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GAE Legislative Update - Wednesday, February 19, 2025 - Day 19
Archive of past GAE Legislative Alerts this year
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GAE DAY AT THE CAP IS TOMORROW
GAE's annual Day at the Capitol is Thursday. Doors open at 7 a.m. The program begins at 8 a.m. and is expected to conclude about 2:30 p.m. with opportunities to socialize with fellow educators from across the state and lobby legislators on some of the most important issues of the day. For last minute registration, click here.
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House Appropriations subcommittee
hears 2025-2026 education funding bill
The House Appropriations Committees Subcommittee on Education met Tuesday morning to begin going over the governor's proposed 2025-2026 budget, HB 68. A major GAE priority in this budget is to continue to increase retirement benefits for ESPs in the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS), the state pension plan for school bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and maintenance personnel. Representatives from the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), the Department of Education, the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), and the state Employees Retirement System (ERS) made brief presentations.
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House Education Committee hears but
does not vote on Speaker's school safety bill
The House Education Committee met yesterday to consider HB 268, a bill designed to improve student safety and school security. However, no vote was taken.
The legislation would provide for reimbursement grants to local school systems that hire qualified "mental health coordinators" and to provide for suicide awareness and prevention programs. By July 1, 2025, the State Board of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, shall establish the essential duties and minimum qualifications for qualified mental health coordinators hired by local school systems.
The bill also requires that records of transferring students with a felony conviction be shared with enrolling local school districts. Such records could be from the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Department of Human Services, and the Division of Family and Children Services. Records pertaining to short-term suspensions, a long-term suspensions, or an expulsion from another school shall also be shared with the enrolling school district.
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Legislation moves through committees
HB 225 passed out of the House Motor Vehicles Committee and would repeal all laws relative to enforcement of speeding violations in school zones through the use of automated traffic enforcement safety devices (ATESDs) such as traffic or red light cameras. SB 75 and SB 172 is a similar bill in the Senate. The Committee also heard HB 344 related to encountering or passing a school bus illegally captured by a school bus camera. There was no vote taken on this bill.
HB 267, which is backed by House Speaker Jon Burns, would restrict students' participation on school sports teams to those that align with the students' sex identified at birth. The bill was approved by a House Education Committee subcommittee this afternoon.
HB 451 authorizes local school systems to provide instruction in hunting safety in grades six through 12.
HB 487 would add a computer science course as a high school graduation requirement beginning in 2031. Computer science is defined in Georgia law and in the bill as: "the study of computers, algorithmic processes, coding, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and logical critical thinking, including computer principles, their hardware and software designs, their implementation, and their impact on society."
The Senate Education Committee last evening met to pass SB 126 to lower the age, from 18 to 16, to enroll in a "completion special school."
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| Next Legislative Update: Thursday, February 20
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