Teacher Cert Pathfinder

Transferring a Florida teaching licence to Georgia

Florida is a member of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact and Georgia is not, so the compact does nothing for this move. Georgia evaluates a Florida teacher under its own reciprocity — and publishes, in a table, which Florida documents it accepts.

Regime: state-specific Every fact below cited and dated Last verified 9 September 2026

Which framework applies to you

Florida Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact member (enacted 2023)
Georgia Not a compact member

The compact governs movement between member states. Because one end is not a member, the compact route does not exist for you at all — whatever the other state's membership is publicised as doing. Why that matters →

The question that decides this corridor

Is any literacy or reading assessment a Florida teacher has already passed a "GaPSC-accepted literacy assessment approved by another state"?

Since 1 July 2026 every out-of-state educator applying for a Georgia teaching certificate must pass a literacy assessment. If a Florida-approved assessment counts, nothing more is owed. If it does not, the teacher sits Georgia's own literacy test — unless they already have a Georgia employer willing to request a 1-Year Non-Renewable or Induction certificate, or they qualify for the five-year experience exemption. GaPSC does not list which states' assessments it accepts on either page captured.

Who to ask: GaPSC Certification Call Center, (404) 232-2500 or toll-free (800) 869-7775 — Mondays and Wednesdays only, 08:00–11:30 and 12:30–16:30 Eastern

ambiguous_confirm_with_state — this is a real gap in the published record, not a gap in our reading of it. We checked on 10 September 2026. Anyone who gives you a confident answer to this is guessing; the agency is the only place it can be settled.

Moving on military orders? Federal law gives a military spouse a separate route: a covered teaching certificate is valid in the new state on three documents. Georgia's education agency names that route on its own pages, and still prints a two-year condition the federal law dropped in 2024. What federal law and Georgia publish →

What Georgia requires

Each card carries the rule or agency page it comes from and the date we read it. Where a source states something verbatim, we quote it rather than paraphrase.

Which regime applies
Florida is a member of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact and Georgia is not, so the compact does nothing for this move. Georgia evaluates a Florida teacher under its own reciprocity — and publishes, in a table, which Florida documents it accepts.
Council of State Governments, National Center for Interstate Compacts, Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact — member states — read 10 September 2026
The question that decides this corridor Not settled — confirm with the agency
Is any literacy or reading assessment a Florida teacher has already passed a "GaPSC-accepted literacy assessment approved by another state"?
Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
Which regime applies
Georgia's own interstate reciprocity. The applicant must hold a valid or expired certificate in a field comparable to a Georgia certificate field, issued as a professional certificate on completion of a state-approved preparation programme including pedagogy and clinical practice.
In order to qualify, you must hold a valid or expired certificate in a field that is comparable to one of Georgia's certificate fields.

Georgia is not a member of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact on the Council of State Governments list captured 9 September 2026.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
The certificate has to be a professional one
Reciprocity is available only on a professional certificate earned through a state-approved preparation programme including pedagogy and clinical practice. A temporary or provisional certificate alone is routed to Georgia's ordinary become-an-educator pathway instead.
If you hold only a temporary or provisional certificate, please visit the Become a Georgia Educator page.
Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
A Florida Temporary certificate is not on Georgia's list
For Florida, Georgia lists only the Professional certificate, and an Official Statement of Status Eligibility solely where the only outstanding requirements are Florida employment and fingerprinting.
Florida | Professional; Official Statement of Status Eligibility (if the only outstanding requirements are employment in FL and fingerprinting)

Every other row names two to five acceptable certificates. Florida's names one certificate and one narrowly conditioned statement. A Florida teacher still on a Temporary certificate is not on Georgia's reciprocity list.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Acceptable Out-of-State Certificates — read 10 September 2026
A Florida Temporary certificate is a weak passport out of Florida Not settled — confirm with the agency
It is nonrenewable, and FLDOE describes it as time to finish requirements you have not yet met. A receiving state that excludes credentials with outstanding requirements may refuse it — Texas’s rule excludes "a certificate for which academic or other program deficiencies are indicated".
Provides time to complete all requirements for a Professional Certificate while teaching full-time.

What is unresolved: whether a receiving state reads "requirements still outstanding" as "deficiencies indicated". Texas’s exclusion is at 19 TAC §230.111(c) and TEA makes that call, not us. If you hold a Florida Temporary and are leaving the state, ask the receiving agency before paying a nonrefundable review fee. Holders of a Florida Professional Certificate are not affected.

Florida Department of Education, Certificate Types and Requirements — read 9 September 2026
A literacy assessment is required of every out-of-state teaching applicant since 1 July 2026 Changed 1 Jul 2026
All out-of-state educators applying for Georgia teaching certification must pass the appropriate Georgia state-approved literacy assessment, or a GaPSC-accepted literacy assessment approved by another state.
Effective July 1, 2026, all out-of-state educators applying for Georgia certification in teaching fields must meet the literacy assessment requirement by passing the appropriate Georgia state-approved literacy assessment or by passing a GaPSC-accepted literacy assessment approved by another state.

The freshest live change found anywhere in this project — ten weeks old at capture. Any guide, forum answer or search result written before July 2026 omits it. Neither page lists which other states' literacy assessments GaPSC accepts.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
A Georgia job offer softens the literacy rule
If an educator has not met the literacy testing requirement, a Georgia employer may request a 1-Year Non-Renewable or an Induction certificate.
A Georgia employer may request 1-Year Non-Renewable or Induction certification should an educator not meet literacy testing requirements.

So the literacy rule blocks a teacher applying speculatively, not one who already has a Georgia employer willing to make the request.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026
You may not need Georgia's content test at all
The content knowledge assessment is waived for out-of-state professional certificate holders with five years of full-time in-field experience, for those who had to pass a content assessment for their out-of-state certificate, and for National Board certification in the specific field.
Out-of-state professional certificate holders who were required to pass a content assessment for their out-of-state certificate;

The second exemption is the one most applicants will use: if your own state made you pass a content test for the certificate, Georgia does not make you sit another.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026
Five years of experience exempts almost everything
A professional out-of-state certificate plus five full years of successful in-field experience exempts all Special Georgia Requirements except the Standards of Conduct — which means the content assessment, the literacy assessment and the exceptional child course together.
Veteran out-of-state educators moving to Georgia may be eligible to exempt all Special Georgia Requirements except the Standards of Conduct should the following be held prior to an application for initial Georgia certification:

The years need not be consecutive and may come from any point in a career, but each must be in the same state that issued the certificate and carry a satisfactory performance review.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026
A year means 120 days, and part-years do not add up
Each of the five years must be full-time employment of at least 120 days in the school year, and partial years cannot be combined to make a full one.
All years were full-time employment, defined as a minimum of 120 days per school year (partial years cannot be combined)

A teacher with six years of service that includes two half-years may hold only four qualifying years, not five.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026
Take the exemptions before you start work in Georgia
Once an educator is both certified and employed in Georgia on a Georgia certificate, they no longer qualify for full interstate reciprocity, and out-of-state experience accrued afterwards cannot be used for later exemptions.
Please note that once an educator is both certified and employed in Georgia utilizing their Georgia certification, they no longer qualify for full interstate reciprocity.

The practical consequence is sequencing: claim every field and every exemption in the first application. Coming back later to add a field from out-of-state experience does not work.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026
Out-of-state application processing fee
$20, paid online through the applicant's MyPSC account — the lowest application fee of any destination in this project.
$20 processing fee: You must pay this fee online through your MyPSC account.

For comparison: Florida $75 per subject, Colorado $110, Pennsylvania $150, Texas $160, New Jersey $170.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
A Georgia employer can make it free
If the applicant is employed in Georgia and the employer submits an Employer Assurance Form, the $20 processing fee does not apply.
Either Employer Assurance Form negates the $20 processing fee.
Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
Do NOT have Praxis send your scores to Georgia
For Praxis scores used for certification in another state, GaPSC asks applicants not to have scores transmitted electronically by the testing provider, but to order a hard-copy score report and upload a copy through MyPSC.
If you are submitting Praxis scores used for certification in another state, please do not have the scores submitted electronically to the GaPSC from the testing provider. Please order a hard copy of the score report, then submit a copy of that score report to the GaPSC through your MyPSC account.

The opposite of what every other state here wants — Pennsylvania explicitly tells applicants to ask the test administrator to transmit scores. An applicant who does the usual thing for Georgia has to redo the step.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
Your former district's HR office has to complete a form
The Experience Verification Form must be completed in full, including satisfactory performance evaluations, by Human Resources at the current or former employing school system. It is not required for under one year of experience.
The form must be filled out completely, including indication of satisfactory performance evaluations, by a representative of the Human Resources/Personnel department of your current or former employing school system;

The third destination in this project, after New Jersey and New York, whose route depends on a former employer completing state paperwork after the teacher has left. If HR policy blocks disclosure of performance, GaPSC accepts a supervising administrator's letter or copies of each yearly review with the form.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
The phone line is open two days a week
The GaPSC Certification Call Center answers on Mondays and Wednesdays only, 08:00–11:30 and 12:30–16:30. The office accepts no walk-ins or appointments.
Our Certification Call Center is open 8:00 am to 11:30 am and 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, except for state holidays.

Fourteen hours of phone access a week. Plan a deciding-question call around it — a question that occurs to you on a Thursday waits until Monday.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
No processing time is published Not settled — confirm with the agency Verified absence
Georgia states only that complete applications are processed in the order received. No number of days or weeks is given.
Complete applications are processed in the order they are received.

ambiguous_confirm_with_state. No timeline is asserted on this site for Georgia.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
The one document that satisfies three requirements
A valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state is an accepted means of demonstrating mastery of general knowledge, mastery of subject area knowledge, and mastery of professional preparation and education competence.
Documentation of a valid professional standard teaching certificate issued by another state

s. 1012.56(3)(b), (5)(e) and (6)(c), F.S. (2026 edition). The same phrase appears in all three subsections.

The Florida Senate, s. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026
The two Florida certificates
Professional Certificate — five school years, renewable, Florida's highest educator certificate. Temporary Certificate — five school years, nonrenewable, and issued only after you are employed in a Florida school and fingerprints have cleared.
Florida Department of Education, Certificate Types and Requirements — read 9 September 2026
Grade point average
An applicant seeking initial certification must have attained at least a 2.5 overall grade point average on a 4.0 scale in their major field of study.

s. 1012.56(2)(c), F.S.

The Florida Senate, s. 1012.56, F.S. — Educator certification requirements (2026 edition) — read 9 September 2026

The endorsement, side by side

FloridaGeorgia
Certificate or endorsementMathematics (6-12)Mathematics (Secondary Education, Grades 6-12)
Grade band6–126–12
Named examinationFlorida subject area test: Mathematics (6-12)<span class="muted">not captured</span>

What works in your favour

Georgia's processing fee is $20, and a Georgia employer's Employer Assurance Form removes even that — the cheapest destination in this project.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026

Florida's secondary bands are 6-12 and so are Georgia's. For mathematics, English and each single science (Biology, Chemistry, Earth/Space, Physics) this is the cleanest grade-band alignment of any corridor researched.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Teaching Fields Offered in Georgia — read 10 September 2026

If Florida made you pass a content assessment for your certificate, Georgia does not make you sit another one.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026

Five full years of in-field experience on a professional certificate exempts every Special Georgia Requirement except Standards of Conduct — content test, literacy test and exceptional child course together — and the years need not be consecutive.

Georgia Professional Standards Commission, Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026

What it costs to get this corridor wrong

Every figure below is set by a rule or published by the agency, and cited on its row. These are not our estimates.

Blocked Still on a Florida Temporary certificate
Georgia's acceptance table lists only Florida's Professional certificate, plus a Statement of Status Eligibility where the only outstanding items are Florida employment and fingerprinting. A Temporary certificate is not on it.
Georgia Professional Standards Commission · Acceptable Out-of-State Certificates — read 10 September 2026
Blocked The literacy assessment that started on 1 July 2026
Every out-of-state teaching applicant must now pass one. Guides written before July 2026 do not mention it, and GaPSC does not list which other states' literacy assessments it accepts.
Georgia Professional Standards Commission · Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026
Blocked Full reciprocity lost by starting work too early
Once you are certified and employed in Georgia on a Georgia certificate you no longer qualify for full interstate reciprocity, and later out-of-state experience cannot be used for exemptions. Claim every field and exemption in the first application.
Georgia Professional Standards Commission · Special Georgia Requirements — read 10 September 2026
Time Praxis scores sent the normal way
GaPSC asks applicants NOT to have Praxis transmit scores electronically, but to order a hard copy and upload it through MyPSC. Doing what every other state asks means redoing the step.
Georgia Professional Standards Commission · Out-of-State Educators — read 10 September 2026

Nothing here is a prediction about your file. It is what the published rules say happens, and what the agency charges, if a step is taken in the wrong order or on the wrong document.

Licence classes on this corridor

The requirements above are the ones that apply whatever you teach. These are the classes whose subject-specific requirements we have researched for Georgia.

Licence classCorridorPack
Secondary mathematicsFlorida → GeorgiaFacts on this page · pack not written yet
ElementaryFlorida → GeorgiaFacts on this page · pack not written yet
Middle gradesFlorida → GeorgiaFacts on this page · pack not written yet
Secondary scienceFlorida → GeorgiaFacts on this page · pack not written yet
Secondary English language artsFlorida → GeorgiaFacts on this page · pack not written yet
Special educationFlorida → GeorgiaFacts on this page · pack not written yet

A class listed without a pack is not a gap in the research — its facts are on this page and on the state pages. It means we have not yet written the step-by-step pack for it.

Where these facts come from

This page cites 6 sources. Every one is named on the card that uses it, with the date we read it. The full register, including what we archived and what we could not retrieve, is at every source we cite.

Everything we have verified about Georgia → · About Florida →