School boards were at the eye of the storm on this twenty-third day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly.  SB 84, the by-now-well-known "school board governance" bill, was up for debate and action in the state Senate.  Arguments for and against the provisions of the bill were lengthy and passionate, but in the end, the bill passed by a vote of 35-14.  The bill, which gives the Governor power to remove duly elected officials and sets up a method by which some board members can actually remove others, now goes to the House of Representatives to begin winding its way through their committee maze.

Over in the House, two bills of interest to educators were debated and ultimately passed.  Rep. Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) presented HB 229, known as the "Student Health and Physical Education Act" and requiring assessment of students' physical fitness by certified PE teachers.  Even over some objections by fellow Republicans, this bill passed by a vote of 116-42 and now moves over to the Senate.  Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) authored and presented HB 149, the "Move on When Ready Act" aimed at allowing high school juniors and seniors to enroll full-time in a post-secondary institution and earn both college and high school credit simultaneously (with all but $200 of QBE funds following the student to that post-secondary institution).  Rep. Jones' bill passed by a vote of 154-6.

In a Senate Education and Youth Committee meeting that lasted until almost 6:00 p.m., SB 90, the "voucher" bill, was the focus of attention.  Before a packed room, Committee Chairman Dan Weber (R-Dunwoody) attempted to let all speak who had requested the opportunity to do so.  Statistics and studies were quoted (some of dubious quality), and speakers both pro and con were passionate in their arguments.  In the end, though, and to no one's surprise, the bill received a "do pass" recommendation by a 6-4 party-line vote and will now move to the Senate Rules Committee for consideration of placement on a future Senate calendar.  [Editor's note:  Prior to hearing testimony and acting on SB 90, the committee heard and gave a "do pass" recommendation to SR 183, Senator Weber's resolution seeking "education improvement districts."]

Two House committee meetings were held on this afternoon, the first a meeting of the Academic Achievement Subcommittee of the House Education Committee.  First on their agenda was discussion and debate on HB 281, Rep. Len Walker's (R-Loganville) bill seeking the opportunity for virtual school students to participate in public school extracurricular activities.  The veneer of this bill was quickly stripped off, as it became readily apparent that this bill was an attempt to allow home schooled students (who were simply enrolled in a single virtual school course) to participate fully in public school extracurricular activities, both competitive and noncompetitive.  After much discussion and some testimony, subcommittee chair David Casas (R-Lawrenceville) entertained a motion to table the bill until the next meeting of the subcommittee, and that motion passed unanimously.  Second up for this subcommittee was HB 400, sponsored by the vice-chairman of the House Education Committee, Rep. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody).  Although this bill was much more complex (and, lengthy) than the previous bill, it received a "do pass" recommendation from this subcommittee in very short order and will now move to the full House Education Committee for further debate.

Finally, the K-12 Education Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee met on this afternoon to consider a much-modified version of HB 198, a bill authored by Rep. Mark Williams (R-Jesup) which, in its original form, had been intended to allow school systems to structure their school year in such a way as to avoid the 180-day requirement as long as they met the same number of instructional hours as would have been included in a 180-day school year.  Rep. Williams' bill had been altered, though, and now provided that, for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years, school systems would have the opportunity to meet for only 170 student days.  The bill was touted as one providing "flexibility" for local systems (There's that word again:  "flexibility."  As noted before, it is obviously a Latin word meaning "no money for you."), but questions were raised about funding, implementation, the need for it in the face of federal stimulus funds heading to Georgia, etc.  In the end, the bill was held in the subcommittee for further study before future action.

When the General Assembly meets on Thursday, February 26 for their twenty-fourth day, the FY2009 Amended Budget will be up for debate and adoption in the House of Representatives.  Decisions on the House version of this document have already been made at the committee level, and action by the full House is mostly a formality.  Afterwards, the mid-year budget will head to the Senate for what is expected to be fairly quick action.