Georgia Senate seeks bigger raises for nurses, prison guards

terry england

Georgia House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, an Auburn Republican.

David Goldman / Associated Press

Georgia state senators want prison guards and school nurses to get larger raises and want to set aside a big chunk of money to cover the state’s share of an upcoming federal transportation program.

Those are among the changes the Senate Appropriations Committee made Monday as it passed a revised budget for the year ending June 30. House Bill 910 moves to the state Senate for more debate.

The bill already includes $5,000 pay boosts for university and state agency employees, $2,000 bonuses to teachers and $1,000 bonuses to other K-12 workers including school bus drivers, part-time employees and cafeteria workers. It also restores $383 million to the state’s K-12 funding formula that had been cut when lawmakers feared revenue decreases at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.