Unnamalai Thirunarayanan

The Georgia Department of Education sets policy for all public schools in the state and implements new laws passed by the Georgia General Assembly. The Department trains teachers and principals, oversees federal education programs, tracks how schools are performing and manages the state’s K-12 budget. The Department also works directly with districts in an advisory capacity on school safety, charter schools and homeless students, among other areas. There are nearly 200 school systems in Georgia, employing 110,000 teachers. Those systems include Department of Juvenile Justice programs, state chartered schools and state schools for the blind and deaf. In the 2012-13 school year, there were 1.7 million public school students in Georgia attending 2,275 schools. We are making education work for all Georgians!