While it can probably be said without fear of contradiction that the General Assembly is not yet up to full speed, the House of Representatives on this ninth day of their 2010 session finally tackled a debate calendar.  That calendar contained only two bills, but one was of interest to the education committee (with more apparently on the way on Tuesday).  With no dissenting votes, the House passed HB 651, which permits the DOE to make sex offender registry information available to local systems by electronic means rather than requiring them to mail it out (as is currently the case).

On this afternoon, Representative Terry England (R-Winder) again gathered his K-12 Education Subcommittee of House Appropriations to hear and ask questions about what could only be described as more "doom and gloom" budget information from other education-related entities.  Presented on this day were the deeply-cut budgets of the Professional Standards Commission and the Department of Education.  Many education observers are aware of the impact, both current and cumulative, of the massive budget cuts on local systems.  What may come as news, though, is that the cuts to the Department of Education have resulted in a situation where there are currently more federally-funded employees at DOE than ones funded by the state.  And, in response to a couple of lawmakers who (sarcastically?) suggested abolishing that frequently-criticized agency, it should be noted that their entire payroll (of state dollars) would only allow one-third of one day of teacher furloughs to be restored.  Budget times simply aren't pretty, and solutions aren't readily available.

The General Assembly will meet again on Tuesday, February 2, for their tenth legislative day.