With tight finances pinching school professional development budgets, Georgia's largest teachers organization is increasing its efforts to train educators.

The Professional Association of Georgia Educators, with about 75,000 members, has established its own professional learning department, dedicating $2 million and eight staff members to the effort. The training is offered to members and nonmembers of the association.

"If not us, who is going to do this kind of thing?" spokesman Tim Callahan said.

On Wednesday, Richmond County Superintendent Dana Bedden said the funding for professional development had all but been eliminated to balance the school system's budget for the year.

With a slim budget, Elaine Shinn, Richmond County director of professional learning, said the school system turns to local resources to train staff members, including in-house experts to lead programs. Dr. Shinn said the system also relies on Fort Discovery and the Morris Museum of Art.

PAGE Executive Director Allene Magill recalled the first training opportunity her organization offered. It was 2004, and she was hitting the phone a week before, drumming up interest in the program. She admitted the experience gave her bouts of heartburn because she struggled to get anyone to attend.

But word has spread, and more people are taking advantage of training provided by PAGE, including an all-expenses-paid two-year program for new teachers, Dr. Magill said.

There is a "hunger" for high-quality professional development, she said. PAGE offers programs for former teachers of the year, new teachers and all teachers needing to be trained in the state's new curriculum.

And the training isn't the typical humdrum educators might be accustomed to, Mr. Callahan said.

"We don't give cold pizza and plastic forks," he said, emphasizing the need to treat educators as professionals.