Special education tutor job FAQ for Georgia teachers

A part-time, remote W-2 job with SpecialEdResource: live, one-on-one online tutoring for students with IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences, one student at a time. See the full job

Yes. Georgia is one of the 15 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Where you live is what counts, not which state issued your license. This site’s listing is for Georgia; teachers in the other 14 states use the same application. What you need to apply · Apply on the hiring site

All subjects, from pre-K through 12th grade, plus adult learners. SpecialEdResource hires special education teachers of any subject and grade level.

Students with IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences. Our students attend public, charter and private schools or learn at home. Some students are nonspeaking and communicate with AAC or other supports, and some have multiple or more significant disabilities.

You have subscribed online resources and SpecialEdResource-created resources to work with, plus a full team that supports teachers and families. You also have a real person you can text or email when something comes up. We are truly a family that works hard to support one another.

SpecialEdResource handles info gathering. You handle your own scheduling, which is flexible. Once you take on a student, sessions recur at the same times each week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit. You also handle most of the communication with families, by email. Planning is your part too: you choose and adapt materials for each student, because every child differs.

Yes. You decide which students you want to work with. Before a match, you see the student’s age, grade, disability category, recent work and the family’s goals, plus the student’s availability and deep details of their interests. If a match doesn’t work, SpecialEdResource rematches.

How many students you start with is very flexible and mainly up to you. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

No. You don’t write IEPs or attend IEP meetings.

Only if requested.

Zoom. You provide:

• a laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone (your own; SpecialEdResource does not provide one);
• internet of at least 25 Mbps download;
• a quiet room; and
• a USB headset, which SpecialEdResource strongly recommends.

This is tutoring, not classroom teaching: you work with one student at a time, in live online sessions that usually last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour, as a part-time W-2 employee of SpecialEdResource. Training is paid, and licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome.

Starting pay: $23/hour, W-2. All tutors can earn a 10% performance bonus in any pay period when they tutor at least 10 hours and turn in session notes on time. Notes count as on time when they’re turned in within 48 hours after each session. Pay and schedule

Twice a month, on the 5th and 20th, by direct deposit.

W-2. You’re an employee: SpecialEdResource withholds federal income tax, Georgia state income tax (for tutors who live in Georgia) and your share of Social Security and Medicare, pays the employer’s half (7.65% of your pay) and carries workers’ comp. You get a W-2 each January and don’t file quarterly estimated taxes for this job.

You're paid for tutoring time. Prep and notes are not paid separately; the session rate covers them. For the notes, SpecialEdResource provides AI summary tools that make note-writing mostly copy and paste.

Yes. No-shows are always paid.

Yes. Training and onboarding are both paid. Platform training takes about an hour.

Raises above the starting rate are based on performance, going above and beyond, and results with your students.

No. Health insurance isn't provided for part-time roles at these hours.

Our greatest need is weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, which is your local time in Georgia. Evening and weekend tutors are welcome too: tell us when you can teach. You don’t need to cover every grade, subject or time. Once you take on a student, sessions recur at the same times each week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

At least 5 hours of weekly availability. Tutors with us work 5 to 25 hours a week. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

No. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

Sessions usually last 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour. On average, a student meets with their tutor 2 to 3 times a week.

Most students keep meeting through summer and school breaks.

Yes. Tell us as far ahead as you can (usually a week is plenty). Occasional time off carries no penalty.

Four things. You need to:

• hold a special education certification;
• hold a current teaching license from a US state, or one you’ll renew before you start;
• live in one of the states where we can currently employ tutors (Georgia is one; the full list is above); and
• be comfortable with the role’s $23/hour W-2 pay terms.

No. The requirement is special education certification and a current teaching license, both from any US state. Your license doesn’t need to be from the state where the student lives. We check licenses before the first interview.

GaPSC, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, issues Georgia’s teaching certificates. Its rule on teaching fields lists these special education fields: Academic Content Concentrations (P-5, 4-8, 6-12); Behavior Disorders (P-12); Deaf Education (P-12); Physical and Health Disabilities (P-12); Special Education Adapted Curriculum (P-12); Special Education General Curriculum (P-12); Special Education General Curriculum/Elementary Education (P-5); Learning Disabilities (P-12); Special Education Preschool (Ages 3-5); and Visual Impairment (P-12). This is GaPSC’s list. Our application asks whether you hold a special education certification. We check licenses before the first interview. Georgia special education certification guide

Use GaPSC’s public Certification Lookup page. It says: “To check certification, enter either the certificate number or educator’s name below.” It adds: “If you do not know the Certification ID number, you may retrieve it at Certification ID Lookup.” Looking up a Georgia certificate

You can still apply, as long as you’ll renew it before you start. The application’s license question says:

Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

In Georgia, you renew an expired Professional certificate by meeting the same renewal requirements as a current one (see the next answer), plus any Special Georgia Requirements you still owe. GaPSC’s renewal page says: “There are no penalties for expired certifications.” It also says: “Renewal Requirements must have been met within 5 years of the application date for renewal.” If your most recent renewable certificate expired between June 30, 2011, and June 30, 2017, GaPSC’s renewal rule says “renewal credit is not required for reinstatement. This does not apply to any outstanding Special Georgia Requirements”. The renewal page adds: “Certificates/Licenses cannot be backdated earlier than the current fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).” For your own case, contact GaPSC at (404) 232-2500, or (800) 869-7775 toll free outside the metro Atlanta area. Renewing an expired Georgia certificate

Georgia’s Professional certificates are valid for five years, and GaPSC’s validity rule says: “The expiration date of all certificates, with the exception of Waiver certificates, is June 30 of the final year of validity.” An Induction certificate works differently: GaPSC’s renewal page says “Induction certificates are non-renewable. To convert an Induction certificate, you must meet the requirements outlined in your Induction Issuance letter.”

You can apply to renew a Professional certificate from December 1 of the year before it expires. If you work in a Georgia public or charter school, your employer applies for you: GaPSC’s renewal page says “Public School/Charter School Employees cannot apply for renewal on their own.”

If you don’t, you apply yourself in MyPSC, GaPSC’s online account, after completing a renewal route within your certificate’s validity period. For teachers not working in a Georgia school, GaPSC’s renewal rule lists: 6 semester hours of college coursework with grades of B or better, 10 Georgia professional learning units (PLUs), 10 continuing education units (CEUs) or 100 hours of Bright from the Start (BFTS)-approved trainings (the rule lets you combine these); valid National Board certification in a comparable field; one year of successful educator experience on another state’s valid certificate; or re-taking and passing the GACE content test for each field you renew (only the fields you pass are renewed, and a field with no content test can’t be renewed this way). GaPSC’s renewal page says, for coursework, CEUs and PLUs: “Coursework does not need to be in your certification area or in education”. PLUs must come from a Georgia school system or another GaPSC-approved provider. The page lists a “$20 processing fee payable via the Payments link of the applicant’s MyPSC account.” Questions: GaPSC at (404) 232-2500, or (800) 869-7775 toll free outside the metro Atlanta area. Renewing a Georgia certificate

Not for this job. Licenses and special education certification from any US state are welcome. If you want a Georgia certificate as well, GaPSC offers interstate reciprocity: its reciprocity rule asks you to “Hold a valid or expired professional certificate issued based on completion of a GaPSC-accepted educator preparation program” in a field comparable to a Georgia field. A Georgia Professional certificate also needs three years of successful full-time out-of-state experience; with less, you start with an Induction certificate. GaPSC’s page for out-of-state educators says “reciprocity does not mean that an out-of-state educator will automatically qualify for a Georgia certificate.” A literacy test is new: GaPSC’s Special Georgia Requirements page says: “Effective July 1, 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.” For most special education fields, the aligned test is Application of the Science of Reading (test 418); for Deaf Education, it is Application of Literacy Instruction for Deaf Education (test 406). On the ethics test, GaPSC’s assessment rule says: “For those applying by reciprocity, three (3) or more years of successful educator experience can exempt the GACE Ethics for Teachers Assessment.” You apply online in MyPSC. Certificates from other states

Yes. Retired teachers anywhere in Georgia are welcome, and you apply on the same terms as everyone else (what you need to apply). If you draw a benefit from TRS, the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, here is what its rules say and how they apply.

Start any paid work, tutoring included, the month after your retirement takes effect, or ask TRS first: TRS’s web page says paid service “for any employer” during the calendar month of the effective date of retirement voids the retirement application, while its 06/26 Member’s Guide says “for any TRS-covered employer”. TRS’s example: “If your retirement date is July 1st, you can begin working no earlier than August 1st.” As we read TRS’s rules, W-2 tutoring for SpecialEdResource is employment in the private sector, not contracted with a TRS covered employer. TRS’s Member’s Guide (06/26) says, for service retirees: “The following employment options are available while continuing to receive your monthly retirement benefit.” Its list of full-time options includes “Employment in the Private Sector (Not contracted with a TRS covered employer)”. That condition matters. If a private company you work for does business with a TRS-covered employer (TRS’s reporting employers include local boards of education, charter schools, colleges and universities, technical colleges, libraries, RESAs and certain state agencies), TRS limits what you may earn there in “a position which would normally be held by a teacher as determined by the Board of Trustees” to half of the average annual compensation used to calculate your retirement benefit or your final salary at retirement, whichever is greater, and the contract or an online employment verification must reach TRS before the work starts. This covers employees of such a company, not only independent contractors, and the guide adds: “For employment with any private entity (e.g., partnership, corporation, temp agency, etc.) as a teacher, documentation of your duties and responsibilities with the entity and the retiree’s relationship with the TRS covered employer must be submitted to TRS for evaluation.” (TRS’s older web page states the cap without the teacher-position wording.) If you are a TRS disability retiree, different rules apply. TRS says: “ALL employment, including self-employment, must be reported to TRS prior to accepting the employment.” Its page for employers adds: “Report all employment to TRS; this includes all positions covered and not covered under TRS.” TRS’s Member’s Guide says: “Georgia law places strict salary limitations on disability retirees.” It adds: “TRS will monitor your employment and income on a regular basis and, if necessary, reduce or discontinue your monthly benefit”. TRS asks: “Before accepting any post-retirement employment as a TRS disability retiree, contact the TRS office for detailed guidance and instructions.” Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-352-0650 or 404-352-6500) before you start.

TRS’s own pages: Working After Retirement, employment for disability retirees and its employer page on disability retirees. Our TRS return-to-work guide

TRS’s reporting employers include local boards of education and charter schools, so these rules cover going back to a Georgia public school. For work with a TRS-covered employer, TRS says: “Georgia law requires a break-in-service of at least 1 month.” and “If your retirement date is July 1st, you can begin working no earlier than August 1st.” Start the month after your retirement takes effect, and do not agree to post-retirement work with a TRS reporting entity before you leave: TRS says “The employee cannot verbally or in writing agree to work after retirement with a TRS reporting entity before the termination date” of your current job, and if you work under a pre-arranged agreement, “the retiree’s retirement application is nullified”. Part-time work for a TRS-covered employer: TRS says “A TRS retiree who retired on service retirement may return to work in a less than half-time basis for a TRS covered employer.” “The compensation cannot exceed 49% of the full time monthly salary.” and “Retirees cannot work more than 49% of the schedule for the position.” For hourly work, TRS publishes a schedule of the maximum hours you may work each month; for its fiscal year 2027 (July 2026 to June 2027) the monthly maximums run from 75 to 91 hours, 992 hours in all. TRS’s Member’s Guide (06/26) adds a yearly limit: “Your compensation is limited to less than one half of the average annual compensation used to calculate your retirement benefit or your final salary at the time of your retirement, whichever is greater.” Work for a TRS-covered employer still counts when it comes through a company: TRS says “All employment, whether directly or indirectly (i.e. independent contractor, private temporary company, etc.) with a TRS employer is subject to salary and service limitations”, and “Any employment with a temporary agency for a TRS-covered employer must be reported to TRS by the employer.” If you are a TRS disability retiree, different rules apply. TRS says: “ALL employment, including self-employment, must be reported to TRS prior to accepting the employment.” Its page for employers adds: “Report all employment to TRS; this includes all positions covered and not covered under TRS.” TRS’s Member’s Guide says: “Georgia law places strict salary limitations on disability retirees.” It adds: “TRS will monitor your employment and income on a regular basis and, if necessary, reduce or discontinue your monthly benefit”. TRS asks: “Before accepting any post-retirement employment as a TRS disability retiree, contact the TRS office for detailed guidance and instructions.” Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-352-0650 or 404-352-6500) before you start.

TRS’s own pages: Working After Retirement, part-time work and the schedule of maximum hours. Going back to a TRS-covered employer

Substitute teaching for a Georgia board of education: TRS says “If you retired on a service retirement, you may engage in unlimited substitute classroom teaching in Georgia without suspension or reduction of your retirement benefits from TRS provided you are compensated as a substitute teacher at the daily rate of pay.” GaPSC’s Retired Educator certificate rule adds: “Retired Educator certificate holders shall be placed in the highest priority group on substitute teaching lists for Georgia local units of administration (LUAs)”. Substitute teaching for a school system is work for a TRS-covered employer, so the rules in the answer above apply too: start the month after your retirement takes effect, and do not agree to post-retirement work with a TRS reporting entity before you leave. If you are a TRS disability retiree, different rules apply. TRS says: “ALL employment, including self-employment, must be reported to TRS prior to accepting the employment.” Its page for employers adds: “Report all employment to TRS; this includes all positions covered and not covered under TRS.” TRS’s Member’s Guide says: “Georgia law places strict salary limitations on disability retirees.” It adds: “TRS will monitor your employment and income on a regular basis and, if necessary, reduce or discontinue your monthly benefit”. TRS asks: “Before accepting any post-retirement employment as a TRS disability retiree, contact the TRS office for detailed guidance and instructions.” Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-352-0650 or 404-352-6500) before you start.

Sources: TRS’s page on other allowed employment and GaPSC’s Retired Educator certificate rule. Substitute teaching after you retire

SB 150 is a separate route back to full-time teaching in a Georgia public school, not a rule about private employers. From July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2030, a Georgia public school system may hire a TRS retiree who has at least 30 years of creditable service in a full-time capacity as a certified teacher of pre-kindergarten through grade 12, has been retired for at least 12 months and was not restored to service as a teacher in that time, as a full-time pre-K–12 classroom teacher in a qualifying subject; special education is one of the statewide qualifying subjects (reading, writing and English language arts also need a dyslexia or reading endorsement). The retiree keeps the retirement benefit, earns no new service credit, and the school system pays both the employer and employee contributions to TRS. The Act also says: “It shall be the duty of each beneficiary to notify an employer of his or her status as a beneficiary prior to accepting employment with such employer.” TRS adds: “The retiree must not have been in a terminated or suspended status during the 12 months prior to the hire date.” and “TRS requires retirees to teach for a minimum of 50% of the full-time schedule in a qualifying subject area in the classroom.” GaPSC’s Retired Educator certificate is not enough for such a job: TRS says “it cannot be used for positions that require professional certification.” The Act says “This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2026, only if it is determined to have been concurrently funded”; TRS’s Member’s Guide and SB 150 page describe it as effective July 1, 2026, and we found no document that states the funding determination itself. For service retirees, TRS’s Full Time Employment page says: “Retirees may work in any temporary, full-time position for three calendar months in a fiscal year and continue receiving monthly benefit payments.” Its Member’s Guide adds: “The full-time position must be paid at the normal compensation within your salary limit.” The same guide lists “Private School Teaching” among the full-time options for service retirees that it says are “available while continuing to receive your monthly retirement benefit”. Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-352-0650 or 404-352-6500) before you start.

Sources: TRS’s SB 150 page and TRS’s Member’s Guide (06/26). Our TRS return-to-work guide

For this job, the license rule is the same for everyone. The application’s license question says:

Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

In Georgia, GaPSC offers a Retired Educator certificate. Its rule says the certificate “allows retired Georgia educators to maintain certification for the purposes of substitute teaching or other educational activities for which GaPSC educator certification is not required but may be desirable.” To get one, you must have held a renewable GaPSC professional certificate, be retired as verified by TRS (or a comparable retirement system), and hold no other valid Georgia certificate; GaPSC’s Retired Educator FAQ asks for a Retirement Verification Letter from TRS. The rule says “An initial Retired Educator certificate is valid for thirty (30) years”, and each renewal lasts ten years, with the application and fee but no professional learning or renewal credit. It also says: “Retired Educator certificate holders may not serve in any position requiring GaPSC educator certification. Retired educators who are hired in positions requiring certification must meet requirements to renew their expired professional certificates.” And: “A Retired Educator certificate is invalidated upon issuance of any other Georgia educator certificate.” After you retire: your Georgia certificate

If you are under full retirement age for all of 2026, SSA’s limit is $24,480 for the year. Above it, SSA withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn over the limit. If 2026 is the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit applies: $65,160, counting only earnings in the months before you reach full retirement age, and SSA withholds $1 for every $3 above it. Either limit counts your wages from every job, not only this one, plus any net earnings from self-employment. The earnings test applies only before full retirement age. If you get Social Security disability benefits, other rules apply: SSA says, “If a disabled beneficiary performs any work activity, we look at that activity to determine whether the disability has ceased.” Ask SSA before you take any job. These are SSA’s 2026 figures. In your grace year, a monthly test may apply instead of the yearly limit. SSA’s operating manual says “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” As we read SSA’s rules, that covers a TRS service retirement benefit. At $23 an hour, $24,480 is about 1,064 hours of tutoring in a year; at $25.30 an hour, the rate in a pay period when you earn the bonus, it is about 968 hours. The $25.30 figure holds only if every pay period earns the bonus; in a pay period that does not, every hour is paid at $23, so the real figure falls between the two. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit. SSA’s earnings test rules explain who the test applies to; check your own case with SSA. Georgia teachers and Social Security

In Georgia, whether a public school teacher pays into Social Security depends on the school district. The U.S. Department of Education lists Georgia as a state where coverage varies by district. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) notes that a teacher’s coverage depends on the state and school district they work in, and that in a few states some districts have coverage and others do not. The Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia (ERS), Georgia’s State Social Security Administrator, says: “Section 218 of the Social Security Act allows the state of Georgia to enter into voluntary agreements with the various political subdivisions of the state (including state and county governments and school systems) to provide Social Security coverage for those employees who are covered by a retirement system.” Its fact sheet adds: “Section 218 coverage is based on position as well as retirement system coverage.” For a question about a particular school system, the fact sheet points to ERS’s State Social Security Coordinator. For your own benefits, ask SSA: ERS says “ERS cannot answer questions concerning Social Security benefits for individuals”.

TRS’s Social Security page says: “Your TRS retirement benefit is not reduced, or affected in any way, by a benefit you are eligible to receive from the Social Security Administration (SSA).” Its Member’s Guide adds: “TRS does not determine eligibility for Social Security benefits.” The Social Security Fairness Act (Public Law 118-273), approved January 5, 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset for benefits payable for months after December 2023; some TRS documents still describe them. To check your own earnings record, ask SSA. Georgia teachers and Social Security

Tutoring with SpecialEdResource is W-2 work: SpecialEdResource withholds federal income tax, Georgia state income tax (for tutors who live in Georgia) and your share of Social Security and Medicare, pays the employer’s half (7.65% of your pay) and carries workers’ comp. You get a W-2 each January and don’t file quarterly estimated taxes for this job.

The Georgia Department of Revenue’s retirees FAQ asks “Does Georgia tax Social Security?” and answers: “No. Taxable Social Security and Railroad Retirement on the Federal return are exempt from Georgia Income Tax.”

For other retirement income, the Department of Revenue’s 2025 income tax instructions (IT-511) give a retirement income exclusion of up to $35,000 for taxpayers 62 to 64 years of age and up to $65,000 for taxpayers 65 or older. They add: “Up to $5,000 of the maximum allowable exclusion may be earned income.” and “If both spouses qualify, each spouse may claim the amounts above.” For later years, the Governor’s office says of HB 463 (2026): “It raises the retirement income exclusion to $70,000 beginning in 2027”. As we read HB 463, that is the amount for people 65 and older, and the amount for ages 62 to 64 stays at $35,000. For your own return, ask the Department of Revenue or a tax professional.

On SpecialEdResource’s hiring site, hiring.specialedresource.com, where every Apply button on this site leads. The application takes about two minutes, and a resume is required (PDF or Word, up to 10 MB). Apply now

If your answers meet every requirement, your next step is a short phone call with our AI assistant. You get a phone number and a personal code right after you apply, on screen and by email, and the call takes about 10 minutes. Prefer to talk with a person? Press 0 when the call starts. The call is recorded, and a person on our hiring team reviews it and makes every decision. The steps after that: team review, two interviews, a short mock lesson and the hiring decision. Your first interview is with Erin, and the second is with Luke Dalien, one of SpecialEdResource’s founders. How hiring works

Yes. Hiring includes a background check, paid by SpecialEdResource. License and background checks usually take 3 to 5 business days.

From hire to your first session could be a week or two.

studentsuccess@specialedresource.com