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DECAL seeks start‑up grants for summer meals, funds to finish pre‑K system and teacher parity true‑up
Summary
Commissioner Designee from the Department of Early Care and Learning told the subcommittee the amended FY25 requests include $100,000 for Happy Helpings summer food start‑up grants, a $7.4 million true‑up to move Georgia pre‑K teachers to the K‑12 salary schedule, and use of lottery funds to finish a new pre‑K management system.
Commissioner Jacobs (Department of Early Care and Learning) outlined three amended budget items for DECAL: a $100,000 allocation to provide start‑up grants to nonprofit sponsors for the Happy Helpings summer food service program; a $7.4 million true‑up to move Georgia pre‑K teachers fully onto the state K‑12 salary schedule; and authorization to use lottery dollars to pay remaining costs for a new pre‑K management system that used one‑time federal COVID funds for much of its development.
Jacobs said the $100,000 will allow grants of up to $10,000 each to nonprofits, churches and community organizations to cover start‑up costs such as equipment and coolers so they can serve meals in counties that currently lack sponsors. She said the prior $100,000 in one‑time funding led to “over a 100000 additional meals served in 12 counties that were not served before.”
On pre‑K teacher pay parity, Jacobs described the $7.4 million as a calculation true‑up needed after the legislature approved moving pre‑K teachers to the K‑12 (T&E) salary scale; the department said it underestimated the cost in the original budget.
Finally, Jacobs said the department had used approximately $9 million in one‑time federal funds to build a replacement pre‑K management system and the amended request allows the remaining development costs to be paid from the lottery.
Ending: DECAL requested the committee’s support for these targeted amended FY25 adjustments, emphasizing the summer food grants’ role in expanding service to underserved counties and the pre‑K parity move as a multi‑year policy already approved by the legislature.
