, um, access to healthcare is one of the main drivers, uh, around student success. And when you limit healthcare access, you increase attendance problems, you increase, I mean, all kinds of issues around the ability to perform well in school. Um, I know when I'm not feeling well, I'm not doing great at work. Um, and so, uh, the health, health policy and education policy have become so intertwined-

135. 1:00:16

     Mm

136. 1:00:16

     ... that they really actually feed on each other. And so I think you have to take into account things outside of education that, specifically education, to really think about, uh, even like the learning environment. Is it a healthy learning environment? Are kids able to, uh, participate both physically and emotionally? And, and if not, what kind of services exist to help get them there so that they can participate and be present? And so that's one of those issues I said that, you know, we educators, I think, or those in the education policy space really need to understand more of to get the, you know, the bang for their buck for their programs.

137. 1:00:48

     Sure.

138. 1:00:49

     You can have the best program, the best teacher, but if-

139. 1:00:50

     Mm-hmm

140. 1:00:50

     ... the child's not healthy, it won't matter.

141. 1:00:52

     Okay.

142. 1:00:53

     Yeah.

143. 1:00:53

     And so-

144. 1:00:53

     And to add to what D- Dr. Rickman was talking about, too, we do, um, commend the governor in using the federal funds, the Gear funds, to allow for an expansion of school-based health centers. We went from 3 to over 150, and it's still growing every day. And we're seeing that even in rural districts, that they have mobile units, buses that go out into the community and provide preventative health services, whether it's something around checkups or physicals, dental care, things like that. And so there's an opportunity for us in that issue to then think about how we expand that, not just to children and adolescents, but then how other, um, adults in the community can then receive healthcare as well.

145. 1:01:33

     And so our, our thesis on that is, is that there's so much helping as school, as a health hub, how can there be a community hub that complements that?

146. 1:01:41

     Okay.

147. 1:01:42

     Great.

148. 1:01:42

     Thank you.

149. 1:01:43

     Okay. Well, thank you all for your presentation. Thank you for the-

150. 1:01:46

     Thank you very much

151. 1:01:46

     ... top 10 issues, and always the relationship you have with us here. Members, help me recognize Dr. Rickman and Matt Smith.

152. 1:01:54

     Thank you.

153. 1:01:58

     guarding our time. Let's get to our next one here, uh, which is our president of our state Student Finance Commission, Chris Greene. I think many of us around the room know Chris and the, the different jobs he's had here at the Capitol and around. So, uh, glad to have him in this role and glad that he's willing to come present from the Student Finance. So Chris, if you have anybody with you, be sure to introduce them, and other than that, we'll turn it over to you, Chris.

154. 1:02:26

     Well, thank you, Chairman Erwin. Good afternoon, members of the committee. Uh, my name is Chris Greene. I serve as president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission. Uh, I do have two colleagues with me today. Uh, Mr. Lance Wallace serves as our SVP of External Affairs. Uh, Lance's background is in higher education and, uh, marketing and communications, so making sure that students and families know about the resources that we provide, especially the Georgia Match program. Also joined by Mr. Zach Laroche, our external affairs coordinator. He will be with you every day during session, and so if you have constituents that are navigating the college planning process, I hope you will call on us and call on Zach.

155. 1:03:02

     Uh, we're at your service. Um, Mr. Chairman, this afternoon, uh, to Leader Wade's point about the resources that you entrust to our agency, thank you. I hope to demonstrate how we've used those resources to increase access to education, uh, support degree attainment for our students, and make sure that Georgia continues to be, uh, the top state for talent.

156. 1:03:24

     Committee members, some highlights over the last fiscal year. Uh, GSFC supports hundreds of thousands of students through scholarships, grants, uh, outreach and services. Over the past year, uh, we've been working on modernizing our systems, improving that performance and making sure to strengthen our internal controls to be good stewards of those public funds that you entrust to us. Uh, as you can see here, there continues to be strong growth in the dual enrollment program, which exceeded 71,000 high school students taking more than 736,000 credit hours during the last academic year.

157. 1:03:59

     In October, we launched the third cycle of the Georgia Match, uh, Direct Admissions program, mailing over 136,000 personalized letters, uh, to public and private high school seniors. I'll speak more about Georgia Match in just a moment. Uh, we take our mission very seriously, utilizing a combination of face-to-face as well as technology, uh, to disperse those, uh, 635,000 scholarships and grants you see there. Also very proud that our outreach team, uh, conducted over 1,600 in-person events reaching approximately 92,000 students across our state.

158. 1:04:36

     Uh, over the past 10 years, I've been fortunate to work with many of you on GA Futures and college planning. This is our one-stop shop where students can go to plan, apply and pay for college. And so last year, we had over five million visits to that college planning website, uh, with over 230,000 new accounts created. Um, and we owe that tremendous success to more than just our marketing efforts. Uh, we partner closely with high school counselors in all of your districts, uh, teachers, administrators, uh, and they are really the ones who help us reach students and make sure they know about the resources that you all provide, uh, to make post-secondary possible.

159. 1:05:15

     And then finally, uh, our Reach Georgia scholarship. I, I get to interact with many of you throughout the year on this innovative program, uh, which combines need-based aid with mentoring, academic coaching and community support. But we exceeded 5,400 students served in that program, uh, since being created by Governor Deal back in 2012.

160. 1:05:37

     Mr. Chairman, when I tell people I work for GSFC, a lot of people don't necessarily understand or know who GSFC is, but when I tell them we administer the HOPE Scholarship, the reaction is always the same. They, they, their face lights up. They say, "Oh, I had the HOPE Scholarship," or, "My child had the HOPE Scholarship," and, "Thank you for what you do to make college more affordable." Uh, of the more than $1 billion that you entrust to our agency, you can see that over 900 million of that lottery dollar is going to support the HOPE Scholarship, Zell Miller Scholarship program, so thank you. Uh, next, followed by, uh, the dual enrollment program, and then, uh, following down you can see the Tuition Equalization Grant or TEG.

161. 1:06:16

     This supports students who are attending one of our independent colleges. Also really excited about some new programs that have come online recently. Uh, IPSE, the Inclusive Postsecondary Education grant. Uh, we have a scholarship for students pursuing engineering, a REACH Public Service Memorial grant and several others. The Georgia College Completion Grant, another very innovative thing that you all have authorized us to complete recently. Uh, this is for students that are nearing that credential but need a little additional help to get over the f- uh, the finish line.

162. 1:06:46

     And then finally, uh, the state's continued investment in our military programs. Uh, we're honored to administer several that are specific to, uh, military service members and their families as well as students who want to pursue one of the cadet programs, either at the University of North Georgia or Georgia Military College. And, and so the takeaway here, not just volume, very proud of that billion dollars, uh, but accountability. Every dollar represents a commitment to our transparency, our compliance and the impact, uh, on our students.

163. 1:07:19

     Uh, committee members, this may be the most, uh, transformative project that I've been fortunate to work on, but the Georgia Match direct admissions program, uh, so unique and the reason that it is the largest state-run direct admissions program in the country is because you all already had the infrastructure with Georgia Student Finance to do the HOPE GPA calculation. And so using that HOPE GPA calculation, we're able to send a personalized letter from the governor to every high school senior telling them where they automatically meet the qualifications for enrollment.

164. 1:07:52

     And so, uh, on the screen here, the map on your left, this heat map, if you will, the light blue dots show where a student received a letter, and then the dark blue dots show where they came into the website and took some kind of action. And so the two actions we ask students to say, we want them to come to the website and either request information or to claim their spot. And so the colleges have been tremendous partners in working with us, sharing daily which an- which students have asked for more information or want to enroll on their campus. Um, and so you can see there the impact.

165. 1:08:24

     USG enrollment surging 4.8% over last year. Our TCSG enrollment growing by 7.1%. And, uh, I think this is particularly powerful when we look at higher ed enrollments across the country and how many of them have essentially stayed the same or perhaps even decreased. And so what you all have allowed us to do here in Georgia, uh, really tremendous and just what an impact it has on students to take the fear and anxiety out of the college planning process and to receive that letter in the mail.

166. 1:08:55

     Um, very quickly, Mr. Chairman, I brought a copy of the letter. Uh, it's, it's two pages here, but I wanted to share with the committee. Um, so a student gets it w- w- with their name, um, has the institutions where they automatically meet that, uh, GPA requirement, and then something I'm very passionate about, we are already starting this conversation about financial literacy and the need and the fact that we have resources to help you get there. And so just to come to GA Futures, let's claim your spot and let's get started on that journey together.

167. 1:09:24

     My niece and nephew both got their letter this year. Yes, sir. So awesome. Thank you. I'm so glad to hear it. Yes, sir. Um, of course, Georgia Match, a critical component of the governor's Top State for Talent initiative. Uh, we've been very honored to participate in this education and workforce strategy team, and the goal, uh, when the governor convened these education agencies is to make sure that we are all aligned, uh, to an unprecedented degree, make sure everyone knows what everyone else is doing. And so, uh, it's made up of agency leaders from the Department of Education, Department of Labor, and all of us in between who develop this talent pipeline.

168. 1:09:59

     So, uh, your Technical College System of Georgia, the University System of Georgia, the Governor's Office of Student Achievement, and the Georgia Student Finance Commission. Uh, back in October, we were honored to participate in the third annual Workforce Summit at the Georgia World Congress Center. Uh, drew over 1,000 attendees representing education, business, uh, and government. And so I couldn't help, uh, committee members but highlight some of our students that we're so proud of. And so, uh, West Georgia Technical College student Reagan Bearden and Valdosta State University student Abigail Gilbert, uh, shared with attendees how the Georgia Match program, uh, allowed them to claim their spot and start their journeys on high-demand careers in healthcare.

169. 1:10:42

     Uh, student Jeffrey Lowe, uh, studied at both Georgia Piedmont Technical College and Georgia State University. Uh, Jeffrey's pursuing a career in the music management business, and so both the HOPE Grant and the HOPE Scholarship are helping him pursue that education. And, uh, as we wrap up the Top State for Talent, I just wanna say thank you again. Last year, uh, one of the governor's workforce bills, House Bill 192, that you all supported, allowed us to get GA Futures accounts in front of students even earlier.

170. 1:11:12

     And, uh, just some anecdotal evidence, when I first started working here, that website was called gacollege411. We realized that students no longer know what 411 means. So, uh, rebranding as GA Futures has been a great success and, um, and really excited about that. And finally, uh, Mr. Chairman, the Career Navigator is not within our budget or GSFC, but I had to just lend my voice here for a moment. Uh, something that you all are considering in the amended budget, and we fully support, is a recommendation to develop a Career Navigator, uh, under the Office of Student Achievement, and what a game changer this could be for our students to start thinking about career opportunities and the post-secondary opportunities here.

171. 1:11:51

     So, uh, just very excited to see that program. And then, uh, my other thing, uh, favorite thing about traveling is people really, uh, don't know me, don't care about me, but they love their outreach team member. And so these are the heroes on my staff who are stationed around the state in all of your districts, and, um, I like to think of them as our recruitment team. They are trying to recruit our talent, make sure that they stay here. And so, um, these folks are our main points of contact in your high schools. They're attending financial aid nights, uh, college planning workshops, and, uh, I, I won't, uh, subject the committee to FAFSA today, but someday I'd love to come talk to you about how we're moving the needle on FAFSA completion.

172. 1:12:32

     Um, and so last year, you know, meeting personally with 92,000 students, and I cannot tell you how many times I get a picture. They are meeting students at Waffle House, Huddle House. If a parent needs help completing one of these forms, uh, please, if you'd ever like to co-host an event in your district, reach out to me and we'd love to connect you.

173. 1:12:54

     You know, with the funds that you entrust to us, a, a billion dollars, I believe very passionately that financial literacy is a huge component of our mission and making sure that students are making smart financial decisions. And so when I assumed this position last spring, I challenged my staff to, to focus on three things. Uh, number one, how do we better serve students? Number two, I wanna be known for exceptional customer service, but also how can we better promote financial literacy? And so in April, uh, around the country, we'll celebrate Financial Literacy Month, and so we'll be unveiling some new improved tools on our websites.

174. 1:13:31

     Um, I know you all have done some important work in this space with equipping, uh, high school educators to incorporate some financial literacy components and economics curriculum, and so thank you so much for your partnership in that. While a vast majority of our agency is focused on post-secondary access, we do administer a few programs that are related to K-12. Of course, most importantly, just starting this conversation with students and families about what are those plans after high school graduation. Uh, but this year we did launch a new K-12 education savings account program called the Georgia Promise Scholarship.

175. 1:14:07

     Uh, you all authorized this legislation back in 2024, but you gave us a year to develop the infrastructure and get this program up and running, and so we made our first awards, uh, this past year. And so, uh, the Georgia Promise Scholarship is for eligible families who are currently enrolled in a public school but want to try either an eligible private school or participate in a home study curriculum. Uh, in FY26, the scholarship award amount is set to $6,500. And in the first year of the program, we have just over 7,700 students participating.

176. 1:14:40

     Uh, three out of the four of those students come from below 400% of the federal poverty line threshold. Um, we had a, a strong fall semester. I know I've gotten to correspond with many of you. Um, and so thank you. Your focus when creating this legislation, one of the things that's very innovative about this program, all of these transactions are taking pla- place in a, a secure, closed marketplace, meaning the curriculum, uh, that's in there has been approved and is in within the statutory guidelines that you all set out.

177. 1:15:13

     Also, the private schools that are participating have a very, a rigorous vetting process to making sure that we're protecting our students, uh, and being good stewards of these funds. And so to leave you this afternoon, I did have some questions just about the first year of the program. You know, how are students using these, uh, new funds? And so you can see there the vast majority, approximately 77%, uh, of expenditures support tuition and fees at one of those eligible private schools, uh, with the remainder covering those qualified education expenses, uh, for, uh, home study students.

178. 1:15:46

     And you can see there, uh, some of those expenses that are allowed under law. And so, uh, committee, thank you. Um, honored to be called and have a chance to visit with you all. And so, Mr. Chairman, I'd be glad to answer any questions from committee members.

179. 1:16:00

     Great, and thank you, uh, thank you, Mr. President, for what you do, um, the efforts you put in, the reputation of your group. And, uh, um, and then of course, you know, important for us to understand that we do have you, and that we do have all these programs that you're overseeing as far as the financial end. Um, um, let, let me do this. Uh, you've got a few questions, if you don't mind.

180. 1:16:30

     Yes, sir.

181. 1:16:30

     Let me try to go by what order. I'm, I've got one of them because he blurted out to you without asking. He's, he's in timeout right now, so we'll let him stay in timeout. Number 14. Is that you, Ms. Carter?

182. 1:16:48

     Thank you, Chair. So, so glad that you're keeping order today. So question for you. So one of the things that I've been trying to, um, get clarity on is the use of the funds for the, the voucher as it relates to tutorial. So I'm not clear if, if a, um, parent, uh, takes a student out of the public school, they use the funds for private school, whatever, or homeschooling, but if a, if a parent needs the extra assistance and keep their kids in the public school, do they have access to this voucher for tutorial?

183. 1:17:27

     Or just if you could just help me just clean up in my head the tutorial part of it.

184. 1:17:31

     Y- yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. No, the way Promise Scholarship is currently designed, student cannot remain in public school and receive Promise funds. So they gotta make the decision. If they want to participate in Promise, they do have to leave the public school. Um, now certainly if something, if they were to change their mind someday and wanna go back, ab- absolutely, but we cannot do both at the same time. For private, uh, students participating in Promise who are attending an eligible private school or pursuing home study, those tutoring services are in our marketplace.

185. 1:18:03

     Uh, the law is very strict in that the stu- the tutor has to be a, um, licensed by the Professional Standards Commission, and so we get those licenses. Just to give you an idea of how rigorous and how, um, I hope, uh, we are being good stewards of this marketplace, let's say there's 10,000 offerings in the marketplace. We have probably denied 12,000 that we felt like were not appropriate based on the statutory guidelines that you all passed. And so certainly I know that'll be an ongoing conversation. Uh, we're about to, uh, create, uh, in pursuant of the law, a parent review committee.

186. 1:18:37

     These will be parents of students that are participating that can give us feedback on the success of the program. Additionally, uh, we will start, uh, mandatory reporting to you all annually. So after our first year of this program in December, I expect to have a very robust report for you, uh, on how students use the, the program the first year.

187. 1:18:56

     Thank you.

188. 1:18:56

     Yes, ma'am.

189. 1:18:57

     Good. Number 15. Representative Paris.

190. 1:19:03

     Thank you, Chairman. Uh, thank you, sir, for being here with us today. You mentioned, uh, you all do some financial literacy, and could you explain what, um, what grades and to what extent are you all going with that? Um, because we've got a couple of fin- financial literacy bills On the docket this year

191. 1:19:24

     Yes, ma'am. I know I can't co-sign them, but I hope I can come speak to them. So-

192. 1:19:27

     Oh yeah, we'd, we'd be happy to have you

193. 1:19:29

     ... uh, I'd say our primary audit- audience is naturally just gonna be high school students. Um, junior, senior year, parents are really locked in on this issue. The pro- the challenge we find is that by the time we get an 18-year-old that may have already made a, a, a questionable decision on a loan that has nothing to do with state government, um, you know, that's a, a binding legal document that's already been signed. And so I think the sooner we can start these conversations with students earlier about what does it mean to take on debt. First of all, I, I hope you know, too, our first objective is to make sure a student claims all the free aid that they're eligible for, um, and ho- wi- and a combination of federal aid, state aid, institutional aid.

194. 1:20:08

     Um, I want to make sure, too, that in these very important conversations we have about college, we don't accidentally s- scare a student in thinking that we don't have tremendous resources available to help them, and it's just a matter of, uh, putting together all these funding pieces and making sure that they see, "Hey, this is possible for me." And we certainly hope they stay here. Um, we don't want them to go out of state.

195. 1:20:28

     Well, just, just-

196. 1:20:29

     Thank you.

197. 1:20:30

     Well-

198. 1:20:31

     You got one more

199. 1:20:32

     ... just not a question, but just a statement. So we're, uh, and I really appreciate that because the problem is sometimes already foregone. But, um, I was looking at a bill that was going to address, you know, before they get into high school, you know, looking at the elementary school kids and all like that. So hopefully we can explore that further.

200. 1:20:52

     Yes, ma'am.

201. 1:20:53

     Thank you.

202. 1:20:53

     Thank you. We're, we're becoming a Christmas tree again. We'll take the gentleman out a time out for temporarily. He acts good. But number 28, floor leader.

203. 1:21:04

     Oh, boy, I have so many thoughts right now. Uh, I look forward to receiving your appropriation request, fellow committee members. Those are gonna be fun now. I want to point out a couple things. As a former short-timer on the, on, on the board for this organization, thank you for what you and your team do. Give a shout-out to the person that I think wanted me to be in time out as well, so she sent me to the legislature. Ms. Lynn Riley, thank you for what you do and all that you've done in your years. Um, tha- thank you for allowing me to aggravate our chairman, uh, and the secretary at every chance I get.

204. 1:21:36

     Um, in seriousness, the governor's also put, obviously, in the appropriations, I just wanna make sure that the committee knows, he is putting his committed dollars of nine million dollars for that Navigator program that you mentioned. I know we're gonna learn more about it, but that should tell everybody that the emphasis on continuing to improve the opportunities to connect students with all of the different options that you hi- highlighted is going to continue to make a difference. And the endowment that he announced, I think is also extremely important for those students to have a needs-based option.

205. 1:22:11

     It's a beginning, but it's gonna help build an opportunity for philanthropic community to double down on out, what I think is overall in the best position from a K to career system that is working together, and we're gonna continue to improve. And I look forward to working on with my sister on some l- financial literacy. We're gonna work together, Mr. Chairman. So we actually agreed to do that before you gave the command.

206. 1:22:37

     There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, floor leader. Let's move quickly. We've got quite a few more here. I'm gonna try to go through them. Let, let's get some quick questions and quick answers, please. Number 12, is that Representative Cox?

207. 1:22:52

     Thank you. Um, question, as it relates to Hope Scholarship, at what point do y'all receive the numbers of how much Hope's available? Is that being shared with y'all? At what timeframe for the next calendar year? How do y'all do that?

208. 1:23:11

     Uh, yes, sir. Thank you. Working closely, and I should say thank you to the Georgia Lottery Corporation, who raises those revenues that makes Hope and pre-K possible. Uh, our partners at OPB, Office of the State Treasury, uh, constant communication about our projections. We're sharing projections with your budget offices. And for those budget requests, we typically predict about 2 to 3% growth in those Hope programs. And so thank you. Uh, I play the lottery. Thank you to everyone that plays the lottery. And, uh, yes. So.

209. 1:23:40

     S- so follow-up or?

210. 1:23:42

     Very quickly.

211. 1:23:42

     Okay. So as it relates to that, where's the accountability page and checks and balances between y'all and Hope for knowing exactly how those numbers are gonna play out? Thank you.

212. 1:23:57

     S- so, uh, can certainly report to you where every Hope dollar has gone to every institution on behalf of every student we've ever served. As far as long-term projections about lottery revenues and our expenditures, I would defer all those kind of questions to the Office of Planning and Budget. Yes, sir.

213. 1:24:12

     All right. Very quickly, number three. Representative Howard.

214. 1:24:16

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your presentation as well. I was just doing some numbers h- here. Um, I understand there was like $140 million set into the, uh, Promise Scholarship, and you mentioned 7,700 students that took advantage of that. Um, so that means there's some money left. Does that roll over into the next year or h- how does that work?

215. 1:24:40

     Thank you for the question. Yes, the original appropriation, 141 million, fully funding Promise Scholarship. Uh, of course, brand-new program for our state. It has four application windows, and so now that we have completed all four application windows, this is kind of our first chance to see how many students were eligible. And so that's where that 7,700 number comes from. Uh, in the governor's recommended amended budget, uh, we are r- recommending a reduction of 85 million one time, uh, to give you all that money back in the amended, but then in the big budget, uh, continuing to fully support Promise at 141 million.

216. 1:25:19

     Okay. Thank you.

217. 1:25:20

     Thank you. Again, quickly, number 16 is, uh-

218. 1:25:25

     That's me

219. 1:25:25

     ... Representative Lupton.

220. 1:25:26

     Thank you, Chair. Um, you m- hi. Thank you You mentioned something about you know, you, you vetted tutors and, and some of them didn't quite meet the mark. But you've also said something about, um, about the curriculum at the schools that, like, it's all approved. You know, it's all okay, basically. And I suppose that's easy with public schools. I mean, I think that's a far more open book than private schools. But how are the private schools vetted to say, "Hey, yes, you're meeting the standard"?

221. 1:26:02

     Uh, yes, ma'am. In the authorizing legislation, very strict requirements of which private schools are eligible to, to participate, not only located in Georgia, a strict financial soundness, accreditation requirements. And so we actually have a checklist.

222. 1:26:15

     Okay.

223. 1:26:16

     And be glad to get that for you, how many applied, how many are currently available-

224. 1:26:19

     Great

225. 1:26:19

     ... and participating.

226. 1:26:20

     Okay, great.

227. 1:26:21

     So.

228. 1:26:21

     Thank you very much.

229. 1:26:21

     Yes, ma'am.

230. 1:26:22

     Last one we're gonna take, number 17. Representative Glaize, I believe.

231. 1:26:27

     Thank you, Chairman. And thank you so much for the presentation. I wanted to ask about the SAL loan. That's the only loan that you did not discuss. Um, and is it still eligible for undergrad and also maybe possible grad school?

232. 1:26:41

     Thank you for the question. Uh, short answer, no, ma'am. Uh, that SAL loan was a, uh, temporary program stood up during the Great Recession. Um, but no, no longer originating new SAL loans. Um, we have a number of small loans that you all have designed as service cancelable, very targeted for, uh, occupation workforce needs. And so we do still administer those. But when I talk about student debt, I'm really trying to, um, broaden the picture to include all types of federal loans.

233. 1:27:12

     And even though it's not really in our, uh, wheelhouse, I just feel like we have a responsibility to tell students that we can help communicate this message. Before you take out a loan, let's talk about what this means, and is there any other aid available first?

234. 1:27:25

     Yeah, they were at one percent.

235. 1:27:26

     Yes, ma'am.

236. 1:27:27

     Yeah.

237. 1:27:27

     Yes, ma'am.

238. 1:27:28

     All right.

239. 1:27:28

     Right, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. President, Chris. Appreciate your, uh, your, your presentation to us-

240. 1:27:34

     Thank you

241. 1:27:35

     ... and your job. Thank you very much. Uh, members, we're, we're starting to lose members here as, as you look around. Let me do a, a little business with you. We have, uh, uh, assigned back, um, Secretary Hilton and, um, uh, Representative, uh, um-

242. 1:28:00

     Ballard

243. 1:28:00

     ... Ballard, excuse me. You're trying to, trying to get the two out to cover the two sub-committees for us again. We have renamed the sub-committees so that you are aware. We had curriculum and policy. Our new names are curriculum and academic achievement, and then policy and innovation. So those are gonna be our two committees. I did not change any members on the committee that you serve on your sub-committee. So, uh, th- note that, that if you don't know your committee, I've got it right here if you don't remember it from last year.

244. 1:28:36

     But there were no changes. Um, I will tell you that you have heard the priority of the speaker about literacy. I'm very appreciative of that. It's rather obvious that the state of Georgia keeping up with the needs of our children, we've got to do a better job at teaching literacy. So know that you're gonna hear a lot about that coming in our, our committee mem- meetings. Uh, we'll work to engage you members, uh, and then you work to get engaged in on this literacy effort that the speaker is, uh, pushing so we can give forth our best effort to the students and teachers in this state.

245. 1:29:19

     Let's talk about our meeting on Monday in sub-committee. Um, in, in the, uh, policy and innovation we're gonna open up with, uh, two bills, HB 383 and HB 907. So pay attention to those, members, right off the bat. And then of course in the curriculum and academic achievement we're opening up with HB 971 and HB 1009.

246. 1:29:50

     1009. So those right there. I see a lot of friends to education sitting in the audience. Welcome. Thank you for always what you're doing for our children. I see some retired and some current board members from the State Board of Education. Hold your hand up. Let us recognize those state board members. I believe we have a and retired state board members. So thank y'all for being here, uh, board members. And then all the friends that we see sitting in the audience, uh, uh, look forward to a very successful session.

247. 1:30:24

     Look forward to a very successful educational session for our students. It started out with our governor offering in his budget $2,000 bonus to teachers. It was to all state employees, but teachers a $2,000 bonus. That ought to tell you something in the sense of the value of education to this state, and we're gonna continue that path that the governor's doing of trying to recognize, make a difference, and support our students and our teachers.

248. 1:30:58

     With that, we're adjourned. Thank you very much.

249. 1:31:06

     My son was into the three, so I didn't know if we were still hanging in there.

250. 1:31:09

     No, I was gonna wait until people had questions. But yeah, I think he can run. That's fine.

251. 1:31:13

     They have a

252. 1:31:35

     playoff game.