HB 1330: Georgia Public School Excellence and Stability Act; enact

This bill sets up the Georgia Public School Excellence and Stability (GPSES) grant program inside the Quality Basic Education Act (O.C.G.A. Title 20). The State Board of Education would award grants to local school systems and individual public schools that appear on the most recent list of schools identified under O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-29 (Georgia's school performance identification list). Schools could use the money for grade-appropriate tutoring aligned with state standards and the science of reading, and for salary supplements of up to $5,000 a year for teachers and administrators with more than three years of experience who take a new contract at one of these schools. A teacher or administrator can keep getting the supplement for up to three years in a row at the same school, unless they get an unsatisfactory performance evaluation. Schools and districts must apply with a detailed plan showing how the money will be spent and how they will measure its effect on student learning. The whole program depends on the legislature actually setting aside money for it. The bill's title also mentions clarifying student residency rules for promise scholarship accounts, though that provision is not shown in the operative text supplied.

• Creates the Georgia Public School Excellence and Stability (GPSES) grant program run by the State Board of Education for schools on the state's most recent list of identified schools under O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-29.
• Allows grant money to pay for tutoring and other educational services that must be grade-level appropriate, aligned with state standards, and based on the science of reading.
• Creates salary supplements of up to $5,000 per year for experienced teachers and administrators (more than three years of service) who newly accept a contract to work at a qualifying school.
• Lets a teacher or administrator renew the salary supplement for up to three consecutive school years at the same school, but cuts it off if they receive an unsatisfactory performance evaluation that year.
• Requires schools and districts to submit an application with a spending plan and a method for measuring the program's effect on student learning.
• Makes the entire grant program contingent on the General Assembly actually appropriating money for it, and repeals conflicting laws.

Public schools and local school systems that appear on the state's most recent list of identified schools under O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-29, along with the teachers and administrators who work or could work at those schools, the State Board of Education and Department of Education, which run the grant program, and students who would receive the tutoring services.

If funded, the program could bring extra tutoring services and financial incentives for experienced educators to schools the state has flagged for performance concerns. Whether any of this happens in practice depends on the legislature separately approving money for the grants, since the bill itself does not guarantee funding.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Georgia Public School Excellence and Stability Act.'
• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-308 to establish the GPSES grant program under the State Board of Education.
• Subsection (a)(1) limits grant-funded tutoring to services that are grade-level appropriate, aligned with state standards, aligned with the science of reading, and that track student progress.
• Subsection (a)(2) caps teacher and administrator salary supplements at $5,000 per school year and allows renewal for up to three consecutive years absent an unsatisfactory evaluation.
• Subsection (b) requires schools and districts to apply to the State Board of Education with a detailed plan for spending the grant and measuring its impact.
• Subsection (c) makes the entire program 'subject to appropriations made specifically for such purposes,' meaning it only operates if funded.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting state laws.

1. 2026-02-19House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-18House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-17House Hopper (House)

• Doreen Carter (D, HD-093)Primary sponsor
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
• Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)
• David Wilkerson (D, HD-038)
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Bryce Berry (D, HD-056)

• public schools
• teacher pay
• education funding
• school performance
• tutoring programs