ATLANTA – Freshly sworn-in Gov. Brian Kemp says he will announce a “historic and well deserved pay raise” for teachers when he delivers his first state-of-the-state address on Thursday.

A $5,000 permanent teacher pay raise was one of the hallmarks of his bid for governor, but some state leaders have voiced concerns about the hit that would have on the budget and have suggested gradually phasing in the salary bump. An earlier estimate put the price tag at more than $600 million.

Kemp, who took office Monday, did not offer specifics on how he would approach the raise during a brief speech Wednesday at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs and Issues event. But his remarks provided a first glimpse of his agenda going into his first year in office.

“To ensure a bright and promising future in our state, we must invest in those who educate, inspire and lead our students,” Kemp said. “To recruit and retain the best and brightest, we must remove red tape in the classroom and keep teacher pay competitive.”

About 44 percent of teachers in Georgia leave within their first five years in the classroom, according to a state Department of Education survey done. Kemp noted this statistic in his comments Wednesday.

The promise of a pay raise excited educators but also left local school leaders wary of the potential added costs. In Whitfield County, for example, Superintendent Judy Gilreath said the raise would cost her district several million dollars since not all of the system’s 1,000 or so teachers are state funded. There would also be increased benefits cost, she said.

“I am anxiously awaiting the governor’s budget to see what is recommended,” Gilreath said this week.

Kemp also announced Wednesday that he will add $69 million to this year’s budget for increased school security, which would send about $30,000 to each school. That’s in addition to the $16 million state lawmakers put in the budget last session.

And the governor said he plans to use his speech Thursday to outline his specific plan to put more mental health counselors in schools as a way to head off violent behavior, which was another campaign proposal. On the campaign trail last year, he floated a proposal to put a “support counselor” in each high school at a cost of $23 million.  

“The classroom should be a safe haven for students, not hunting grounds for school shooters,” he said.

Outside of education, Kemp said he has added $500,000 in start-up funds to the budget for an anti-gang task force within the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He said he will also focus in his legislative agenda on tackling the doctor shortage in rural Georgia and expanding the rural hospital tax credit program.