Day 36: '14 Budget Up For Senate Vote11882 on 3/21/2013
The 2014 budget passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee today and is on the calendar for tomorrow.  Right on schedule as the session winds down.  There were a few disagreements with the House and/or Governor's proposals.  Here are a few of the Senate's choices:
  • Reduce charter facility grants by $1.9 million due to the availability of capital revenue for state charters per HB 797
  • Do not reduce charter planning grants but use the funds to assist charter school and charter system planning, development, and implementation of best practices across systems (House proposed a $90,000 reduction)
  • No additional funding for students in residential treatment centers -- the House used a new formula which increased the funding
  • No reduction to School Nutrition
  • Increased the funds for charter systems by $7.2 million
The Senate budget also created a new line item showing the state's funding of the employer share of health insurance for earned certified employees.  Oddly, the cost to the state is $1.1 billion, about $40 million less than the austerity cut.
 
Today's Laundry List of Events
SB 243, the tax credit scholarship bill, was on the agenda for the House Ways and Means Committee today but was not heard. 
 
HB 123, the parent trigger bill, was on the agenda for Senate Education & Youth but was held at the request of the author.  Either the votes weren't there or the author did not like the changes being made or both.
 
HB 327, the flexibility bill, appears to be dead this session.  House members say they will fight for it next year.  The 2015 deadline for declaring the intent to be a charter system, IE2, or status quo remains intact. 
 
HB 70, waiver for the special needs voucher bill, got a "Do Pass" and goes on to Rules.  The payment schedule was amended but not the amount.  The issue with the amount is the five mill share.  The state deducts the value of five mills when calculating its share of the QBE costs for public schools, but no deduction is taken for the voucher calculation.  Supporters say local schools save money because they do not have to use any local funds to educate the child. 
 
HB 244, the evaluation bill, moved through the Subcommittee and Committee today and goes on to Rules.
 
HB 283, the Title 20 bill, also passed the Subcommittee and Committee today and now goes to Senate Rules.  It got a little bigger along the way. 
  • IE2 statute was amended so sanctions take place at the end of the contract, and the three years of meeting performance targets do not have to be consecutive
  • Charter system funding would be capped at $4.5 million per year per system
  • Charter Advisory Committee would have to annually review charter systems for compliance on governance and performance
  • PreK students at a school affiliated with a charter would have enrollment priority
  • Failure to promote school level governance would be an additional reason to terminate a charter system
  • HB 555, making it a misdemeanor for local board members to vote against submission of local acts to the Department of Justice, vote to withdraw the submission, or take no action to comply with the submission, was added.
  • "Contiguous" was defined to mean proximity in grades not physical space to address a problem in which two schools decided to share a governing board and resources which led to the loss of funding for one of the principals.  This would return the funding.
SB 160, streamlining reporting requirements for employers to comply with immigration laws, passed out of Committee and is in House Rules.
 
SB 68, Celebrate Freedom Week, also passed out of Committee and is in House Rules.  An attempt to make this an "encouraging" bill rather than the requirements failed.
 
HB 242, the Juvnile Justice rewrite, passed the Senate and goes back to the House for agreement.
 
SB 179, relating to public contracts, passed the House and goes back to the Senate for agreement.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
 
Friday, March 22nd
The House will convene at 9:30; the Senate at 10
 
Four more days to go!