Twentieth legislative day - Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Today marked the halfway point of the session, 20 of the allocated 40 legislative days having been completed.

The Senate Rules Chair Matt Brass, R-Newnan, announced that will be no legislation on the floor of the Senate tomorrow.

The Senate Education and Youth Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. to hear SB 472 and SB 513. SB 472 relates to the suspension and removal of local school board members upon potential loss of accreditation and in districts at financial risks.

SB 513 - the "Every Day Counts Act" - addresses chronic student absenteeism by suspending students from extracurricular activities who are absent without excuse for more than five days in the first 50 days of the school year or, after 50 days, for more than 10% of school days. Much of the bill is a result of the Senate Study Committee on Combating Chronic Absenteeism in Schools, including incentives for students and parents.

The House Education Committee will meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. to hear the eight bills that passed out of subcommittee yesterday.

In a special election yesterday in state Senate District 18, which seat became vacant on the resignation of Republican Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, Republican Steven McNeel won. The win keeps the seat in the Republicans' control. The district includes Crawford, Monroe, Peach, Upson, and portions of Bibb and Houston counties.

Senate Appropriations Committee cut teacher and
state employee bonuses from $2,000 to $1,250

At a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on mid-year adjustments to the 2025-2026 budget, Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, announced that the Senate version of the budget bill would cut individual bonuses (or "supplements") by $750 from $2,000 to $1,250. This bonus is intended for full-time, state funded educators and state employees. The committee also cut the starting endowment for the needs-based HOPE Scholarship-like DREAMS Scholarship from $300 million to $100 million.

Bill to compensate student teachers made it
to the House General Calendar but no vote today

HB 310 would compensate up to 500 Pell-eligible student teachers each year in a pilot program that features a $2,500 signing bonus and $5,000 over the time of student teaching - was placed on the House General Calendar for a possible vote soon. The General Calendar is a listing of bills and resolutions that have been favorably reported out of committee and are eligible for floor consideration. However, there was no vote taken today.

Other noteworthy bills that have cleared committee, are on the General Calendar, and could be scheduled for a vote of the full House include:

HB 372 would extend a program to allow retired teachers - after one year in retirement and with 30 years to experience - to return the classroom in hard-to-fill subject areas. The bill would shift the identification of those areas to local school districts from RESAs,

HB 1009 effectively would prohibit the use of cell phones by high school students during the school day,

HB 1118 would extend paid parental leave for "birth mothers" who are full-time state employees from six weeks to nine weeks, and

HB 1193, the "Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026."

Recently filed legislation

HB 1330 by Rep. Doreen Carter, D-Lithonia, states that the State Board of Education shall establish the Georgia Public School Excellence and Stability (GPSES) grant program for the purpose of providing grants to local school systems and public schools on the Office of Student Achievement's list of the lowest performing schools for the purpose of funding tutorial and other educational services provided directly to students.

HB 1352, by Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners - the "Student Character Development Act" - states that "each local education agency shall adopt a policy that permits all students to be excused from school to attend a 'released time course' for at least one hour per school week." Release time course is defined as "a course in religious moral instruction provided by an individual or organization independently of a public school."

SB 514 would prohibit the use of ballot drop boxes.

SB 519, by Sen. Tonya Anderson, D-Lithonia, states: "Every teacher who is employed in grades kindergarten through 12 for a period of time of more than one-half of the class periods of the regular school day shall be provided not less than two planned restroom breaks per day, one of which may coincide with such teacher's planning period."

The legislation also states: "No employee of a public school shall be selected as the evaluator for other employees of such public school." "The superintendent of each local school system shall identify an appropriately trained evaluator" instead.

The bill further allows school bus drivers to request a bus monitor "if he or she has a concern regarding the behavior of a student or students" riding the bus.

The next Legislative Alert will be Thursday, February 19

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