Georgia teachers and state employees will get pay raises as state budget passes

ATLANTA (AP) — Pay raises for Georgia’s public school teachers and state employees were never in doubt politically from the moment Gov. Brian Kemp proposed them, but lawmakers finally clinched the deal on Thursday, passing a budget that also boosts spending on education, health care and mental health.

Senators and represenatives worked out their differences on House Bill 916, with it passing the House 175-1 and the Senate 54-1. The budget spends $36.1 billion in state money and $66.8 billion overall in the year beginning July 1.

“As they say, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Hatchett, a Dublin Republican, explaining that not every request was satisfied, but many were.

Spending would fall from this year’s budget after Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers supplemented that budget will billions in one-time cash, boosting state spending to $38 billion in the year ending June 30. Kemp backed the budget in remarks to lawmakers Thursday and is expected to sign it.

Public school teachers would get a $2,500 raise starting July 1, boosting average teacher pay in Georgia above $65,000 annually, as the Republican governor proposed in January. That is in addition to a $1,000 bonus Kemp sent out in December. Prekindergarten teachers also would get a $2,500 raise.

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