--- title: SR 545. Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee; create collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sr545 cite_as: SR 545, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr545 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr545.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr545/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71987 date: 2026-03-31 status: passed 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/sr544.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr546.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 497 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr545.md?full=1 bill_number: SR 545 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: resolution status_date: 2026-03-31 last_action: Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute sponsors: - RaShaun Kemp - Jason Esteves - Freddie Sims - Harold Jones - Kim Jackson - Sally Harrell - Derek Mallow - Kenya Wicks - Gail Davenport - Josh McLaurin - Nikki Merritt - Donzella James - Tonya Anderson - Nabilah Islam Parkes - Sonya Halpern - Sheikh Rahman - Randal Mangham text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SR545/2025 upstream_id: 2019464 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - teacher shortage - student teaching - education policy - Georgia Senate committees - teacher pay --- # SR 545. Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee; create ## Text Senate Resolution 545 By: Senators Kemp of the 38th, Esteves of the 35th, Sims of the 12th, Jones II of the 22nd, Jackson of the 41st and others ADOPTED SENATE A RESOLUTION Creating the Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee; and for other purposes. WHEREAS, student teaching in Georgia currently requires aspiring educators to work more than 40 hours per week in public school classrooms without pay, while simultaneously paying tuition and covering living expenses, creating significant financial hardship and feelings of burnout; and WHEREAS, this uncompensated labor creates a barrier for students from low and middle income backgrounds, limiting access to the teaching profession and exacerbating the shortage of new educators in Georgia's education workforce; and WHEREAS, the growing teacher shortage in Georgia, compounded by high attrition rates and decreased enrollment in traditional educator preparation programs, requires urgent and sustainable policy solutions, including compensation during student teaching to support recruitment and retention; and WHEREAS, other states have launched successful paid student teaching initiatives, and Georgia currently has the fiscal capacity to explore this investment with unallocated surplus funds available in the state budget; and WHEREAS, study is needed to examine the feasibility, benefits, and fiscal implications of providing compensation to student teachers in Georgia, including, but not limited to, the study of: (1) The financial and logistical challenges faced by student teachers; (2) The impact of unpaid student teaching on the recruitment and retention of educators, particularly in high-need and rural schools and school systems; (3) The relationship between paid internships and teacher preparedness, diversity, and performance; (4) Cost estimates and funding mechanisms for implementing a state-wide paid student teaching program; and (5) Best practices from other states and pilot programs. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE: (1) Creation of Senate study committee. There is created the Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee. (2) Members and officers. The committee shall be composed of six members. Four members shall be members of the Senate appointed by the Senate majority caucus leader and two members shall be members of the Senate appointed by Senate minority caucus leader. The President of the Senate shall designate a legislative member of the committee as chairperson of the committee. (3) Powers and duties. The committee shall undertake a study of the conditions, needs, issues, and problems mentioned above or related thereto and recommend any action or legislation which the committee deems necessary or appropriate. (4) Meetings. The chairperson shall call all meetings of the committee. The committee may conduct such meetings at such places and at such times as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it to exercise fully and effectively its powers, perform its duties, and accomplish the objectives and purposes of this resolution. (5) Allowances and funding. The legislative members of the committee shall receive the allowances provided for in Code Section 28-1-8 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. The allowances authorized by this resolution shall not be received by any member of the committee for more than five days unless additional days are authorized. Funds necessary to carry out the provisions of this resolution shall come from funds appropriated to the Senate. (6) Report. (A) In the event the committee adopts any specific findings or recommendations that include suggestions for proposed legislation, the chairperson shall file a report of the same prior to the date of abolishment specified in this resolution, subject to subparagraph (C) of this paragraph. (B) In the event the committee adopts a report that does not include suggestions for proposed legislation, the chairperson shall file the report, subject to subparagraph (C) of this paragraph. (C) No report shall be filed unless the same has been approved prior to the date of abolishment specified in this resolution by majority vote of a quorum of the committee. A report so approved shall be signed by the chairperson of the committee and filed with the Secretary of the Senate. (D) In the absence of an approved report, the chairperson may file with the Secretary of the Senate a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the committee in lieu thereof. (7) Abolishment. The committee shall stand abolished on December 1, 2026. ## 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 Senate resolution creates a six-member study committee to examine whether Georgia should pay student teachers, looking at costs, teacher shortages, and how other states have done it. ### Plain-language summary Aspiring teachers in Georgia currently complete unpaid student teaching, often working more than 40 hours a week in classrooms while still paying tuition and covering living costs. This resolution creates the Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee to look into whether the state should change that by paying student teachers. The committee will have six Senate members, four picked by the Senate majority caucus leader and two by the minority caucus leader, with a chairperson named by the President of the Senate. It will study financial hardships facing student teachers, the effect of unpaid teaching on recruiting and keeping educators (especially in rural and high-need schools), links between paid internships and teacher quality, cost estimates for a statewide paid program, and lessons from other states. The committee can recommend legislation, must fund itself through existing Senate appropriations, and is abolished on December 1, 2026. ### What it does - Creates the Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee made up of six Senate members to study paying student teachers. - Assigns the President of the Senate to name a chairperson from among the committee's legislative members. - Directs the committee to study financial hardship, teacher recruitment and retention, program costs, and practices in other states. - Allows the committee to recommend legislation if it approves findings by majority vote before the committee ends. - Sets member travel and meeting allowances under existing Senate rules (O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8), capped at five paid days unless more are approved. - Abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026, requiring any report to be filed before that date. ### Who it affects The resolution directly affects the six Senate members appointed to the committee. Its subject matter concerns student teachers, teacher preparation programs, public school students and districts (especially rural and high-need schools), and the broader pool of Georgians considering entering the teaching profession. ### Why it matters If the committee's work leads to a paid student teaching program, it could ease financial pressure on aspiring teachers and potentially help address Georgia's teacher shortage. For now, the resolution itself only creates a study group, so no funding or pay changes take effect immediately. ### Key provisions - Paragraph (1) creates the Senate Paid Student Teaching Study Committee. - Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at six senators, four chosen by the majority caucus leader and two by the minority caucus leader, with a chairperson designated by the President of the Senate. - Paragraph (3) directs the committee to study the issues raised in the resolution and recommend action or legislation. - Paragraph (5) ties legislative member allowances to O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8 and limits paid days to five unless additional days are authorized, funded through Senate appropriations. - Paragraph (6) lays out reporting rules, requiring majority committee approval before any report is filed with the Secretary of the Senate. - Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026. ## Status - Status: Passed (2026-03-31) - Last action: Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (2026-03-31) - Sponsors: RaShaun Kemp, Jason Esteves, Freddie Sims, Harold Jones, Kim Jackson, Sally Harrell, Derek Mallow, Kenya Wicks, Gail Davenport, Josh McLaurin, Nikki Merritt, Donzella James, Tonya Anderson, Nabilah Islam Parkes, Sonya Halpern, Sheikh Rahman, Randal Mangham - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71987 > The history, votes, and amendments (497 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sr545.md?full=1