Gov. Nathan Deal proposed Wednesday a 2 percent pay raise for Georgia teachers and a massive building program that includes borrowing $105 million to build a new state courthouse on the site of the old archives building down the street from the Capitol.
Deal revealed a record $25 billion spending plan for fiscal 2018, which begins July 1, that includes more money for schools and 20 percent pay raises for state police and a 19 percent raise for child welfare caseworkers.
The budget proposal would also include an extra 2 percent in pay money for tens of thousands of other state employees.
The bond package also includes $73 million more to complete a new technical school in Deal's home county of Hall.
Deal had added $10 million to the budget in 2015 to buy the land and $48.3 million last year to get the construction started. Combined, if approved, Deal’s budget will have borrowed more than $130 million to move the campus from one end of the county to the other.
The governor had earlier announced the police pay raises, and he insisted that the teacher pay money go for salary increases. Last year lawmakers approved 3 percent more for school districts but The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in October that only about 40 percent of the systems passed the money along as raises.
The AJC reported Tuesday that Deal also wants to put $50 million into a new state-owned training center that's designed to teach students and educators how to combat hacking and other forms of cyberwarfare.
Under Deal’s budget plan, doctors would get an increase in payments for treating Medicaid patients, and about $21 million would go to increasing autism services for children on the program, which provides health care to the poor and disabled.
About the Author
