(The Center Square) — More than 300,000 Georgia employees will see a $1,000 “employee retention pay supplement” under a plan Gov. Brian Kemp and state leaders announced on Monday.
The bonuses will go to roughly 112,000 state employees and 196,000 teachers and school support staff statewide, an initiative that will cost the state roughly $330 million.
“Throughout the pandemic, a summer of unrest, and the unprecedented challenges of the last several years, our state employees have worked hard, taken on additional challenges, remained committed to serving their fellow Georgians, and become more streamlined so we can remain the best state for opportunity,” Kemp, a Republican, said in an announcement. “This retention pay supplement will arrive during the holiday season, and it’s part of my administration’s way of showing our appreciation for all that they do.”
The budget will also propose more than $100 million in annual funding for local K-12 schools to spend on security and safety initiatives — roughly $45,000 for every public school in Georgia. Schools can use the money to bolster campus security, including personnel and infrastructure improvements.
The governor plans to include the additional funding in the amended fiscal 2024 budget, which he will submit to the state lawmakers next month. The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute applauded the announcement to raise pay for Georgia’s public school teachers, staff and state employees, and the governor’s “ongoing attention” toward public K-12 education.
“We look forward to seeing the full details when the governor’s AFY 2024 and FY 2025 budget proposals are unveiled in January,” GBPI President and CEO Staci Fox said in a statement to The Center Square. “The announced pay raise would help directly support retention efforts and meet school employees’ critical needs in the face of recent record inflation. Importantly, the pay raise will help bolster the hard and significant work of those who serve Georgia’s children. The state also has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to go beyond meaningful but incremental short-term investments.
“In addition to the announced pay raise, the state can leverage its historic surplus to support both children and those who care for them through an overhaul of the state’s aging bus fleet and build a child care trust fund that could help equitably expand child care access to those most in need,” Fox added. “Georgia remains one of only six states that does not provide additional funding to educate students living in poverty, school districts continue to bear the brunt of escalating pupil transportation costs, and school district budgets groan under the weight of the increased expense of the state health benefit plan for employees.”
The governor’s office said Kemp previously authorized $185 million in school safety grants. In 2019, the governor approved $30,000 grants for every public school in the state to improve campus safety, and earlier this year, he approved grants of $50,000 per school.
“In addition to funding school safety resources, a prudent use of taxpayer [money] should include measures to prevent guns from entering our classrooms, and certainly not encouraging more guns to be introduced,” state Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, said in a post to X, previously known as Twitter.
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