HB 333: Education; require that the state minimum salary schedule shall be updated each year

Georgia sets a statewide minimum salary schedule for teachers and other certified professional school personnel under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-212. Currently that schedule only changes when the General Assembly or State Board of Education acts, with no automatic yearly adjustment tied to cost-of-living changes. House Bill 333 would require the State Board of Education to update the minimum salary schedule every year by December 1. The update would have to reflect inflation or deflation from the previous calendar year, measured using the Consumer Price Index from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or a similar federal index, as long as the State Board finds that index accurately reflects inflation's effect on school employees. The bill also updates a reference date in current law from 2001 to 2025 for when the State Board must have its implementing rules in place. If passed, the law would take effect July 1, 2025.

• Requires the State Board of Education to update the state minimum salary schedule for teachers and certified school personnel every year by December 1.
• Ties each annual update to the rate of inflation or deflation measured over the prior calendar year.
• Allows the State Board to use the federal Consumer Price Index or a similar federal index to calculate the adjustment, if it finds the index reflects inflation's effect on school employees.
• Updates the deadline in current law for the State Board to adopt implementing rules, changing it from 2001 to July 1, 2025.
• Sets the new requirements to take effect July 1, 2025.

Teachers and other certified professional personnel in Georgia's public elementary and secondary schools, local school districts that pay salaries based on the state minimum schedule, and the State Board of Education, which must write the rules and calculate the yearly updates.

If enacted, teachers and other certified school staff would see their state minimum pay levels adjusted annually for inflation instead of remaining flat until lawmakers separately raise them, which could affect how salaries keep pace with the cost of living from year to year.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-212 by adding a new subsection requiring the State Board of Education to update the minimum salary schedule each year by December 1.
• Section 1 requires each annual update to reflect inflation or deflation from the immediately preceding calendar year.
• Section 1 permits use of the federal Consumer Price Index or a similar federal index for calculating the adjustment, subject to the State Board's determination that it accurately measures inflation's effect on school personnel.
• Section 1 changes the deadline for the State Board to adopt implementing rules from July 1, 2001 to July 1, 2025.
• Section 2 sets the effective date of the Act as July 1, 2025.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-11House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-10House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-06House Hopper (House)

• Tangie Herring (D, HD-145)Primary sponsor
• Phil Olaleye (D, HD-059)
• Lisa Campbell (D, HD-035)
• David Wilkerson (D, HD-038)
• Karen Bennett (D, HD-094)
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)

• teacher pay
• education funding
• school personnel salaries
• state minimum salary schedule