SB 519: Education; provisions relating to the conditions of employment for employees of local school systems and other public schools; revise

This bill amends several parts of Georgia's education code (Title 20, Chapter 2) that govern working conditions for teachers and other school employees. It bars any public school employee from serving as the evaluator for other employees at the same school, and requires that employee performance surveys be conducted anonymously. The bill also requires that teacher contracts include the teacher's specific assignment for the coming year, not just their pay. It creates a new right to at least two planned restroom breaks per school day for teachers who work more than half the school day, with one break allowed to overlap with a planning period. It adds a requirement that professional development training be relevant to an employee's specific role, and requires local school systems to let school bus drivers request a bus monitor if they have safety concerns about student behavior on their bus.

• Prohibits any public school employee from being chosen as the evaluator for another employee at the same school (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-210).
• Requires that employee performance surveys used in evaluations be conducted anonymously.
• Requires teacher and professional employee contracts to specify the employee's assignment for the coming school year, in addition to pay (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-211).
• Creates a right to at least two planned restroom breaks per day for teachers working more than half the school day, with one allowed during a planning period (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218).
• Requires staff development and training programs to be relevant to an employee's specific role (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-230).
• Requires school bus policies to let bus drivers request a monitor if they have concerns about student behavior on the bus (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1126).

Public school teachers and other certificated professional employees, school administrators and superintendents who assign evaluators and negotiate contracts, and school bus drivers and the local school systems that set bus safety policy are all directly affected by this bill.

Teachers would gain clearer contract terms, guaranteed restroom breaks, and protection from being evaluated by a coworker rather than a trained evaluator. School bus drivers would have a formal way to ask for extra help when a student's behavior raises safety concerns, changing day-to-day practices in local school systems.

• Section 1 bars any public school employee from serving as the evaluator of other employees at their school and requires anonymous performance surveys (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-210).
• Section 2 requires teacher contracts tendered by May 15 to state the teacher's specific assignment for the next school year, not leave it open (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-211).
• Section 3 adds a new requirement of at least two planned restroom breaks per day for teachers working more than half the school day (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218).
• Section 4 requires staff development training to be relevant to an employee's role, in addition to existing development purposes (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-230).
• Section 5 requires local school bus policies to allow drivers to request a bus monitor over student behavior concerns (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1126).
• Section 6 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-18Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-02-17Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Tonya Anderson (D, SD-043)Primary sponsor
• Jaha Howard (D, SD-035)
• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
• Gail Davenport (D, SD-017)
• Kim Jackson (D, SD-041)

• teacher working conditions
• school employee evaluations
• teacher contracts
• school bus safety
• education policy