Sen. Ben Watson

Guest columnist

The first signs of Spring are around the corner and how can we tell: St. Patrick’s Day is this week, and the Georgia General Assembly has only nine legislative days left in this session. I congratulate Marty Hogan, who was selected as the 2026 St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal. This is one of the most prestigious honors bestowed upon the Irish celebration, which includes one of the largest parades in the country, and several weeks of Irish-led festivities.

With so few days left on our legislative calendar, we are now moving into the most important assignment we have, creating and passing the fiscal year 2026-27 budget. The Georgia House passed its version of the $38.5 billion state budget for fiscal year 2027, a 2% increase over the FY 2026 budget. The budget prioritizes education and health care, which combined constitute 75% of the total spending, with major investments in literacy, teacher salary increases, and corrections. Some of the highlights include $258.9 million for K-12 Quality Basic Education (QBE) equalization grants, $31.2 million for literacy coaches in grades K-3, $5.5 million for teacher training, and $58 million in additional lottery funds for HOPE scholarships. The House budget includes a $270.2 million increase for the Board of Regents.

On the health front, the budget includes $2 million to expand maternal and infant home visiting programs to 21 additional counties and funding for the Department of Public Health. Georgia’s House and Senate are currently working out differences on income tax cuts, after finishing the last year’s legislative session by lowering the state income tax rates. We in the Senate this year have passed a bill that would cut the rate to 3.99% from the current income tax rate of 5.19%.

Another bill being much discussed by the General Assembly, as well as parents, teachers and students, is Senate Bill 513. Also known as the Everyday Counts Act, this legislation defines a chronically unexcused student as one whose total number of unexcused absences exceeds five during the first 50 school days or reaches 10% of the school days that have occurred to date.

S.B. 513 would also mandate a multi-tiered intervention framework, in which students with the most unexcused absences would receive formal attendance intervention plans to improve academic engagement.

Additionally, the bill would closely tie school attendance to eligibility for extracurricular and interscholastic activities and authorize the Department of Driver Services to restrict eligibility for an instruction permit or driver’s license based on the student’s compliance with an attendance intervention plan.

I will keep you updated on legislation affecting our community as we progress through the session. Thank you for your continued interest in the work of our General Assembly. As your public servant, feel free to visit me at the Capitol or to reach out to me by phone or email. I am in 325A, Coverdell Legislative Office Building. My office phone number is (404) 656-7880, and my email is ben.watson@senate. ga.gov.

I look forward to continuing to serve you.