To no one's surprise, the buzz around the Capitol on this fourth day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly was mostly budget-related.  Regardless of the person posing it, the key question seemed to be:  "Can you believe that was cut from the budget?"  Slashing $2 billion, as stated yesterday, simply cannot be a pretty exercise, and it was undoubtedly seen that way by virtually everyone.  But, the legislative process moved on in the to-be-expected slow fashion that always characterizes the first week of a new session, as committees met for the first time, listened to presentations, and organized for their future work.

On this day, the House Education Committee invited the Senate Education and Youth Committee members to meet with them and hear a presentation by State Superintendent Cox.  In this early afternoon meeting, Superintendent Cox highlighted the goals of the Alliance of Education Agency Heads, touted recent successes by Title I schools in Georgia, and expressed her support for several of the Governor's recently-announced initiatives:  merit pay for teachers, incentive pay for high school principals, and differential pay for math and science teachers.  She responded to questions for a brief period of time, and the meeting adjourned after about 75 minutes.

Prior to Superintendent Cox's presentation, committee vice-chairman Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) welcomed new members of the House Education Committee and announced the names of subcommittee chairs.  Members of the House Education Committee are as follows:  Brooks Coleman (Chair, absent due to illness), Fran Millar (Vice-Chair), Tommy Benton (Secretary), Kathy Ashe, Rick Austin, Paul Battles, Amy Carter, David Casas, Tom Dickson, Melvin Everson, Hugh Floyd, Doug Holt, Penny Houston, Jan Jones, Darryl Jordan, Margaret Kaiser, Mike Keown, Edward Lindsey, Barbara Massey Reece, Howard Maxwell, Rahn Mayo, Alisha Morgan, Randy Nix, Allen Peake, Bobby Reese, Tony Sellier, Ed Setzler, Willie Talton, Rashad Taylor, Rob Teilhet, Brian Thomas, and Earnest "Coach" Williams.  Subcommittee chairs are:  Academic Achievement, David Casas; Academic Support, Tom Dickson; School Choice, Melvin Everson; and, Charter Schools, Ed Setzler.

Senate Education and Youth Committee members were announced earlier, but for information for readers of this site, those members are:  Dan Weber (Chairman), Dan Moody (Vice-Chairman), Don Thomas (Secretary), Don Balfour, Gail Buckner, Jim Butterworth, Vincent Fort, Bill Jackson (Ex-Officio), Eric Johnson (Ex-Officio), Ronald Ramsey, Freddie Sims, Horacena Tate, and Tommie Williams (Ex-Officio).

In another part of the Capitol on this afternoon, Chairman Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins) convened his House Ways and Means Committee for their organizational meeting.  GSSA will join GSBA and other interested organizations as this key committee begins to work on one of the "hot" items of the session:  caps on the annual growth of the assessed value of real property (see HR 1).

The General Assembly will meet for its fifth day of the session on Friday, January 16, before recessing for the week of January 19 during which budget hearings will be conducted.