Senate education committee unanimously approves allowing capital outlay for pre-K classrooms

The Georgia Senate Education Committee unanimously voted to report SB 360, which would allow school systems to use capital outlay funds to construct pre-K classroom space. The sponsor described the measure as permissive: systems would have the option, not the obligation, to apply capital outlay funds to pre-K construction.

During a lengthy presentation, the sponsor (identified in the transcript as speaker 11) explained capital outlay expenditures (acquisition, improvements, new construction) and said local system entitlements are calculated after the legislature approves total capital-allocation funding. The sponsor cited an estimated capital outlay cost of $181 per child for facility-related capital and said roughly 50,000 pre-K–age children are not enrolled in lottery-funded pre-K slots, arguing the change would allow systems to build more pre-K classrooms and expand access.

Committee members asked whether the measure creates new capital-appropriations; the sponsor clarified the bill authorizes systems to apply capital outlay funds to pre-K facilities but does not create additional capital outlay funding beyond existing appropriation processes. The motion to report SB 360 passed unanimously.

The record shows the bill focuses on the capital (building) side of pre-K (not operational funding, which the sponsor said is funded through the lottery in an analogous way to kindergarten), with the specific fiscal impacts to individual systems depending on each system’s entitlement and the legislature’s capital-allocation decisions.