HB372: HB372 Teachers Retirement System; certain beneficiaries hired to work in certain areas; provisions

Since 2022, Georgia law has let public school systems hire back certain retired teachers with 30 years of service to teach full time in subjects with the most unfilled positions, without those teachers losing their retirement benefits. That program is currently set to expire June 30, 2026. This bill extends it to June 30, 2030. The bill also changes how 'areas of highest need' are figured. Currently those areas are determined for each Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), a group of school districts. The bill shifts that determination to each individual public school system. It also adds a new protection: if a school system's areas of highest need change, a retired teacher already hired under this program cannot be fired, forced to resign, or have their contract non-renewed because of that change. The Act only takes effect if state auditors confirm it is funded under Georgia's Public Retirement Systems Standards Law; otherwise it is automatically repealed on July 1, 2026.

• Extends the deadline for the retired-teacher return-to-work program under O.C.G.A. § 47-3-127.1 from June 30, 2026 to June 30, 2030.
• Shifts the determination of 'areas of highest need' from each Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) to each individual public school system.
• Adds a new protection so a beneficiary already hired cannot be terminated, forced to resign, or non-renewed if the school system's areas of highest need later change.
• Extends the annual reporting deadline for areas of highest need from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2029.
• Keeps in place the existing rules requiring employers to notify the Teachers Retirement System board and pay both employer and employee contribution rates for these beneficiaries, without giving the beneficiary credit for that service.

Retired Georgia public school teachers with at least 30 years of creditable service who want to return to full-time classroom teaching, local public school systems that hire them, the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, the Department of Education, and the Professional Standards Commission.

Retired teachers who took jobs in high-need subjects like math, special education, reading, or writing could keep working under this arrangement for four more years, and could no longer lose that job simply because their district's list of high-need subjects changed, giving both teachers and school systems more staffing stability.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 47-3-127.1 to extend the program allowing beneficiaries with 30 years of creditable service to work full time as certified teachers from 2026 through 2030.
• Subsection (a)(1) changes the source of 'area of highest need' determinations from the RESA a school system belongs to, to the public school system itself.
• New subsection (e) bars termination, resignation, or nonrenewal of a previously hired beneficiary if the school system's areas of highest need later change.
• Subsection (d)(2) extends the annual reporting requirement for areas of highest need from ending July 1, 2025 to ending July 1, 2029.
• Section 2 makes the Act effective July 1, 2026 only if it is certified as funded under Georgia's Public Retirement Systems Standards Law (Chapter 20 of Title 47), and automatically repeals the Act on that date otherwise.

1. 2026-03-25Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
2. 2026-03-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
3. 2026-02-25Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
4. 2026-02-24House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
5. 2026-02-24House Third Readers (House)
6. 2026-02-12House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-02-12House Second Readers (House)
8. 2025-02-11House First Readers (House)

• Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)Primary sponsor
• Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
• Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)
• Holt Persinger (R, HD-119)
• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
• Tangie Herring (D, HD-145)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 24, 2026

   168 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #543

• teacher retirement
• public school staffing
• Teachers Retirement System
• education policy