Summer’s Last Hurrah

Friends,

It’s hard to believe, but summer is more than half over for students in the 159th District, with many of them heading back to school as early as August 1st!

As our families make their last trips to Georgia’s beaches, begin their back to school shopping, and get ready to meet their teachers in their new classrooms, I wanted to highlight some of the legislation we have enacted recently in Georgia to ensure our students are able to focus on learning.

This session, we enacted HB 87, the Non-traditional Special Schools Act. This legislation, introduced by Representative Chris Erwin, creates additional options for non-traditional Georgia students to receive their high school diplomas, ensuring no Georgian is deprived of opportunities because of his or her circumstances.

With SB 86, carried in the House by Representative Rick Townsend, dual enrollment students will be able to access HOPE grant funds to pursue career, technical, and agricultural education coursework. Georgia students seeking to enter these important fields need the tools for success just as much as any other student, and this legislation gives them some of those tools.

HB 147, the Safe Schools Act, was introduced by Representative Will Wade and recently became law. This legislation ensures that our school leaders have the tools to identify and deter gangs in schools, while also requiring intruder alert drills to protect our students from harm.

SB 204, carried in the House by Representative Ginny Ehrhart, took effect on July 1st, and sets requirements for educational accrediting agencies to ensure they’re focusing on student achievement, academic success, and fiscal solvency in our schools. In order for accreditation to be a valuable tool for Georgians in evaluating school performance, we have to know what goes into that process. 

HB 340, introduced by Representative John Corbett, took effect on July 1st and simply ensures that middle and high school teachers have a required planning period. All Georgians agree that we want our teachers to be at their best, ready to have a lasting positive impact as they teach our children. This legislation ensures that our teachers have the ability to meet those expectations as they serve our children.

HB 538, introduced by Representative Bethany Ballard, became law on July 1st and addresses early literacy needs through the implementation of the science of reading. These training and instructional requirements will ensure teachers have the tools to help all of our students achieve literacy success.  

To ensure we have the resources to meet these needs, we funded education at $13 billion this year, fully meeting the state’s commitments. We provided additional teacher pay raises of $2,000, bringing average teacher salaries to $61,000 - the highest in the southeast. 

As the husband of an educator and a proud father and grandfather, I know that education is one of the most important things we do as a community. I am proud of the role we play at the state capitol, providing resources to our communities to meet this important need.

Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions about my work as your Representative or as Speaker of the House, or with information about events in the community.  You can contact me at 404.656.5020, Jon.Burns@house.ga.gov, or on Facebook at www.FB.com/JonBurnsGA.  If you wish to sign up for my weekly emailed newsletter, visit https://www.friendsofjonburns.com/home to sign up.