The Parliament of Georgia has once again rejected a legislative initiative to launch a free meal program in the country’s public schools. Flaws were reportedly identified in the draft, leading to it being returned to the initiative group.
Amendments to the Law “On General Education,” which provide for the introduction of free meals in schools and were submitted to parliament backed by at least 25,000 voter signatures, were presented at today’s bureau meeting. However, rather than being referred to the relevant parliamentary committee for consideration, the draft was returned to its sponsors on the basis of an assessment by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
According to Andria Gvidiani, Head of the Parliamentary Budget Office, a number of discrepancies with legislation on normative acts were identified in the draft, and these shortcomings must be rectified.
The parliamentary bureau reached an identical decision at its session on September 21. The bill was returned to its initiators based on a conclusion by the Budget Office, which notified the bureau that no financial and economic justification had been attached to the document—financial calculations and an estimated budget breakdown were missing.
Notably, public schools in Georgia do not provide free meals to any category of students.