ATLANTA, Ga. — The Georgia Department of Education released its 2027 legislative priorities Tuesday, a list that State School Superintendent Richard Woods will carry into conversations with lawmakers when the General Assembly returns in January.
The headline item is pay for veteran teachers. Woods is renewing his long-running push to extend teacher salary step increases beyond 21 years of service, pitching it as a way to keep experienced educators in Georgia classrooms. Under the current state schedule, step increases stop at 21 years of experience.
Lawmakers have already started looking at the gap. Earlier this year the House Special Rules Committee unanimously approved HR 1582 by Rep. Carmen Rice, a Columbus Republican, creating a House Study Committee on Veteran Teacher Compensation to study a step increase at 28 years of experience.
The department is also asking for an additional $10,000 in raises for teachers and certified staff spread over five years, a competitive state pay scale for classified staff, and restored funding for higher pay for educators who earn leadership degrees.
In the classroom, the agency wants to protect teacher planning time, guarantee a daily duty-free lunch unless teachers receive extra pay, fund classroom supplies and review noninstructional reporting requirements that pull time away from teaching.
For students, the plan calls for preserving funding for universal literacy screeners, fully funding school-level literacy coaches, expanding adolescent literacy help and adding support for early numeracy and advanced math. It also calls for less screen time and more instructional time.
The priorities include funding a school resource officer in every school, supporting property-tax relief while keeping local district funding stable, and updating the Quality Basic Education formula to better cover transportation, support staff, students in poverty and students with special needs.
Woods is on the Nov. 3 ballot seeking another term as state superintendent and faces Democrat Lydia Powell in the general election.
