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Agricultural education leaders ask for staff support, TRS shortfall fix and funding for youth camps
Summary
The Department of Education’s agricultural education program told the subcommittee it faces TRS funding gaps for extended-day/year pay and seeks funding for 10 new local programs, youth-camp staff, and to place some camp positions on the teacher salary schedule.
Representatives for agricultural education and the FFA foundation briefed the Senate subcommittee on March 18 about staffing, teacher-retirement-system (TRS) and youth-camp funding needs.
Key points: the department said the governor’s recommended budget and the House reductions left a TRS funding gap for extended-day/year pay. The department reported its calculations require an additional roughly $15,032 to meet TRS needs on one line item and said that, after calculating teacher-count changes and extended-day/year adjustments, the House coverage still left a shortfall on another item of about $425,000.
New program requests and camps: the department listed 10 school systems that requested new agricultural education programs (Clayton, Fulton, Cherokee, Albert, Meriwether, Putnam, Wilkinson, Lanier, Liberty and another); the House put funds to establish several programs. The House also added funds for a Bibb County young-farmer program request and provided funding to add two youth‑camp specialist positions (one for the FFA center in Covington and one for Camp John Hope in Fort Valley). The department asked that six existing camp positions be treated on the teacher salary schedule (cost estimate ~$127,000) and requested the remaining ~$93,000 needed to fully fund three camp-affiliated staff positions.
Why it matters: agricultural education and FFA programming provide after-school and career-technical training tied to future workforce and local agriculture; TRS and health-cost changes affect program budgets and staffing capacity.
Ending: department staff said they appreciate House additions and asked for consideration of remaining shortfalls and the camp staffing request when finalizing FY26 appropriations.
