HB 631: Education; require minimum base salary for certified professional personnel with bachelor's degrees be based upon national average living wage

Currently, Georgia law sets the minimum starting salary for certified school employees with bachelor's degrees by comparing it to pay for recent University System of Georgia graduates entering non-teaching jobs with similar entry requirements. This bill would replace that comparison starting July 1, 2026. Instead, the minimum base salary would have to be comparable to a national average living wage that the State Board of Education calculates. The bill requires the State Board of Education to calculate this living wage using data from at least three nationally recognized sources, and to publish the figure and its methodology on the Department of Education's website at least once every three years, starting by December 1, 2026. It also clarifies rules for crediting years of service on the salary schedule and confirms the General Assembly must still appropriate funding each year to implement the schedule. The overall Act would take effect July 1, 2025.

• Changes how the minimum starting salary for certified school personnel with bachelor's degrees is set, basing it on a national average living wage instead of comparable Georgia entry-level job pay, effective July 1, 2026.
• Requires the State Board of Education to calculate the national average living wage using data from at least three nationally recognized authorities.
• Requires the State Board of Education to publish the living wage figure and its calculation methodology on the Department of Education's website at least once every three years, starting by December 1, 2026.
• Clarifies that teachers lose service credit on the salary schedule for a year in which they received an ineffective annual performance rating under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-210.
• Reaffirms that the General Assembly must annually appropriate funding for the salary schedule and that local school districts cannot pay certified staff less than the schedule requires.

Public school teachers, administrators, and other certified professional personnel with bachelor's degrees, especially new hires with no experience; local school districts that set and pay salaries; and the State Board of Education and Department of Education, which must calculate and publish the new wage figure.

If enacted, entry-level pay for certified school staff with bachelor's degrees would shift from tracking other Georgia graduate salaries to tracking a national living wage benchmark, which could raise or lower minimum starting pay depending on how that figure is calculated and whether the legislature funds it.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-212(a) so that, effective July 1, 2026, the minimum salary base for bachelor's degree holders with no experience must be comparable to a national average living wage set by the State Board of Education, replacing the prior comparison to Georgia graduate salaries.
• Section 1 requires the State Board of Education to calculate the living wage using data from at least three nationally recognized authorities and publish it, with an explanation of the calculation, at least once every three years starting December 1, 2026.
• Section 1 revises the rule on crediting years of service, stating teachers get no credit for a year in which they received an ineffective annual summative performance rating under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-210.
• Section 1 retains the requirement that the General Assembly annually appropriate funds for the salary schedule and that districts cannot pay certified staff less than the minimum schedule.
• Section 2 sets the overall effective date of the Act as July 1, 2025, while the new salary standard itself takes effect July 1, 2026.
• Section 3 repeals 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-61)Primary sponsor
• Tangie Herring (D, HD-145)
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-67)
• Bryce Berry (D, HD-56)
• Phil Olaleye (D, HD-59)

• teacher pay
• education funding
• school salary schedules
• living wage
• state board of education