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DOE outlines FY26 amended budget changes, including funds for school remediation and mental‑health pilot
Summary
Georgia Department of Education officials described several FY26 amended budget adjustments: $1.15M for remediation at a Camden County elementary closed for a bat infestation, AP exam funding increases, SB 10 special‑needs shortfall projections, a one‑time drone emergency‑response pilot, and a $750,000 school mental‑health billing pilot.
Russ Grama, chief financial officer for the Georgia Department of Education, briefed the Senate appropriations subcommittee on the department’s amended FY26 budget changes and answered member questions.
Grama highlighted a $1,150,000 increase in facility funds to address a bat infestation at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Camden County; he said the school is closed and students and teachers have been relocated while remediation is planned. "It appears the whole school [is closed] for a bat infestation," Grama told members.
He outlined other key adjustments: a statewide $2,000 salary supplement methodology (noted as a $368,000,000 total supplement distributed under the same approach used in 2024); an increase in projected AP exam costs (DOE projects AP exam expenses around $5,620,000, leaving an estimated shortfall of roughly $1,380,000 for the current year); and a projected $1,600,000 shortfall for the SB 10 special‑needs scholarship because of unprocessed invoices after the governor’s recommendation.
On program pilots, Grama described a one‑time emergency‑response pilot for four school systems to test drone‑based mapping and an emergency‑response system. During questioning, he also described a $750,000 mental‑health reimbursement pilot designed to test an electronic health‑records claim engine for school‑based mental‑health services. "The purpose of the pilot is to demonstrate if schools can generate revenue for services they currently provide," Grama said, explicitly noting the pilot is not an insurance product but a billing tool to reduce reliance on state general revenue.
Committee members pressed for specifics about pilot locations, AP‑exam forecasting, and how examples were derived from College Board registration data; DOE said exact pilot sites and some local details were not finalized and that registration data informs AP cost projections.
The committee did not adopt formal action during the presentation and asked DOE to supply requested line‑item clarifications.
