ATLANTA — The Georgia governor's busy week of signing bills into law continues after he signed a series of legislation that would improve education in the Peach State.
On Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp delivered remarks before signing the bills. According to his office, the bills will improve opportunities, safety and resources for Georgia schools.
"There is nothing more important to the continued success of our state than safeguarding and strengthening the lives, education and future of our students, and that can only be accomplished by ensuring Georgia students have access to as many opportunities and choices as possible that will set them up for success," said Kemp.
It comes after Kemp signed a series of tax cuts and healthcare legislation last week.
He signed the bills at 1 p.m. in the Liberty Plaza at the Georgia State Capitol building.
“As I stated in my State of the State address, we can and must take an all-of-the-above approach to K-12 education," he added in a news release after signing the bills.
Kemp signed some widely covered and highly anticipated bills, including Addy's law, the school voucher bill, the social media ban in schools and more.
Here's the list of legislation he is expected to sign into law:
- Senate Bill 233: This is widely known as the school voucher bill that would fund scholarship accounts for families seeking a private school education. The bill would provide $6,500 in voucher funding for private school tuition and homeschooling.
- Senate Bill 351: Another highly anticipated bill is the social media bill which would ban social media use on school devices and internet services, require porn sites to verify users are 18 or over and mandate additional education by schools on social media and internet use.
- House Bill 409: After an 8-year-old was tragically hit by a car while attempting to get on her school bus in Henry County, her family pushed for Addy's Law, which would allow school systems to consider routes that do not have stops that require motorists to stop for students getting on the bus.
- Senate Bill 395: The amended combined bill took a controversial turn in its early stages. It started a bill to provide overdose-reversal drugs like Narcan for each school but then took a turn to also ban the use of puberty blockers for Georgia youth.
- House Bill 318: According to the Georgia Charter Schools Association, the bill would address important issues, such as letters of assurance, administrative withholding fees, local charter school funding and oversight. The main focus of the bill would be to shift the state's existing Office of Charter School Compliance from the Georgia Department of Education to the State Charter Schools Commission.
- House Bill 1122: This bill would mainly fund charter schools, with a focus on funding superintendents and principals for each state school.
- Senate Bill 464: This bill would establish a school supplies teacher program for eligible teachers and help provide universal reading screeners for each school in the state.