SB 4 Georgia Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Education; fundamental roles of local boards of education and local school superintendents; revise provisions

Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary and secondary education, so as to revise provisions relating to the fundamental roles of local boards of education and local school superintendents; to provide for requirements for the model code of ethics for local boards of education to be promulgated by the State Board of Education; to provide for public complaints alleging ethics code violations by members of local boards of education; to provide for required and prohibited topics in training programs for local board of education members; to provide for a sanction for noncompliance; to provide for an effective date; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2025 Last action Mar 11, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As introduced LC 49 2067 → As Passed Senate · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was renamed from LC 49 2067 to SB 4/CSFA and updated to reflect its passage by the Senate. The most significant substantive change involves the enforcement mechanism for ethics complaints: the authority to receive complaints against local school board members shifted from the local school superintendent to the Professional Standards Commission. This change centralizes the oversight of school board ethics, removing the local superintendent's role as the primary recipient of such complaints.

Scope change

The scope of the bill's applicability remains focused on local boards of education and their members, but the enforcement jurisdiction for ethics violations has been modified to include the Professional Standards Commission.

ENFORCEMENT

Complaints alleging violations of the school board code of ethics must now be filed with the Professional Standards Commission instead of the local school superintendent.

TECHNICAL

The bill title and bill number were updated to reflect its status as 'SB 4/CSFA' and 'As Passed Senate'.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 4, 2025

How they voted

37–10

Passed · 8 other

Total votes 55

Mar 4, 2025

D Democratic22

4 Yea 10 Nay 8

45% Nay

R Republican33

33 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute

upper

Feb 21, 2025

Upper · Passed

Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

upper

Jan 14, 2025

Committee

Senate Read and Referred

upper

Jan 13, 2025

Introduced

Senate Hopper

upper

23 primary · 0 co-sponsors