HB631: HB631 Education; require minimum base salary for certified professional personnel with bachelor's degrees be based upon national average living wage

Georgia law currently lets the State Board of Education set minimum salary schedules for certified teachers and other school staff, but the starting minimum for those with bachelor's degrees is not tied to any specific outside benchmark. This bill changes that by requiring the minimum base salary for certificated personnel with a bachelor's degree and no experience, when converted from the current ten-month school year basis to a full 12-month basis, to be comparable to a 'national average living wage.' That wage figure would be based on what recent University System of Georgia graduates with bachelor's degrees earn in non-teaching jobs with similar entry requirements. The State Board of Education must calculate this figure using data from at least three nationally recognized sources and publish it, along with its methodology, on the Department of Education's website at least once every three years, starting by December 1, 2026. The new salary requirement itself takes effect July 1, 2026, while the rest of the Act takes effect July 1, 2025.

• Requires the minimum base salary for certificated school personnel with a bachelor's degree and no experience to match a 'national average living wage' once fully annualized, starting July 1, 2026.
• Directs the State Board of Education to define that living wage using pay data for University System of Georgia graduates entering comparable non-teaching jobs.
• Requires the State Board to recalculate the living wage figure at least every three years, using data from at least three nationally recognized sources, with the first calculation due by December 1, 2026.
• Requires the calculated wage and an explanation of how it was determined to be published on the Department of Education's public website.
• Leaves in place existing rules on teacher placement by certificate level and experience, including penalties for unsatisfactory performance ratings.

Certified teachers, administrators, and other certificated professional personnel in Georgia's public elementary and secondary schools, especially new hires with bachelor's degrees, along with local school districts that must pay at least the new minimum and the State Board of Education, which must calculate and publish the wage figure.

If enacted, entry-level teacher pay in Georgia would be linked to a benchmark drawn from non-teaching jobs held by college graduates rather than set independently by the legislature each year, which could affect how starting salaries change over time and how they compare to other professions.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-212(a)(2)(A) to require that, effective July 1, 2026, the minimum salary base for bachelor's-degree holders with no experience be comparable to the national average living wage when annualized to 12 months.
• The living wage is defined by reference to pay for recent University System of Georgia bachelor's degree graduates in non-teaching jobs with comparable entry requirements to public school teaching.
• The State Board of Education must calculate this figure at least every three years by December 1, starting in 2026, using data from at least three nationally recognized authorities.
• The State Board must publish the calculated wage and its methodology, including the data sources used, on the Department of Education's public website.
• Existing provisions on salary schedule funding, teacher placement by experience, and exceptions for leadership degrees remain largely unchanged.
• Section 2 sets the effective date of the Act itself as July 1, 2025, while the salary requirement in Section 1 takes effect July 1, 2026.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-28House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-27House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-26House Hopper (House)

• Mekyah McQueen (D, HD-061)Primary sponsor
• Tangie Herring (D, HD-145)
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
• Bryce Berry (D, HD-056)
• Phil Olaleye (D, HD-059)

• teacher pay
• education funding
• school salary schedules
• public school teachers