Georgia's House lawmakers passed today a record $25 billion
budget for Fiscal Year 2018 beginning July 1, including provisions
for a 2 percent raise in pay for public teachers, a 20 percent
salary hike for state law enforcement officers, and a 19 percent
increase for DFACS child protection employees. The spending
blueprint, passed at the session's halfway point, also provides
for a $1.15 billion bond package for state construction projects,
including a new state appellate court building, a state-owned
training center, and new K-12, college, and technical school
buildings across the state. It comes after Governor Nathan Deal
signed earlier this week a supplemental 2017 budget to make use of
added midyear revenues. While the size of the annual budget is a
record for the state, Republican leaders state that when adjusted
for population growth and inflation, the budget is comparable to
state spending in the 1990s.
