HB1244: HB1244 Education; duty-free lunch period and planning period requirements; provisions

Georgia law already gives K-5 teachers a daily duty-free lunch period and K-12 teachers a daily planning period, but current law lets schools ask teachers to give up that time under various circumstances. This bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218 to sharply narrow those exceptions. Schools could only require a teacher to supervise students during lunch or planning time in a defined 'extreme emergency,' such as severe weather, an armed threat, an electrical or mechanical failure, a transportation disruption, or a teacher's illness or death. A simple lack of substitute teachers would not count as an emergency. Even during an emergency, a teacher could be required to give up a lunch period no more than one day per week, and a planning period no more than one day per week except when needed for student or staff safety. Outside emergencies, schools could only 'request,' not require, that a teacher give up this time. The bill also says these protections cannot be waived under Georgia's strategic waivers, charter system, charter school, or completion special school laws. It would take effect July 1, 2026, starting with the 2026-2027 school year.

• Narrows the definition of when schools can require teachers to give up their duty-free lunch or planning period to a defined 'extreme emergency' (severe weather, armed threats, mechanical failures, transportation disruptions, or a teacher's illness or death).
• States that a lack of available substitute teachers alone does not count as an extreme emergency justifying loss of lunch or planning time.
• Limits mandatory loss of a duty-free lunch period to no more than one day per school week, even during an emergency.
• Limits mandatory loss of a planning period to no more than one day per school week during an emergency, except when needed for safety reasons.
• Allows schools to only request, not require, that teachers give up lunch or planning periods in non-emergency situations.
• Prohibits waiver of these lunch and planning period protections under several existing Georgia school waiver programs, including strategic waivers and charter systems.

Public school teachers in Georgia, especially those in grades kindergarten through five who receive duty-free lunch periods and those in kindergarten through 12 who receive planning periods, along with local school boards, superintendents, and charter and strategic waiver school systems that manage staffing.

Teachers would gain stronger protection against losing lunch and planning time to routine staffing gaps, since only specific emergencies would allow schools to require it, and even then only one day a week. Schools facing chronic substitute shortages would lose a tool they currently use to cover classrooms.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218 to define 'extreme emergency' and narrow the circumstances under which teachers can be required to cover lunch or planning periods.
• Subsection (e) caps mandatory loss of a duty-free lunch period at one day per school week and mandatory loss of a planning period at one day per week except for safety reasons.
• Subsection (f) allows schools to request, but not require, that teachers give up lunch or planning periods outside of an extreme emergency.
• Subsection (i) makes these lunch and planning period protections exempt from waiver under Georgia's strategic waivers, charter system, charter school, and completion special school laws.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2026, applying starting with the 2026-2027 school year.

1. 2026-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-02-10House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-09House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-06House Hopper (House)

• Akbar Ali (D, HD-106)Primary sponsor
• Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Doreen Carter (D, HD-093)
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)

• teacher planning time
• duty-free lunch
• education policy
• school staffing
• charter schools