It was a busy day under the Gold Dome trying to get to meetings. Four meetings at one time keep life interesting. Our rural districts often express frustration with the broadband services in their area or the lack thereof. The House passed HB 23 today which might help some. It would allow electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) and their affiliates to deliver broadband services. It goes to the Senate. What Happened in All Those Meetings? The Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee heard the supplemental budget today. For those of you who are new and look at documents, the House and Senate use different budget documents. The Senate often includes some historical data, the purpose, the full funding amount as well as the current proposed appropriation. The House tends to stick to the current proposal. The "tracking sheet" shows the Governor's proposal, the House's preferences, and the Senate's as soon as they are done. The Subcommittee mainly discussed the changes the House made. The Department of Education was asked to bring back information on several items: the amount needed to fund the audio-video grant requests on the waiting list, the anticipated need if the grant program were opened up, and a list of the districts that have received grants and how much they were; and how much of the increase in the supplement for the state's charter schools is due to enrollment increase and how much is due to the changes made by last year's HB 787. Chairman Ellis Black expects to have the next meeting Wednesday. SB 15, Keeping Georgia's Schools Safe Act, was heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee today. There was a substitute for the original bill, but no vote was taken. Chairman John Albers is continuing to take suggestions on changes to the bill. A number of changes have been made but it is still unclear whether the safety coaches are a choice or requirement. The coaches can be volunteers or compensated, but if they are volunteers, they would be eligible for a full homestead exemption from school taxes if such an exemption were approved locally. There are lots of questions as to how that would work. Speakers expressed concern about student data privacy, flagging students as threats, support for identified students,and issues with current laws. The bill is expected to be back in Committee on Wednesday. SB 21, requiring cybersecurity education in each grade K-12, was heard in Senate Education & Youth but no vote was taken. Sen. Donzella James, the bill's sponsor, was asked to work with the Department of Education to see how much of the bill's requirements are already being done. She was also asked to get information on the cost and time commitment that would be required. The Committee also heard SB 68, strengthening financial management requirements. Requirements in the bill are aimed at districts that are considered "high risk" based on certain criteria. According to Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, the bill's sponsor, seventeen districts currently fall into that category. No vote was taken. Continuing the "no vote taken" streak, HB 43, trying for the third year in a row to address sexual contact between a school employee and student and other sexual assault circumstances, was heard in a Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee. They will continue working on it. The Academic Support Subcommittee of House Education broke the "no vote taken" streak. HB 130, allowing the Georgia Foundation for Public Education to form a 501(c)(3) to receive donations was amended to require an annual report be provided to the Chairs of House and Senate Education. Some companies and foundations are allowed to donate only to a 501(c)(3), thus the bill. The bill received a "Do Pass" and moves to the full Committee. HB 69, would remove the requirement for a student to be in a public school a year prior to being eligible for the special needs voucher IF they had previously qualified for it. The example given was a student took the voucher but the parent then decided to home school the child and then decided to send the student to private school again but discovered they were no longer eligible for the voucher. It too moves on to the full Committee. A Subcommittee of House Public Safety and Homeland Security was set to hear HB 75, amending the statute on passing a stopped school bus, but instead they took up SB 25, passed last week by the Senate to amend te same code section. Smart move, somebody should make a rule that this always happens -- not that the Senate version is taken over the House version but that they settle on one bill to move forward when two or more bills are amending the same code section. Yes, there are stories behind that sentiment, but back to the meeting -- SB 25 received a "Do Pass" and goes on to the full Committee tomorrow. UPCOMING SCHEDULE Tuesday, February 12th The General Assembly will convene at 10 AM 1 PM House Public Safety and Homeland Security will meet in 406 CLOB to hear SB 25, relating to passing a stopped school bus 1:30 PM House Ways and Means Tax Expenditure Subcommittee will meet in 133 CAP to hear HB 170 which would raise the maximum income tax credits for donations to the Public Education Innovation Fund Foundation from $5 million to $15 million. 2 PM House Retirement Committee will meet in 515 CLOB for a hearing only on HB 109, amending provisions of TRS for those starting on or after July 1, 2019 2 PM House Ways and Means Public Finance & Property will meet in 133 CAP to hear HB 182 which would lower the threshold for online sales to be subject to the sales and use tax from $250,000 to $100,000. |