Rep. Matt Hatchett, the House’s top budget writer, said “things are tight” right now. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
House lawmakers signed off on a revised $37.7 billion budget for next year that includes increases in spending for education, prisons and housing but lacked the splashy infusion of one-time spending that made this year’s spending plan swell to more than $40 billion.
“I’ve made no secret about this budget. Things are tight,” Rep. Matt Hatchett, a Dublin Republican who is the chamber’s top budget writer, said to his colleagues Tuesday.
Since the governor sets the spending level, lawmakers can only move money around in the budget to leave their imprint. The new budget takes effect July 1.
Still, next year’s budget is $1.5 billion – or 4.4% – larger than this year’s budget was when it was first passed last year. The temporary spending bump for this year’s spending plan was packed into the revised budget that was signed by the governor last week.
“Many of you have asked for funding for your communities or asked us to support programs and initiatives within state agencies,” Hatchett said. “I wish we could address them all or go further than we did, but we can’t. The needs are great, and there are many worthy causes competing for the same limited resources.”
The House version now includes about $38 million in additional funding for four private prisons and 21 county correctional institutions that Hatchett described as “an essential part of the correctional network,” housing about 11,000 inmates. That includes nearly $10 million for an increase in the per diem paid to county facilities and $28.5 million more for private prisons, including to increase staff pay.
On the education front, House lawmakers shifted more money toward literacy, mental health and school safety, and new money for low-income schools.
Under the revised spending plan, the state would set up about $19.6 million for mental health support grants that would work out to be $20,000 per middle and high school. The money can be used for mental health services like contracting with providers or hiring staff for in-school counseling.
About $25 million was also added to stand up a still-proposed statewide database that would gather and investigate school-based threats. This proposal is part of the response to a school shooting last fall at Apalachee High School that killed two students and two teachers and injured several others.
“It’s become abundantly clear that school safety and student mental health go hand in hand,” Hatchett said.
House budget writers also set aside $28 million for school systems with a disproportionate share of low-income students. And $7.5 million was added to fund a program created last year to help educators pay for school supplies, which works out to be $100 per teacher.
The House version also proposes spending more money to alleviate homelessness, including $4 million for the State Housing Trust Fund and $2 million to expand a newly created program through the state Department of Community Affairs. Another $2.7 million for housing aid would go through the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
The budget passed the House with a 171-4 vote and now moves to the Senate.
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