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DECAL requests $100,000 for summer meals startup grants and $7.4 million to finish pre-K teacher salary parity
Summary
The Department of Early Care and Learning asked the committee to carry over one-time funding to expand summer meals outreach and to add $7.4 million to fully move Georgia pre-K teachers to the state k-12 salary schedule.
Commissioner Jacobs, presenting DECAL budget amendments, told the committee the agency seeks a $100,000 addition for the Happy Helpings summer food service program and a $7.4 million increase to complete salary parity for Georgia pre-K teachers.
On the summer meals item, Jacobs described startup grants for nonprofit sponsors: "This allows us to provide about a maximum of $10,000 in grants to individual nonprofits, to sign on to serve meals throughout the summer to school age children." She told the committee that the $100,000 provided in the prior amended budget resulted in more than 100,000 additional meals served across 12 counties last summer and that the new funding is intended to recruit sponsors in counties not currently covered.
On pre-K teacher pay, Jacobs said the $7.4 million is a true-up to move pre-K teachers onto the established K-12 teacher salary schedule (the T and E scale). "When we went back and we did that calculation again, this is a true up. So we do need an additional $7,400,000 to fully move all of our teachers from a quasi scale that we've used for years to the official T and E scale," she said.
DECAL also asked for authority to finish paying for a new pre-K management system, noting roughly $9 million of the system was covered with one-time federal COVID funds and the agency proposes to use lottery dollars to pay remaining development costs.
Committee exchange: members asked whether Happy Helpings would overlap with Department of Education summer feeding (seamless summer) programs; Jacobs said they serve different sponsors and that DECAL focuses on counties lacking sponsors. Representatives asked how nonprofits are selected and Jacobs said DECAL will vet nonprofit applicants to meet federal requirements and focus outreach on the roughly 103 counties already served and the remaining counties that lack sponsors.
Ending: Jacobs said the startup grants will begin after the amended budget is signed and the agency will prioritize outreach in counties without current sponsors.
