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Georgia

Georgia, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and many others—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2024 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 41% (475,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% FPL (2022). This number represents a decrease from 48% (591,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200% FPL than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations: Growing

On May 7, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the state’s fiscal 2025 budget after identifying language to disregard, with total appropriations from all funds of $66.8 billion. Total state funds are $36.1 billion, an increase of 11.3 percent compared to the original fiscal 2024 budget. State general fund appropriations total $31.3 billion, an increase of 12.5 percent from the original fiscal 2024 budget. The fiscal 2025 budget is set by a revised revenue estimate of $36.1 billion, an increase of $3.7 billion, or 11.4 percent, over the fiscal 2024 original budget.³

Key Revenue Sources:⁴

- - Personal Income Tax (1.0% – 6.0%)
  - State Sales Tax (4.0%)

State Budget Rules:⁴

Georgia uses an annual budget. The legislature must pass a balanced budget, but it can carry a deficit over into the following year. Georgia does not have any other tax and expenditure limits. However, there are limits on total authorized debt and debt service incurred by the state.

Permanent State Funding Stream Dedicated to Early Childhood: Yes

Georgia funds its preschool program with dedicated lottery allocations. The state’s mixed-delivery system was created alongside the passage of the education lottery. During the 2024 legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly invested an additional almost $100 million to make critical improvements to Georgia’s Pre-K, including increasing pay for Pre-K lead and assistant teachers’ salaries, reducing class size from 22 to 20 students/class, and increasing the amount of start-up grants for the first time since the program began in 1992.

Political Alignment: Aligned Republican

During the 2024 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.⁴

Types of Ballot Measure Available:⁵One

- Legislature-Initiated Constitutional Amendments – A constitutional amendment that appears on a state’s ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.

Key state policy advocacy organizations include:

Early childhood policy advocacy multi-state initiatives present in the state include:⁶

2024 Policy Progress:

Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:⁷

The FY25 budget includes almost $100 million in additional funding to make critical improvements to Georgia’s Lottery-funded pre-k program, including restoring class size to 20 students per class, increasing salaries for lead and assistant teachers, and funding to support classroom costs. A big win for advocates, this figure is almost double what was in the original budget proposal and essentially the entire amount requested by the House Working Group on Early Childhood Education.

The FY25 budget includes $9.3 million for Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) Program, double the amount initially included, to support increasing reimbursement rates for participating child care providers.

SR 471 created the Senate Study Committee on Access to Affordable Child Care. The committee will analyze the accessibility and affordability of child care for families as well as the challenges facing the child care workforce and provide recommendations for future legislation.

HB 1010 expanded paid parental leave for state employees and public school teachers from three weeks to six weeks. In addition to doubling the number of weeks of paid parental leave for the largest employer in the state, the bill includes a notice requirement to ensure that employers inform employees of their eligibility for this benefit.

The Safe at Home Act supports safe and stable housing for Georgia families. The bill:

- Requires that rental properties are fit for human habitation.
- Includes cooling as a utility that cannot be shut off prior to an eviction action.
- Prohibits landlords from requiring a security deposit that exceeds two months’ rent.
- Allows a tenant three business days (following a written notice) to pay owed monies prior to an eviction proceeding being filed.
- Requires that an eviction notice be posted conspicuously on the property door in a sealed envelope and delivered via any methods agreed to in the rental agreement.

HB 1046 created the Georgia Commission on Maternal and Infant Health with broad bipartisan support. The Commission will improve perinatal care by: gathering information about the current landscape from perinatal facilities, healthcare providers, and professional associations; creating statewide policy recommendations; and establishing evaluative tools that will accurately measure perinatal care across the state.

The FY25 budget expanded a maternal health home visiting pilot, first established in 2024, targeting under-resourced rural communities in the state.

The FY25 budget included more than $775,000 to increase reimbursement rates for certain providers participating in Babies Can’t Wait (Georgia’s early intervention program).

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

Our key ally in Georgia, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, is a statewide advocacy organization that rallies support for the healthy development and high-quality early learning of Georgia’s youngest children. At the local, state, and federal levels, GEEARS brings together families, businesses, and civic leaders with public and private partners. Together, they advance policies and build systems that poise all of Georgia’s children for success.

GEEARS is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Preschool and Pre-K

Child Care

Child Care Workforce

Child and
Maternal Health

Early Intervention (0-3)

Infant & Child Health

Maternal Health

Family
Supports

Home Visiting

Family Economic Security

Paid Family and Medical Leave

Early Childhood Infrastructure

Early Childhood Finanace

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

Georgia Advocates Use Alliance Responsive Support to Advance Child Welfare Innovation

September 16, 2024

When a baby or toddler is removed from their family due to alleged maltreatment or neglect, children are often placed in a child welfare system that has not developed policies and practices with the needs of infants and toddlers in mind. In Georgia, early childhood advocates have worked with Alliance responsive support providers to win a solution for this problem—the implementation of an evidence-based court team approach.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, March 2023, NCCP analysis of ACS 1-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2021.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2025.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, June 2024.

⁵National Conference of State Legislatures, 2024 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, April 29, 2024.

⁶Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, retrieved July, 2024.

⁷Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2024.