SB 487: Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee; within the Office of Student Achievement; establish

Current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 20-14-28) requires the Office of Student Achievement to study how nationally certified teachers and Teacher Alternative Preparation Program teachers affect student performance, tied to a statewide data system. This bill deletes that requirement entirely. In its place, the bill creates the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee within the Office of Student Achievement. The committee would include one representative each from the Professional Standards Commission, the Department of Education, the Department of Early Care and Learning, the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia, and the Georgia Student Finance Commission. It must meet at least quarterly and would help set standards for collecting and using education workforce data, build a shared data framework across agencies, develop a public data dashboard on educator recruitment and retention, and prepare an annual workforce report. The new Code section would automatically repeal on July 1, 2036.

• Repeals the existing requirement that the Office of Student Achievement study and report on how nationally certified and Teacher Alternative Preparation Program teachers affect student performance.
• Creates the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee within the Office of Student Achievement to guide education workforce data policy.
• Sets the committee's membership at six representatives, one each from the Professional Standards Commission, Department of Education, Department of Early Care and Learning, University System of Georgia, Technical College System of Georgia, and Georgia Student Finance Commission.
• Requires the committee to meet at least once per quarter.
• Directs the committee to help build a unified data framework, develop shared terminology, and create a public dashboard on educator recruitment and retention.
• Sets the new Code section to automatically expire (sunset) on July 1, 2036.

The Office of Student Achievement, the Professional Standards Commission, the Department of Education, the Department of Early Care and Learning, the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia, and the Georgia Student Finance Commission, all of which would supply representatives to the new committee. Local school systems and educators are also affected through the data collection and public dashboard.

Georgia would move from a narrow, largely inactive teacher-certification study requirement to an ongoing, multi-agency effort to coordinate education workforce data. This could give the public and policymakers clearer, unified information on teacher shortages, recruitment, and retention across the state's school and college systems.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-14-28, deleting the nationally certified teacher performance study and reporting requirement.
• Subsection (b) establishes the six-agency membership of the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee.
• Subsection (c) requires the committee to meet at least quarterly.
• Subsection (d) lists seven duties, including setting data standards, mapping data across agencies, and creating a public dashboard on educator recruitment and retention.
• Subsection (d)(7) ties the committee's work to the annual workforce report required under O.C.G.A. § 20-14-27(a)(4).
• Subsection (e) directs the committee to recommend ways to improve educator recruitment and retention.
• Subsection (f) sets an automatic repeal date of July 1, 2036 for the new Code section.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-19Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
2. 2026-02-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
3. 2026-02-11Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
4. 2026-02-10Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)Primary sponsor
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)

• education workforce data
• teacher recruitment and retention
• Office of Student Achievement
• education policy
• public data dashboard