Georgia House leaders approve spending plan with teacher raises

Georgia House leaders backed a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year Thursday that includes pay raises for 200,000 teachers and state employees and more than $1 billion worth of new construction projects.

The spending plan for fiscal 2018, which begins July 1, follows much of what Gov. Nathan Deal proposed during the first week of the session. It would provide 2 percent pay raises for teachers and most state employees. The mid-year budget Deal signed Wednesday - which runs through June 30 - included 20 percent salary hikes for state law enforcement.

Overall state spending would hit a record $25 billion, or $49 billion with federal and other funds included. However, officials say when inflation and population growth are added to the equation, the state is spending about what it was at the end of the 1990s.

The budget for the upcoming year includes $223 million to help keep the state's Teachers Retirement System on strong financial footing. State officials said the payment is one of the largest subsidies - if not the largest - in the program's history.

The full House will vote on the budget Friday, and then the measure will be taken up by the Senate. Lawmakers must give final approval before they close the 2017 session.