Well, the frantic race to the finish line is well under way, as committees in both the Senate and the House rush to "get bills out" so that they can be considered for placement by the respective rules committees for placement on a House or Senate calendar.  As is always the case, some bills of questionable content and value get included in that "rush," and observers always hope that the filter provided by the many eyes that look over these bills will help to weed out the ones that simply should not pass.  We shall see.

On this thirty-sixth day of the 2009 session of the General Assembly, both the full House and the full Senate acted on bills that are and have been of interest to educators.  Today, the House:

• Passed SB 44, a bill calling for school boards to "give preference" to products manufactured in Georgia when making purchasing decisions;
• Passed SB 14, which provides that a person on the national or state sex offender registries cannot serve on a local school board;
• Passed SB 210, which makes home-schooled students eligible to be nominated for participation in the Governor's Honors Program; and,
• Defeated, for the second time this session, a revised version of SB 83, which sought to increase the homestead exemption across state.  [Editor's note:  The latest revision of this bill called for a $1,000 increase in the exemption for each of the next two years, bringing the total homestead exemption at the end of two years to $4,000.  After that second year, the exemption would have increased each year by a percentage equal to the annual increase in the consumer price index.  Though the bill received 109 votes in favor, it still fell far short of the 120 needed for passage and is dead for this session.  Look for a reprise in 2010.]

Across the hall in the Senate, that chamber:

• Approved HB 149, the "Move on When Ready" Act, which now goes to the Governor for his certain signature;
• Passed HB 300, requiring school systems to provide to parents of students in grades 6 through 12 information on meningococcal meningitis disease and its vaccine; and,
• Passed unanimously HB 484, which provides that children of parents on active military duty who move to Georgia are automatically considered to have met the residency requirement for eligibility for the HOPE scholarship.

Over the last couple of days, both the House and Senate have seen their education committees meet for hours on end in an attempt to deal with legislation from the other chamber.  On Tuesday, the House Education Committee finally gave "do pass" approval (after hours and hours of subcommittee hearings) to a much-amended version of SB 84, Governor Perdue's school board governance legislation (which contains anti-nepotism language inserted at the urging of Senate President Pro-tem Tommie Williams).  This bill, like others that will be listed below, will now be considered by the House Rules Committee for placement on a House calendar.  The House Education Committee, on this day, also:

• Voted to give a "do pass" recommendation to SB 239, a bill requiring parents to enroll students in school in a timely manner after relocating;
• Awarded "do pass" status to SR 466, calling for a design team to recommend a program designed to enhance the performance of principals; and,
• Gave a "do pass" recommendation to SR 153, a proposed constitutional amendment seeking to permit the formation of educational improvement districts.

In the Senate Education and Youth Committee meeting on this afternoon, there was quite a surprise waiting for observers.  The committee was set to take up HB 178, a Governor's bill seeking simply to waive expenditure controls for school systems for the next two years.  It was to this bill that the Lieutenant Governor's office produced two amendments, one seeking to make schools containing any of grades 6, 7, or 8 eligible for middle school program funding (if they meet the other requirements) and the other seeking to restore funding to local school systems whose students engage in dual enrollment programs.  Over the objections of one senator and the Governor's floor leader, the Senate Education and Youth Committee gave this now-amended bill a "do pass" and forwarded it to Senate Rules.  It remains to be seen whether the surprise amendments jeopardize the status of the underlying bill, the one intended only to deal with expenditure controls.

This committee also gave its "do pass" approval to HB 198, the bill seeking to provide local school systems options by changing the 180-day school year requirement for students to an equivalent number of hours.  After making one minor amendment, the bill received a unanimous "do pass."

The Senate Education and Youth Committee will meet again early on the morning of March 26, Day 37, to consider HB 251 (Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan's school choice bill).  It is already known that Senator Eric Johnson will propose to amend this bill, not with his full voucher bill, but with the part of it that deals with school choice across district lines.  The language of that part of SB 90 is confusing, as it is not clear whether school systems that opt to engage in across-district-lines choice programs can continue to do so under their current arrangements or whether, in order to continue, they must adopt the procedures in SB 90.  No matter what the decision on that, there is still concern that systems choosing to participate under the terms outlined in SB 90 would find themselves on either the "winning" or "losing" side of a convoluted funding mechanism that seeks to transfer the equivalent of local money when a student moves from one system to another.  Stay tuned for further action on this not-uncontroversial proposal.

Day thirty-seven (and, the last legislative day of this packed week) will occur on Thursday, March 26.