Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said this week he plans to give a holiday gift of $1,000 to state employees, teachers and school staff. The year-end retention bonuses will cost the state a total of $330 million, with $202 million of that earmarked for school employees, the governor’s office said.
The money is included in Kemp’s mid-year budget he’ll submit to lawmakers during the legislative session, which begins Jan. 8.
Who gets the bonus?
A press release from the governor’s office says the bonus will apply to “each of the roughly 112,000 state employees and 196,000 educators and school support staff across the state.” That includes bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians.
When will employees get the money?
Some districts, like Gwinnett County and Atlanta Public Schools, paid employees a $1,000 retention bonus in December. Initially, APS told employees that bonus would supplant the governor’s pay raise. However, in a statement Thursday evening to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the district said it is “committed to passing along any additional funds” once disbursed by the state and “clarification is provided on which categories of employees should be covered by the bonus.”
Because most district offices are closed for the winter holidays, payments could be slightly delayed. The Georgia Department of Education has told districts the funds will be available Friday, Dec. 29. Initial guidance from the DOE says districts can pay employees in January due to holiday closures.
Where’s the money coming from for the bonuses?
The money will come from the state’s reserve fund and DOE says it will be distributed through the state’s school funding formula (called QBE — or Quality Basic Education).
How much will the actual bonus be?
This could depend on the district. For big metro Atlanta districts, QBE usually funds fewer staff positions than those school systems have. APS Chief Financial Officer Lisa Bracken explained how state-issued raises affect the district financially during a September budget meeting.
“We know at best we’ll get 49% of whatever is being talked about,” she said. “Anytime a $1,000 or $3,000 (state) raise is being talked about for teachers, at best we’ll receive 49% of that in the QBE and that puts the pressure back on our local (district) to cover the rest.”
So if districts have to pitch in, employees could get less than $1,000.
What will the impact be?
It could be significant. For example, a first-year bus driver in Atlanta Public Schools makes roughly $27,000 a year. For that person, the full bonus would be almost a 4% pay bump.
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