Bill centralizes statewide education-workforce planning under governor's office, codifies apprenticeships
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Summary
Lawmakers advanced a package that renames GOSA to the Governor's Office of Education and Workforce Strategy, codifies unified WIOA and Perkins planning, designates the Technical College System as the state apprenticeship agency, and requires a statewide career navigator and coordinated reporting; business and CTE groups supported the measure.
Representative Gamble presented House Bill 1302 (LC492730ECS) as the final piece of the governor's "top state for talent" workforce package, and introduced Alex Husky, the governor's education policy adviser, to walk the committee through the bill's provisions. Husky said the bill redesignates the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) as the Governor's Office of Education and Workforce Strategy and assigns it a coordinating role to bring together the Department of Labor, Technical College System, university system and Department of Education around a unified workforce plan.
"This legislation does this by designating the governor's Office of Student Achievement, GOSA, as the coordinator, not the doer, but just the coordinator to bring together the other agencies that are involved in this workforce conversation," Husky told the committee. The bill would codify a requirement that TCSG and DOE submit unified WIOA and Carl D. Perkins plans and would require a single comprehensive state workforce plan on the same cycle as federal plans.
Husky said the measure also implements the request of the U.S. Department of Labor to designate the Technical College System of Georgia as the state apprenticeship agency and that federally registered apprenticeship programs were consulted and satisfied with substitute language added after those meetings. He described provisions to codify pre-apprenticeship programs, align career-and-technical academy certification with the state's high-demand career list, and create a secure "career navigator" platform for students.
On funding, Husky said the committee had accounted for the work by redirecting existing resources, roughly $400,000, to support the added coordination responsibilities and that the bill does not create a new agency. "We're not creating a new bureaucracy," he said. "This agency already exists. We're just adding some additional work for them to do." Committee members praised the bill's collaborative approach while asking clarifying questions about boards, definitions and implementation details.
Public testimony was uniformly supportive: Jody Reeves, executive director of the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education, said the bill "builds on what is already working but makes us stronger together" and thanked leaders for preserving existing funding. Daniella Perry of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Tim Carroll of the Metro Atlanta Chamber urged favorable consideration, calling workforce alignment and apprenticeships critical for employers statewide.
Representative Howard moved a do-pass recommendation, the motion was seconded, and the committee voted unanimously in favor; the chair recorded 60 ayes and no opposition.
What happens next: with a unanimous committee recommendation, House Bill 1302 advances toward floor consideration; sponsors said they will continue working with stakeholders on implementation details.