SB487: SB487 Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee; within the Office of Student Achievement; establish

Current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 20-14-28) requires the Office of Student Achievement to study and report on whether nationally certified teachers and Teacher Alternative Preparation Program teachers improve student performance. This bill rewrites that section to instead create a new advisory committee focused on education workforce data. The Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee would include one representative each from the Professional Standards Commission, the Department of Education, the Department of Early Care and Learning, the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia, and the Georgia Student Finance Commission. It would meet at least quarterly and would help the office set standards for collecting and using education workforce data, build a public dashboard on educator recruitment and retention, and help prepare an annual workforce report. The new Code section would automatically repeal on July 1, 2036.

• Repeals the existing requirement that the Office of Student Achievement study and report on nationally certified and Teacher Alternative Preparation Program teachers' effect on student performance.
• Creates the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee within the Office of Student Achievement to guide education workforce data policy.
• Sets the committee's membership to six representatives, one each from the Professional Standards Commission, Department of Education, Department of Early Care and Learning, University System of Georgia, Technical College System of Georgia, and Georgia Student Finance Commission.
• Requires the committee to meet at least once per quarter and directs it to help create data standards, a shared data framework, and a public dashboard on educator recruitment and retention.
• Assigns the committee a role in preparing the office's annual report on the Georgia education workforce.
• Sets the new Code section to automatically repeal on July 1, 2036.

The Office of Student Achievement, the Professional Standards Commission, the Department of Education, the Department of Early Care and Learning, the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia, and the Georgia Student Finance Commission, all of which supply committee members. Georgia's teachers and school systems are also affected through the workforce data and dashboard the committee oversees.

State agencies that oversee teacher preparation and higher education would coordinate through a formal committee instead of relying on a single agency's periodic study, and the public would gain access to a new dashboard tracking educator recruitment and retention data across systems.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-14-28, replacing the prior nationally certified teacher reporting mandate with the new advisory committee structure.
• Subsection (b) lists the six state entities that must each appoint one representative to the committee.
• Subsection (c) requires the committee to meet at least quarterly.
• Subsection (d) lists seven specific duties, including setting data standards, mapping and integrating data across agencies, and building a public data dashboard.
• Subsection (e) directs the committee to recommend ways to improve educator recruitment and retention to the Office of Student Achievement.
• Subsection (f) sets an automatic repeal date of July 1, 2036 for this Code section.
• Section 2 repeals all conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-19Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
2. 2026-02-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
3. 2026-02-11Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
4. 2026-02-10Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)Primary sponsor
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)

• teacher recruitment
• education policy
• state education data
• Office of Student Achievement
• teacher workforce