Lawmakers in Georgia have introduced a bill that would increase funding and development at the state’s 10 historically Black colleges and universities.
SB 235 would create a commission relating to the Department of Community Affairs, so as to create the HBCU Innovation and Economic Prosperity Planning Districts Commission; to provide for membership and operation; to provide for an executive director; to provide for advisory committees; to provide for powers and duties; to provide that the commission may accept outside funding from public or private grants, devises, and bequests; to provide for reporting; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
Senator Sonya Halpern serves as the bill sponsor.
It comes months after Education Secretary Miguel Cordona wrote a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp stating that Fort Valley State University could be owed $603 million from the state of Georgia.
The letter sent to Gov. Kemp revealed how Fort Valley State University has not received equal funding.
“Fort Valley State University, the 1890 land-grant institution in your state, while producing extraordinary graduates that contribute greatly to the state’s economy and the fabric of our nation, has not been able to advance in ways that are on par with University of Georgia, the original Morrill Act of 1862 land-grant institution in your state, in large part due to unbalanced funding,” Cardona and Vilsack wrote in the letter.
The Biden Administration sent letters to 16 governors, pushing them to invest more funds to the HBCUs.
U.S. Secretary of Education and Miguel Cardona and Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack sent the letters to governors with state-funded HBCUs such Alabama A&M University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida A&M University, Fort Valley State University (Georgia), Kentucky State University, Southern University and A&M College (Louisiana), University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Alcorn State University (Mississippi), Lincoln University (Missouri), Langston University (Oklahoma), South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Prairie View A&M University (Texas), Virginia State University, and North Carolina A&T State University.
The letters pushed for funding under the Morrill Act of 1890 which mandated that states either consider Black students equally or found separate land-grant schools. As a result, per-student funding for HBCUs should be equal to per-student funding for PWI schools.
SB 235 will now go to the state’s House for approval.
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