SB 515: "Quality Basic Education Act"; grants for educational programs; provisions relative to the teacher recruitment and retention tax credit program; revise

Georgia currently offers a state income tax credit to newly hired teachers who work in high-need subject areas at certain qualifying schools, capped at 1,000 teachers a year. This bill raises that cap to 1,200 teachers, changes how qualifying schools are chosen (dropping the old rural or lowest-5-percent rule in favor of new criteria tied to school performance, such as turnaround-eligible and low-performing schools), and drops the strict 'high-need subject area' concept in favor of a defined list of subjects (math, special education, career and technical education, and reading or English with a dyslexia endorsement). It also lowers the annual credit from $3,000 to $2,500 for teachers who join after January 1, 2027, while letting anyone already eligible before that date keep the $3,000 amount, and it caps total teacher credits at $3 million per year with pro rata cuts if demand exceeds that. Applications for the program would be accepted through December 31, 2031 instead of 2026. Separately, the bill rewrites Georgia's tax credit for donating land for conservation purposes: it raises the maximum credit per donation, raises per-taxpayer annual caps, shifts appraisal review from the State Properties Commission to the Department of Natural Resources, extends the program through 2031, and removes some penalty provisions for inflated appraisals. Most changes tied to the teacher program take effect January 1, 2027; the rest take effect when the Governor signs the bill.

• Raises the yearly cap on teachers who can participate in the teacher recruitment and retention tax credit program from 1,000 to 1,200 statewide.
• Lowers the annual tax credit for new participants from $3,000 to $2,500 starting in 2027, but protects teachers already eligible before then at the $3,000 rate.
• Replaces the old rule that a 'qualifying public school' be rural or in the bottom 5 percent of performance with new criteria based on turnaround status, low performance, or federal intervention status.
• Removes the 'high-need subject area' eligibility test and instead limits eligible teachers to those in math, special education, career/technical/agricultural education, or reading and English (with a dyslexia endorsement).
• Extends the deadline for new teacher program applications from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2031, and caps total teacher tax credits statewide at $3 million per year.
• Rewrites the separate conservation land donation tax credit: raises credit and cap amounts, moves appraisal oversight from the State Properties Commission to the Department of Natural Resources, and extends the program to 2031.

Newly hired public school teachers in math, special education, career and technical education, and reading/English who want to claim the tax credit; the Department of Education and Professional Standards Commission, which administer the program; public schools designated as turnaround, low-performing, or requiring federal intervention; and landowners, land trusts, and the Department of Natural Resources involved in conservation land donations.

More teachers could qualify for a state tax credit, but those hired after 2027 would get $500 less per year than earlier participants, and eligibility now depends on new school-performance categories rather than rural location or a locally defined subject shortage list. The conservation tax credit changes could let more landowners claim larger credits for donating land, while shifting appraisal oversight to a state agency and easing some penalty rules.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-251, raising the teacher participation cap to 1,200 and redefining 'qualifying public school' around turnaround-eligible, lowest-25-percent, and CSI schools rather than rural or lowest-5-percent status.
• Section 1 narrows eligible teacher subject areas to math, special education, career/technical/agricultural education, and reading/writing/English (with a dyslexia endorsement), removing the prior 'high-need subject area' test tied to RESA vacancy data.
• Section 1 extends the program's application deadline from December 31, 2026 to December 31, 2031 and directs the department to set priority rules, favoring rural-territory schools, if applications exceed the 1,200 cap.
• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.12, raising the conservation donation credit cap to the lesser of $1 million or 50 percent of fair market value (up from $500,000 or 25 percent), and raising annual per-taxpayer caps to $500,000 and $1 million.
• Section 2 shifts appraisal review for conservation donations from the State Properties Commission to the Department of Natural Resources and extends the program's application window through December 31, 2031.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.23 to set the teacher tax credit at $2,500 for those designated on or after January 1, 2027, while preserving $3,000 for those designated on or before December 31, 2026, and caps total teacher credits statewide at $3 million per fiscal year with pro rata reduction if oversubscribed.
• Section 4 makes Sections 1 and 3 (teacher program changes) effective January 1, 2027, while the rest of the Act takes effect upon the Governor's signature.

1. 2026-03-31House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-03-31House Third Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
4. 2026-03-10House Second Readers (House)
5. 2026-03-09House First Readers (House)
6. 2026-03-06Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2026-03-06Senate Third Read (Senate)
8. 2026-03-06Senate Taken from Table (Senate)

• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)Primary sponsor
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Elena Parent (D, SD-044)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Carmen Rice (R, HD-139)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   32 yea, 22 nay (1 not voting, 0 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Sb 423, Sb 515, Sb 566, Sb 568, Sb 573, Sr 838: Senate Vote #640

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   49 yea, 1 nay (2 not voting, 3 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #670

3. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2026

   158 yea, 9 nay (2 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #794

• teacher tax credits
• education funding
• conservation land donations
• school performance ratings
• Georgia tax credits