The House and Senate zipped through their calendars quickly today to move on to Committee work. The House passed SB 67, disaster-related capital outlay, 162-0 and it heads to the Governor. Here are a couple of resolutions of note: - HR 531 is a constitutional amendment to allow local legislation to authorize the election of the local school superintendent. Rep. Valencia Stovall (D-Forest Park) is the sole signer but she at least phrased the ballot question honestly.
- SR 348 would create the Senate Freedom from Property Taxes Study Committee. The sponsors, Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell) and Sen. Bruce Thompson (R-White), put their goal in the title of the Study Committee. By the way, there are numerous Study Committees proposed each year but few are approved. It's good to know what policy changes people are thinking about though.
School Board Appreciation Week Before moving on to Committee action today, we want to recognize the service of our school board members. We have 180 elected boards of education across the state. Bless them for stepping forward to serve. A spotlight hits them every time something goes wrong but still they run for the office. May you be publicly appreciated for all you do! We frequently get questions about the school boards so here are answers to a few of them: - About 60% of the school boards are categorized as non-partisan
- 63% have five members, 27% have seven -- the rest have either 6, 8, 9, or 10 members
- The board chair is selected by the voters in 18% of the districts (32)
Back to Business After a three day weekend, legislators were back and moving through bills in Committee meetings. Here are the results: SB 83, adding the History and Literature of the Old and New Testament as an elective, received a "Do Pass" from the Academic Achievement Subcommittee of House Education. The sponsor, Sen. Jeff Mullis, said the purpose is "to teach not to preach." It moves to the full Committee. SB 60, the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act, also received a pass on to the full House Education Committee. SB 48, the dyslexia, made it unanimous from this Subcommittee as they also voted this one out to the full Committee. HB 365, this year's TAVT bill, was amended in Senate Finance to delay the implementation date a year. It got a "Do Pass" and goes to Senate Rules. HB 527, adjusting the QBE weights, also passed out of Senate Finance. Most of the Committee members were puzzled by the bill and tried to be careful they weren't doing something that would cause trouble down the road. This bill has usually been in the Education Committee where members are more familiar with the terminology. At least they were being cautious. It goes to Senate Rules. HB 459, creating a school bus driver status verification system, passed by a committee substitute in Senate Public Safety. Language was added about public safety assistants that had nothing to do with school bus drivers. It goes to Senate Rules. The following three bills were heard in Senate Education & Youth today but no vote was taken. That was planned. They will probably be voted out of the Committee at Wednesday's meeting. HB 83, the recess bill was back today. This may be the most talked-to-death bill yet. Several speakers wanted 30 minutes of recess to be required daily in elementary school with no exceptions. Two students testified for the bill -- this made the third year for one of them to speak for the bill. HB 68, limiting a student scholarship organization from also being an accrediting group, again got puzzled looks from legislators. SSOs and accreditation aren't two things heard together in a business plan very often. HB 530 tries to add a layer of protection for home schooled students. It stems from the recent case in Effingham County where two children were murdered. The bill has changed greatly since we first described it. When a parent notifies the Department of Education that they will home school their child, the Department will notify the local school district. If the parent does not file the intention to home school and the student has been absent for 45 days, the district would notify the Department of Family and Children's Services. HB 59 was the one bill that the Committee voted out. The bill started out as allowing a military family to enroll a student in a school when orders have been received but have not yet moved. It got two amendments. - One contained the language mentioned in Thursday's report about giving state charter schools statewide jurisdiction. According to the testimony, many of the state charters have been operating their meetings by teleconference which a statewide jurisdiction allows. The Attorney General gave an informal opinion that this portion of the law is vague, so this would clear it up. The amendment was ruled germane and was adopted.
- The second amendment was actually related to the bill. It would allow pre-enrollment at charter schools according to the author.
It moves on to Senate Rules. UPCOMING SCHEDULE The General Assembly is adjourned until Thursday. The next two days are Committee Work Days. Here are the meetings scheduled so far: Tuesday, March 19th 10 AM Academic Support Subcommittee of House Education will meet in 506 CLOB to hear SB 68, financial governance requirements, and HR 52, encouraging recognition of the impact of dyslexia 1 PM Senate Ethics Committee will meet in 307 CLOB to hear SB 147, prohibiting an elected official from being a registered lobbyist if compensated by the county, city, or school district. 2 PM Senate State and Local Governmental Operations Committee will meet in the Mezz 1 to hear HB 322, changing requirements for advertising in the Procurement Registry 2:30 PM House Retirement Committee will meet in 515 CLOB for this agenda Wednesday, March 20th 1 PM Senate Finance Tax Expenditures Subcommittee will meet in Mezz 1, agenda TBA 2 PM House Higher Education will meet in 606 CLOB to hear SB 161, weighting of grades 2 PM Senate Finance will meet in Mezz 1, agenda TBA 2 PM Senate Education & Youth will meet in 307 CLOB, agenda TBA |