Greetings! The Georgia General Assembly kicked off the legislative session on January 13, 2025. For the next 40 legislative days they will take up issues that affect every corner of the state, and the top among them is education.
IDRA’s weekly email alert will include legislative updates, opportunities for action to make your voice heard, bills to watch and other information through the session until it ends in early April.
Make sure you keep receiving these notices by subscribing to IDRA’s Texas Education Policy Alert!
And please tell your friends! Our alerts are available in Spanish too.
Georgia Policy Priorities for the 2025 Legislative Session
IDRA’s policy priorities include issues from prior legislative sessions that will come up again and new recommendations that will advance students’ educational opportunities for success.
These include fair school funding for public schools, promoting culturally-sustaining schools that support all students, and creating safer schools without harmful discipline.
Legislative Updates
You can find the bills we’re tracking this session using our bill tracker. These include bills on the following.
Targeting trans students
Impacting education funding
Furthering the school-to-prison pipeline
- SB 54: Creates a database categorizing some students as “threats”
- SB 61: Adds school threats to the list of offenses that allows
Attacking immigrant students and families
- SB 21: Increases penalties for government bodies/employees who don’t work with ICE
- HB 18: Adds a citizenship requirement for participation in dual enrollment
Good Bills to Watch!
- HB 38: Expands eligibility for a need-based aid college completion grant. Passed out of committee last week.
- HB 245: A Poverty Weight bill that would allocate funding for students living in poverty. Filed today.
Bad Bills to Keep an Eye On!
- SB 1: Anti-trans sports bill. Passed out of committee last week and headed to a floor vote.
- SB 74: Criminalizes librarians and libraries, potentially for loaning out books featuring LGBTQ+ characters and storylines. Filed this week.
Take Action!
Ask Chairman Erwin for a hearing for HB 42. This bill would increase collaboration between local and state governments to make funding more responsive to student needs. Additionally, the bill would provide additional protections for employees involved in transporting students, among other changes.
Committee Hearings
Past Committee Hearings – Watch Recording
All times Eastern
- Tuesday 2/4 @ 2:00 pm – Senate Education and Youth Committee
- Wednesday 2/5 @ 1:00 pm – House Higher Education Committee
Upcoming Committee Hearings
- Thursday 2/6 @ 1:00 pm – Senate Education and Youth Committee
Tools & Resources
Learn more about IDRA’s policy recommendations for Georgia
How to Testify before the Georgia General Assembly – Infographic
Learn more about our statewide coalition, the Georgia Coalition for Education Justice
Keep up with bills using the Georgia Coalition for Education Justice bill tracker.
