--- title: SB 93. "Georgia Early Literacy Act"; the three-cuing system from inclusion in high-quality instructional materials or structured literacy; prohibit collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb93 cite_as: SB 93, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb93 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb93.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb93/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69900 date: 2025-04-30 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 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/sb92.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb94.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 1312 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb93.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 93 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-04-30 last_action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 sponsors: - RaShaun Kemp - Billy Hickman - Harold Jones - Greg Dolezal - Jason Esteves - Kim Jackson - Elena Parent - Derek Mallow - Clint Dixon - Sonya Halpern - Bethany Ballard text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB93/2025 upstream_id: 1955640 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - early literacy - teacher training - science of reading - education policy - reading instruction --- # SB 93. "Georgia Early Literacy Act"; the three-cuing system from inclusion in high-quality instructional materials or structured literacy; prohibit ## Text 25 LC 49 2358S Senate Bill 93 By: Senators Kemp of the 38th, Hickman of the 4th, Jones II of the 22nd, Dolezal of the 27th, Esteves of the 35th and others AS PASSED A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Code Section 20-2-153.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the "Georgia1 Early Literacy Act," so as to provide for criteria for core curricula for state approved educator2 preparation programs aligned to the science of reading to guide curricula and instruction; to3 provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:5 SECTION 1.6 Code Section 20-2-153.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotat ed, the "Georgia Early7 Literacy Act," is amended by adding a new subsection to read as follows:8 "(d.1) The Professional Standards Commission shall adopt rules which establish criteria9 for core curricula for each state approved educator preparation program. Such rules shall10 include, but shall not be limited to, the following:11 (1) The use of content standards established by the State Boar d of Education that are12 aligned to the science of reading to guide curricula and instruction;13 (2) Evidence based standards for the teaching of reading that:14 (A) Are exclusively aligned with the science of reading;15 S. B. 93 - 1 - 25 LC 49 2358S (B) Prepare teachers to provide explicit, systematic, sequenti al, and cumulative16 approaches to teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and text17 comprehension; and18 (C) Employ multisensory and multimodal intervention strategies;19 (3) Content literacy and mathematics practices;20 (4) Strategies appropriate for the instruction of English language learners;21 (5) Strategies appropriate for the instruction of students with disabilities;22 (6) Strategies to differentiate instruction based on student needs;23 (7) Strategies and practices to support research based content aligned to state standards24 and grading practices;25 (8) Strategies appropriate for the early identification of a s t u d e n t w i t h a r e a d i n g26 deficiency; and27 (9) Strategies to support the use of technology in education and distance learning."28 SECTION 2.29 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.30 S. B. 93 - 2 - ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia Senate bill would require the state's teacher training programs to build their reading curricula around the “science of reading,” with the Professional Standards Commission setting the specific rules. ### Plain-language summary Georgia's Early Literacy Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-153.1) already sets rules for how public schools teach reading. This bill adds a new subsection requiring the Professional Standards Commission, the state body that oversees teacher licensing and preparation programs, to write rules setting criteria for the core curricula used in every state-approved educator preparation program. Those rules must require programs to use state content standards aligned to the science of reading, an evidence-based approach to teaching reading skills. Programs would have to train future teachers in explicit, step-by-step methods for teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, and in multisensory teaching strategies. The rules must also cover literacy and math practices, teaching English language learners and students with disabilities, differentiating instruction, early identification of reading problems, and using technology in instruction. ### What it does - Adds a new subsection to the Georgia Early Literacy Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-153.1) requiring the Professional Standards Commission to adopt rules for core curricula at teacher preparation programs. - Requires those curricula to use state content standards aligned to the science of reading, an evidence-based approach to teaching reading. - Requires teacher training to include explicit, systematic, sequential, and cumulative methods for teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and text comprehension. - Requires teacher preparation programs to include multisensory and multimodal teaching strategies, along with methods for reaching English language learners and students with disabilities. - Requires curricula to cover strategies for early identification of a student's reading deficiency and for using technology and distance learning in instruction. - Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with these new requirements. ### Who it affects The bill directly affects the Professional Standards Commission, which must write new rules, and Georgia's state-approved educator preparation programs, which train future teachers. It also indirectly affects prospective teachers going through those programs and, ultimately, the students they will teach. ### Why it matters Because the rules apply to how future teachers are trained rather than directly to classrooms, the practical effect would show up gradually as new teachers enter Georgia schools already trained in a specific, research based approach to reading instruction rather than other reading methods. ### Key provisions - Section 1 adds subsection (d.1) to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-153.1, directing the Professional Standards Commission to adopt rules setting criteria for core curricula at every state-approved educator preparation program. - The new subsection requires use of State Board of Education content standards aligned to the science of reading to guide curricula and instruction. - It requires evidence-based reading standards that are exclusively aligned with the science of reading and use multisensory, multimodal intervention strategies. - It lists required curriculum components: content literacy and math practices, instruction strategies for English language learners and students with disabilities, differentiated instruction, early identification of reading deficiencies, and use of technology in education. - Section 2 repeals any existing laws that conflict with the new requirements. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-04-30) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-07-01 (2025-04-30) - Sponsors: RaShaun Kemp, Billy Hickman, Harold Jones, Greg Dolezal, Jason Esteves, Kim Jackson, Elena Parent, Derek Mallow, Clint Dixon, Sonya Halpern, Bethany Ballard - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69900 > The history, votes, and amendments (1,312 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb93.md?full=1