• By DeAndrea Byrd & Isabelle Philip • May 7, 2025 •
Here is a run-down of IDRA’s work during the 2025 legislative session in Georgia to equip partner advocates and key legislators to promote strong policies and stop bills that would harm Georgia’s students.
Legislative Advocacy
- We established legislative priorities for the 2025 session, and monitored, analyzed, and supported advocacy strategy for 25+ education bills.
- We shared detailed analyses and position papers with lawmakers on key bills and authored policy briefs promoting equity and inclusivity, widely distributed among community stakeholders and partner organizations.
- We maintained education bill trackers to ensure partners could follow the fast-moving legislative process.
- We supported news conferences on equitable school funding and combating anti-diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Terrence (far left) and Mikayla (next) leading students in bill analysis at the Capitol during the 2025 legislative session.
Coalition Building and Community Engagement
- We engaged 84 organizations and 60 people to advocate equitable education policies through weekly calls and legislative update emails through our Georgia Coalition for Education Justice.
- We supported over 30 high school students in advocating for fair and equitable education policy at the Capitol.
- We produced rapid response policy alerts throughout the legislative session to keep our newsletter recipients updated on our efforts (see sample).
- We developed talking points and messaging guidance on priority issues to equip team members and advocates for media interviews, public speaking and social media engagement.
DeAndrea Byrd is an IDRA Education Policy Fellow. Comments and questions may be directed to her via email at deandrea.byrd@idra.org. Isabelle Philip is an IDRA Education Policy Fellow. Comments and questions may be directed to her via email at isabelle.philip@idra.org.
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