House Bill 631
By: Representatives McQueen of the 61st, Herring of the 145th, Glaize of the 67th, Berry of
the 56th, and Olaleye of the 59th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Code Section 20-2-212 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
salary schedules for professionals in elementary and secondary education, so as to require
that the minimum base salary for certificated professional personnel with bachelor's degrees
be based upon the national average living wage as determined by the State Board of
Education; to provide for the calculation and publication of such national average living
wage at least once every three years; to provide for related matters; to provide for an
effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Code Section 20-2-212 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to salary
schedules for professionals in elementary and secondary education, is amended by revising
subsection (a) as follows:
"20-2-212.
<ins>(a)(1)</ins> The State Board of Education shall establish a schedule of minimum salaries for
services rendered <ins>by teachers, administrators, and other certificated professional
personnel employed by local units of administration</ins> which shall be on a ten-month basis
and which shall be paid by local units of administration to the various classifications of
professional personnel required to be certificated by the Professional Standards
Commission. The minimum salary schedule shall provide a minimum salary base for
each classification of professional personnel required to be certificated,; shall provide for
increment increases above the minimum salary base of each classification based upon
individual experience and length of satisfactory service,; and shall include such other
uniformly applicable factors as the state board may find relevant to the establishment of
such a schedule.
<ins>(2)(A) Effective July 1, 2026, the</ins> <del>The</del> minimum salary base for certificated
professional personnel with <ins>a</ins> bachelor's <del>degrees</del> <ins>degree</ins> and no experience, when
annualized from a ten-month basis to a 12 month basis, shall be comparable to the
<ins>national average living wage as determined by the State Board of Education</ins> <del>of the
recent graduates of the University System of Georgia holding bachelor's degrees and
entering positions, excluding professional educator teaching positions, in Georgia
having educational entry requirements comparable to the requirements for entry into
Georgia public school teaching.
</del> <ins>(B) No less than every three years by December 1, beginning in 2026, the State Board
of Education shall:
(i) Calculate the national average living wage required under subparagraph (A) of
this paragraph utilizing research based data compiled from no less than three
nationally recognized authorities; and
(ii) Publish on the Department of Education's public website such national average
living wage along with an explanation of how such average was calculated including
all of the authorities upon which such calculation was based.
(3)</ins> The placement of teachers on the <del>salary</del> schedule <ins>of minimum salaries provided for
in this subsection</ins> shall be based on certificate level and years of creditable <del>experience,
except</del> <ins>service; provided, however,</ins> that a teacher shall not receive credit for any year of
experience in which the teacher received an <del>unsatisfactory or</del> ineffective annual
summative performance <del>evaluation</del> <ins>rating, or its equivalent, pursuant to Code
Section 20-2-210</ins> <del>or for the second year in which a teacher receives two consecutive
annual summative needs development ratings pursuant to Code Section 20-2-210.
</del> <ins>(4)</ins> The General Assembly shall annually appropriate funds to implement a salary
schedule for certificated professional personnel. For each state fiscal year, the state board
shall adopt the salary schedule for which funding has been appropriated by the General
Assembly. A local unit of administration shall not pay to any full-time certificated
professional employee a salary less than that prescribed by the schedule of minimum
salaries, except as required by this Code section; nor shall a local unit of administration
pay to any part-time certificated professional employee less than a pro rata portion of the
respective salary prescribed by the schedule of minimum salaries, except as required by
this Code section.
<ins>(5)</ins> For purposes of this subsection, an educator's placement on the salary schedule shall
not be based on a leadership degree, which shall mean a degree earned in conjunction
with completion of an educator leadership preparation program approved by the
Professional Standards Commission, unless the educator is employed in a leadership
position as defined by the State Board of Education, but shall be placed on the salary
schedule position attributable to the educator but for the leadership degree; provided,
however, that this shall not apply, regardless of whether or not he or she is in a leadership
position, to:
<ins>(1)(A)</ins> An educator who possessed a leadership degree prior to July 1, 2010; or
<ins>(2)(B)</ins> An educator who possessed:
<del>(A)(i)</del> A master's level leadership degree prior to July 1, 2012;
<del>(B)(ii)</del> An education specialist level leadership degree prior to July 1, 2013; or
<ins>(C)(iii)</ins> A doctoral level leadership degree prior to July 1, 2014, so long as he or she
was enrolled in such leadership preparation program on or before April 1, 2009."
SECTION 2.
This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2025.
SECTION 3.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.