HB293: HB293 Education; Protect Students First Act; repeal various provisions

In 2022 the Georgia General Assembly passed the 'Protect Students First Act,' which added Code Section 20-2-11 defining 'divisive concepts' and barring schools, teacher training, and educator standards from advocating for them. HB293 would undo most of that law. It repeals Code Section 20-2-11 entirely, removing the statutory definition of divisive concepts and the related rules on discrimination complaints, tolerance policies, record inspection, and waivers. The bill also strips out language in several other Code sections that ties teacher certification, professional standards, the educator code of ethics, and Department of Education conflict-resolution and cultural diversity training to the divisive concepts ban. After these changes, the Professional Standards Commission and Department of Education would no longer be barred from requiring or offering training that touches on those concepts. The bill also repeals any other conflicting laws.

• Repeals Code Section 20-2-11 in full, eliminating the statutory definition of 'divisive concepts' and its related discrimination, complaint, and record-inspection rules.
• Removes language in Code Section 20-2-200 that barred teacher certification and classification from depending on completing training programs that advocate divisive concepts.
• Strikes the restriction in Code Section 20-2-739 that stopped the Department of Education's conflict management and cultural diversity training from covering divisive concepts.
• Removes the ban in Code Section 20-2-984 on Professional Standards Commission certification standards requiring training that advocates divisive concepts.
• Eliminates similar divisive-concepts restrictions from the educator code of ethics and performance standards in Code Section 20-2-984.1.
• Repeals all other state laws that conflict with the bill.

Georgia public school teachers and other certificated school personnel, the Professional Standards Commission, the Department of Education, local school boards, students, and parents who interact with school training programs, discrimination complaint procedures, and teacher certification rules.

If enacted, Georgia's 2022 restrictions on discussing so-called divisive concepts in teacher training, certification, and school conflict-resolution programs would disappear, giving the Department of Education and the Professional Standards Commission more latitude to design training and certification requirements without that statutory limit.

• Section 1 repeals Code Section 20-2-11 in its entirety, removing the definition of divisive concepts and its discrimination, complaint-resolution, record-inspection, and waiver provisions.
• Section 2 revises Code Section 20-2-200 to remove language tying teacher certification and classification to completion of divisive-concepts training.
• Section 3 revises Code Section 20-2-739 to remove the post-2022 restriction on cultural diversity and conflict management training programs.
• Section 4 revises Code Section 20-2-984 to strip the divisive-concepts restriction from Professional Standards Commission certification standards, while adding a requirement that the GACE educator assessment align with literacy instruction starting July 1, 2025.
• Section 5 revises Code Section 20-2-984.1 to remove the divisive-concepts limit on the educator code of ethics and performance standards.
• Section 6 repeals all other laws that conflict with the Act.

1. 2025-02-10House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-06House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-05House Hopper (House)

• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)Primary sponsor
• Doreen Carter (D, HD-093)
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
• Inga Willis (D, HD-055)
• Bryce Berry (D, HD-056)
• Mekyah McQueen (D, HD-061)

• divisive concepts
• teacher certification
• Protect Students First Act
• education policy
• school training programs