--- title: HR 1857. Education, Department of; increase teacher compensation and establish a salary structure indexed to the cost of living to ensure competitive, sustainable wages; urge collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hr1857 cite_as: HR 1857, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1857 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1857.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1857/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74351 date: 2026-03-27 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1856.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1858.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 129 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1857.md?full=1 bill_number: HR 1857 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: resolution status_date: 2026-03-23 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Bryce Berry - Mekyah McQueen - Phil Olaleye - Teddy Reese - Jasmine Clark text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HR1857/2025 upstream_id: 2137402 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - teacher pay - education funding - cost of living - Georgia Department of Education --- # HR 1857. Education, Department of; increase teacher compensation and establish a salary structure indexed to the cost of living to ensure competitive, sustainable wages; urge ## Text House Resolution 1857 By: Representatives Berry of the 56th, McQueen of the 61st, Olaleye of the 59th, Reese of the 140th, and Clark of the 108th A RESOLUTION Urging the Georgia Department of Education to increase teacher compensation and establish a salary structure indexed to the cost of living to ensure competitive, sustainable wages for educators in this state; and for other purposes. WHEREAS, teachers and certificated professional personnel are essential to the success of Georgia's education system and the long-term economic prosperity of the state; and WHEREAS, current teacher salaries in many areas of Georgia do not keep pace with the rising cost of living, making it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain highly qualified educators; and WHEREAS, existing law provides for a state-wide minimum salary schedule based on certification level and years of experience, but does not consistently account for inflation or changes in the cost of living over time; and WHEREAS, aligning teacher salaries with comparable professions requiring similar levels of education and training would strengthen the educator workforce and improve student outcomes; and WHEREAS, establishing a transparent, data-driven mechanism to regularly adjust teacher pay based on reliable cost-of-living metrics would provide stability, predictability, and fairness in educator compensation; and WHEREAS, periodic review of salary benchmarks using nationally recognized economic data sources would ensure that Georgia remains competitive in attracting and retaining top teaching talent. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of this body urge the Georgia Department of Education to increase teacher compensation and establish a salary structure indexed to the cost of living to ensure competitive, sustainable wages for educators in this state. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Georgia Department of Education is urged to develop and implement a framework to index the minimum salary schedule for certificated educators to the cost of living, including inflation and regional economic conditions. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to make appropriate copies of this resolution available for distribution to the Georgia Department of Education, the public, and the press. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the resolution. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia House resolution urges the Department of Education to raise teacher pay and tie the state's minimum salary schedule to the cost of living, without changing law itself. ### Plain-language summary Georgia currently sets a state-wide minimum salary schedule for teachers based on certification level and years of experience, but that schedule does not automatically adjust for inflation or regional cost-of-living changes. This resolution states the House of Representatives' position that the Georgia Department of Education should increase teacher compensation and build a salary structure indexed to the cost of living. The resolution asks the Department to develop and implement a framework that ties the minimum salary schedule for certificated educators to economic data such as inflation and regional conditions. As a resolution rather than a bill, it does not amend any Georgia statute or require any action; it directs the Clerk of the House to send copies to the Department of Education, the public, and the press. ### What it does - Expresses the House's position urging the Department of Education to raise teacher compensation statewide. - Calls on the Department to build a framework indexing the minimum teacher salary schedule to cost-of-living data, including inflation and regional economic conditions. - Directs the Clerk of the House to distribute copies of the resolution to the Department of Education, the public, and the press. - Does not amend any Georgia statute, set a specific dollar amount, or require the Department to act within a deadline. ### Who it affects Georgia's public school teachers and certificated professional personnel, whose pay could eventually be affected, and the Georgia Department of Education, which is urged to design and adopt the new salary framework. ### Why it matters If the Department of Education acts on this resolution, teacher salaries could eventually rise and adjust automatically with living costs, addressing recruitment and retention concerns. But because it is a resolution, it carries no legal requirement and creates no funding or timeline for change. ### Key provisions - First resolving clause urges the Department of Education to increase teacher compensation and establish a cost-of-living indexed salary structure. - Second resolving clause specifically asks the Department to develop and implement a framework indexing the minimum salary schedule to inflation and regional economic data. - Final clause directs the Clerk of the House to distribute copies of the resolution to the Department, the public, and the press. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2026-03-23) - Last action: House Second Readers (2026-03-27) - Sponsors: Bryce Berry, Mekyah McQueen, Phil Olaleye, Teddy Reese, Jasmine Clark - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74351 > The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1857.md?full=1