The issue of transportation had been expected to dominate the day on this twenty-fifth day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly, but the continuing concern over money caused that subject to rise to the level of “equal billing.” The House of Representatives did pass their version of legislation intended to provide relief from the traffic congestion that appears to be choking the state, but talk of money was on the lips of legislators in other areas of the Capitol.
On this morning, Senator Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, convened his committee to give their approval to the Senate version of the FY2009 Amended Budget. After Senator Hill spoke for approximately ten minutes, outlining the “highlights and lowlights” of the Senate version of the document, his committee gave its unanimous approval. By the end of Thursday’s Senate session, the budget document will have been approved and ready for committee discussions between House and Senate conferees. [Editor’s note: The Senate version of the document maintains the House position that approximately $145 million in federal stimulus funds be used to mitigate the possibility of further austerity cuts to local school systems. Since the Governor has lowered the FY09 revenue estimate and agreed with the General Assembly to fund the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant for this year, further austerity cuts were a real probability. It is said around the Capitol, though, that the Governor is not particularly fond of the General Assembly’s plan to use stimulus funds in this way and in the FY09 Amended Budget. Stay tuned for further developments.]
In mid-afternoon, Governor Perdue held a press conference in which he announced his intention to lower by $1.6 billion the revenue estimate upon which the FY2010 Budget was built. The announced plans for dealing with the cuts will mean greater cuts to state agencies and higher health insurance premiums for state employees and teachers. In his press conference, though, the Governor laid out plans to use federal stimulus dollars to ease the pain of some of the cuts, and education funding was among the beneficiaries of his plan. The Governor listed over $400 million in those federal funds to be used for K-12 education, Regents, and the Department of Technical and Adult Education, all to help ease the impact of what would have been further cuts. [Editor’s note: Details on how these federal monies would be applied were not immediately available, but in the world of K-12 education, they are thought to be targeted for the purpose of avoiding additional austerity cuts that might have occurred as a result of the lowered revenue estimate. The federal dollars will not, of course, be sufficient to eliminate the austerity cuts already proposed in the FY2010 budget, and the state’s continuing revenue problems may cause further cuts to be made in the future.]
In other news of interest to education-watchers, a subcommittee of the House Education Committee held a late afternoon meeting to continue its discussion of what has become a very “hot topic:” salary supplements for teachers who hold National Board certification. As Vice-Chairman Barbara Reece (D-Menlo) conducted this meeting of the Academic Achievement Subcommittee and presided over what could only be described as a “spirited” discussion, opinions and suggestions flew over how to best deal with a proposed substitute to HB 243. House Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) presented his sub before this subcommittee for the second time, and confusion continued to reign over just where this program should head. Should it just end, as the Governor proposes? Or, should the state continue to pay those who have already earned the credential, at least until their certification expires? What about those who are “in the pipeline,” having started the work needed to earn the certificate, but now not sure of whether to continue based on the state’s probable decision to end its fiscal support of the program? Will the Master Teacher program proposed by the Governor be an acceptable solution? In the end, the subcommittee gave a “do pass” to the bill, moving it forward to the full committee where (hopefully) some of the kinks can be worked out and some form of agreement can be reached.
In other action, the same subcommittee gave its quick approval to HB 455, a bill calling for the April 15 deadline for contract offers to be extended (for the 2008-09 school year only) to May 15. A suggestion was made that the bill extend this provision for at least another year or two, and it remains to be seen if this suggestion takes root as the bill moves forward. If this bill is to be passed into law quickly enough to do systems any good as they grapple with budget cuts and the implications for personnel, it will really have to pick up the pace and move through the legislative process at an amazingly rapid pace. Again, stay tuned.
As the General Assembly moves toward the magical day 30 (the last day upon which a bill must receive approval by its chamber of origin and can then move across the Capitol to be considered by the other chamber), the focus on introducing new legislation wanes as the emphasis on getting bills heard and passed by committees strengthens. Thus, at least for a few days, there just aren’t many new bills to summarize. Available for readers’ review today are:
SB 219 – a bill intended to eliminate the practice of paying classroom teachers for advanced degrees in school administration
SB 220 – scholarships for military orphans
SB 221 – automatic college admission for students who are in the top 10% of their class
On Wednesday, March 4, the General Assembly will gather for its 26th day.
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