---
type: "Bill"
title: "\"Quality Basic Education Act\"; the date by which a child must attain a certain age to be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten or first grade; revise"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 3 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to educational programs under the \"Quality Basic Education Act,\" so as to revise the date by which a child must attain a certain age to be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten or first grade; to provide for parents and guardians to elect for their children who have attained the age of four or five to be enrolled in a voluntary pre-kindergarten program provided and operated as part of Georgia's Pre-K Program; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "SB 589"
citation: "Georgia SB 589 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["EDUCATION", "MINORS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Billy Hickman", "Bo Hatchett", "Clint Dixon", "Jason Anavitarte", "John Albers", "Kim Jackson", "Matt Brass", "Mike Hodges", "Randy Robertson", "Steven McNeel"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-02-25"
last_action: "2026-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/89394de5-76db-4718-a179-4a0424dfd0aa"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "16ef48263c6a99c2f03c404ee8db8b48ee092a146a0d32873e421589ba66fe91"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia SB 589 (2025_26) — "Quality Basic Education Act"; the date by which a child must attain a certain age to be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten or first grade; revise

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Part 3 of Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to educational programs under the "Quality Basic Education Act," so as to revise the date by which a child must attain a certain age to be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten or first grade; to provide for parents and guardians to elect for their children who have attained the age of four or five to be enrolled in a voluntary pre-kindergarten program provided and operated as part of Georgia's Pre-K Program; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As Introduced LC 61 0427** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/244066.pdf)
2. **As Passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245334.pdf)
3. **Committee Sub LC 61 0447S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/244623.pdf)
4. **LC 49 2856S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/247286.pdf)
5. **SB 589/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/248646.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #657 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **54–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #788 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **156–3** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #925 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Billy Hickman — primary (person)
- Bo Hatchett — primary (person)
- Clint Dixon — primary (person)
- Jason Anavitarte — primary (person)
- John Albers — primary (person)
- Kim Jackson — primary (person)
- Matt Brass — primary (person)
- Mike Hodges — primary (person)
- Randy Robertson — primary (person)
- Steven McNeel — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2026-02-25** Senate Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-02-26** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-04** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-06** Senate Tabled
- **2026-03-06** Senate Taken from Table
- **2026-03-06** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-06** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-03-09** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-03-10** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-03-25** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-27** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-03-27** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2026-04-10** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-12** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-12** Act 633 `executive-signature`
- **2026-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/89394de5-76db-4718-a179-4a0424dfd0aa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).