Georgia

Georgia's FY2023 and FY2024 budget bills both included an increase in the base salary of state pre-K assistant and lead teachers. These increases were particularly notable for their inclusion of assistant teachers, who have not typically benefitted from pay increases in the past. Prior to the passage of the FY23 legislation, assistant teachers made $16,190 annually (regardless of experience or education). These pay increases were primarily paid for using Georgia State Lottery funds.

Sources:

Georgia House Budget and Research Office. (2023). FY2024 Budget Tracker.

Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. (2022). Overview: 2023 Fiscal Year Budget for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

Georgia's pay parity policy, first enacted during the 2015–16 school year, was introduced primarily in response to a high rate of turnover among pre-K educators, who frequently left for better-paying K-3 positions in the public schools. All settings participating in Georgia's pre-K Program, including community-based and public-school settings, are require to pay a base salary that is equivalent to the salary paid to public-school K-3 educators with a similar level of education and experience. All pre-K educators are compensated for an 8-hour work day, which includes 6.5 hours for instruction and 1.5 hours for planning. Pre-K teachers are also paid for an additional 10 days of planning and professional development time. Georgia's pre-K Program, including salaries for pre-K educators, is funded through the Georgia Lottery.

Sources:

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley & The National Institute for Early Education Research. (2017). Strategies in Pursuit of Pre-K Teacher Compensation Parity: Lessons from Seven States and Cities | Georgia's Pre-K.

Launched in 2012, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s Cross Agency Child Data System (CACDS) is an early childhood integrated data systemthat functions as a warehouse. The system stores longitudinal, demographic, program, workforce, and individual data on early childhood educational enrollment and services across multiple Georgia programs (e.g., Babies Can’t Wait, Preschool Special Education, Georgia’s Pre-K Program, Early Head Start, Head Start, subsidized child care, and home visiting) and agencies (e.g., Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, Department of Education, Department of Public Health, Division of Family and Children Services, and Georgia Head Start Association). The private individual-level data is matched and deidentified using an internal matching system. CACDS provides data for internal use across participating agencies to guide research, policy, and development. CACDS also offers a “Community Data Explorer” to provide aggregate level program and demographic data for public use.

In 2010, the State Advisory Council provided a grant to build the system. It was expanded in 2014 using funds from the 2013 federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant. In 2017, CACDS won a grant (funded by the Kellogg Foundation) from ECDataWorks at the University of Pennsylvania. CACDS is also supported through a Georgia 2020 PDG B-5 three year renewal grant. CACDS provides information to the Georgia P-20 Statewide Longitudinal Data System and Georgia's Academic and Workforce Analysis and Research Data System (GA-AWARDS).

Sources:
Georgia (CACDS) – Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy
SRI Education (2021). Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) State Profiles
LiBetti, A. & Fu, R. (2022). A State Scan of Early Learning Assessments and Data Systems. New America.
Georgia Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five (PDG B-5)

In 2004, Governor Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Assembly created . Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) by merging the office of school readiness units in the department of human resources, the department of education and the Georgia Child Care Council. DECAL administers the state’s pre-K program, licensed child care, federal nutrition programs, and the community-powered child care rating system. It also houses the state’s Head Start collaboration office. The department reports to a board, which consists of representation from each congressional district. At the same time, the Georgia State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care merged with the Georgia Children’s Cabinet to help guide policies and leadership on early childhood initiatives by having several agencies and entities collaborate on coordinated goals.

The creation of a new department will not automatically create better outcomes for children, but it can help provide the structure and coordination needed to improve early education quality and accessibility across a state or city (Kagan & Gomez, 2015).

Source:

Education Commission of the States (2021). Early Care and Education Governance.
Kagan, L. and Gomez, R. (Eds.). (2015) Early Childhood Governance: Choices and Consequences. Teachers College Press.

In 1992, Governor Zell Miller proposed the creation of the Georgia Lottery for Education, committing to use all lottery funds to supplement existing educational programs. The Pre-K Program began as a pilot serving 750 at-risk 4-year-olds and their families, and expanded to serve all eligible 4-year-olds, using private sector partnerships to avoid capital outlay on new facilities. In 2004, the Department of Early Care and Learning was created, and the Pre-K Program became universal. Today, it serves over 1 million children. In FY 2022, the lottery contributed $379 million to preschool education.

Georgia's state-funded pre-K program for 4-year-old children operates on a first-come, first-served basis. The program enrolls children in classrooms in public schools and community-based private child care centers. Because participation in the program is voluntary for both children and schools, program availability cannot be guaranteed for all 4-year-olds in a given community. In 2011, the state’s Department of Early Care and Learning began a series of studies to measure the impact of the pre-K program across the state.

Sources:
Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. (n.d.). About Georgie's Pre-K Program.
Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. (n.d.). Evaluation of Georgia's Pre-K Program.

National Institute for Early Education Research. (2022). Georgia.

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley & The National Institute for Early Education Research. (2017). Strategies in Pursuit of Pre-K Teacher Compensation Parity: Lessons from Seven States and Cities | Georgia's Pre-K.