PAGE Advocacy in the 2023 Legislative Session

By The PAGE Legislative Team

Throughout the year, and especially during each session of the Georgia General Assembly, PAGE engages lawmakers on a variety of issues that affect educators and students. Perennial focus areas of PAGE advocacy include school funding, educator pay, teacher evaluation, assessment and accountability, the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), protection of planning time, and preventing the expansion of private school vouchers. In collaboration with the PAGE Legislative Advisory Committee, the PAGE legislative team identifies specific issues each session that require legislative action or have emerged as an area of legislative interest. The team promotes policies that aid educators and students, and works to deter those that do not.

Highlights: 2023 PAGE Legislative Priorities

PAGE Legislative Priorities are created and approved by members every year. 2023 short-form priorities follow. Comprehensive priorities are available at www.pagelegislative.org n Protect educator planning time and reduce class size, allowing educators to enhance instruction and better serve students. n Foster student health and safety by ensuring student access to mental health and safety professionals & supports:

• Fund more school counselors

• Annually fund school safety in Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) school funding formula

• Expand the mental health workforce by increasing investment in their training n Boost state funding for student transportation to ensure students are transported safely and on-time, and enable increased investment of local funds in teaching & learning. n Restore the Promise I & II Scholarships and the Teacher Scholarship programs to reduce financial barriers to entering the teaching profession. n Sustain student recovery from pandemic-driven learning disruptions by investing in funding for low-income students in the QBE.

Highlights: 2023 PAGE Legislative Advocacy

Successfully advocated for: n A $2,000 pay raise for certified teachers and other certified staff members in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. This brings the total salary increase for certified staff between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2024 to $7,000. n The addition of $27 million to the QBE formula for school counselors for special education and gifted students. n School safety grants of $50,000 for each Georgia school in the Amended Fiscal Year 2023 budget. $115.7 million total. n Preventing creation of a third private school voucher program in Georgia (Senate Bill 233). n Legislation which provides planning periods at least four days per week for K-12 teachers (House Bill 340 is waivable for charter and strategic waivers systems. This is an issue PAGE will continue to raise.).

n Engaging lawmakers: Communicates with policymakers to raise awareness of issues that matter to educators and students.

n Developing and disseminating policy resources: Creates informational resources on relevant policy items including issue briefs, research, survey reports, and bill analyses.

n Monitoring policy landscape: Tracks policy development at the state and federal levels to identify changes that may affect educators and students.

n Collaborating with partners: Communicates and often works collaboratively with other organizations that advocate for public education, including the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders, the Georgia School Superintendents Association, the Georgia School Boards Association, and the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

n Supporting member advocacy: Organizes PAGE Day on Capitol Hill to provide members an opportunity to engage their representatives directly on key education issues.