SB 101 was presented to the House today as a bill on school safety and protecting second amendment rights.  Although there are more controversial parts of the bill, more time was spent describing the provisions allowing a school board to designate personnel to be armed in schools than any other section.  Rep. Charles Gregory thought the bill fell way short of what should be done and told his fellow House members that "if that's the best gun bill we can come up with, we should be embarrassed."  There have undoubtedly been many others who thought the same thing about many bills. 

 

The bill passed 116-55 and went immediately to the Senate.  The Senate disagreed with the House changes, so it goes back to the House and is likely to have a conference committee appointed Monday.

 

Status of Local Filing  

The Senate passed the '14 budget today.  Senate Appropriations Chair Jack Hill provided some interesting stats.  We have 1.6 million students in bricks and mortar public schools and 118,000 teachers in those schools.  5.6% of the state budget is for health insurance for teachers; one-third of the budget goes to teacher salaries.  Sen. Hill said they separated the cost of health insurance from QBE to show just how much it costs.  He also pointed out that sometimes the amount of QBE funding grows but it's really just that cost going up.  Too bad more people don't understand that more QBE dollars do not necessarily mean more dollars for the classroom.

 

Sen. Hill also described charter systems as the most successful school improvement program we've had.  When the extra funding for the charter systems was questioned, Sen. Hill said this is the one improvement effort that involves schools and systems themselves.  The budget passed 51-0 and immediately went to the House.  The House insisted on its position (its budget) as did the Senate, so a conference committee was named.

 

SB 115, shifting the reporting of performance data for students in residential centers to a statewide LEA, passed the House 161-2 and goes to the Governor.

HR 552 requesting the implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs and encouraging districts to allow counselors to spend five full-time segments advising students, parents and guardians, passed the House 159-1.  School counselors asked the Education Finance Study Commission to recommend a comprehensive program.. 

HB 131, the weighting of dual enrollment credits for HOPE, passed the Senate 44-5.  It goes back to the House for agreement with Senate changes.

HB 197, amending the provisions for the forestland protection grants, passed the Senate 44-6.  It goes back to the House for agreement with the Senate changes.

 

 

The General Assembly will convene at 10 AM

8 AM Senate Judiciary Committee will meet in 310 CLOB to hear HB 382, relating to recreational joint-use facility agreements, and other bills.