On this, their tenth day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly, both the House and the Senate took action in their chambers on bills of interest to the education committee.  All of the bills were relatively non-controversial in nature (though there were certainly some "anti" comments made for several of them), and all passed by overwhelming majorities.

In the Senate, SB 319 passed with only 6 dissenting votes.  This bill permits textbook monies to be spent on a wider variety of items, now to include computer hardware.  This bill now moves across the Capitol to the House for their consideration.

In the House, four bills gained approval.  They were:

• HB 905 -- extends the sunset dates on certain school capital outlay programs
• HB 906 -- extends, for three years, the teacher contract issuance date until May 15
• HB 907 -- broadens the definition of "middle school program" so as to accommodate a wider variety of grade configurations
• HB 923 -- extends until July 1, 2013, the period of  time that educators have to complete a leadership certificate and still remain eligible to be paid on the basis of that certificate whether in a leadership position or not.

These bills now move to the Senate for their action and consideration.

As readers of this site are keenly aware, the introduction of education bills never seems to slow down.  Introduced in recent days are:

HB 1018 -- an attempt by some (whose hearts are in the right place) to require Georgia's public schools to teach a curriculum entitled "Love is not Abuse"

HR 1203 and HB 1020 -- a proposed constitutional amendment and the accompanying enabling legislation seeking to permit local school systems to use a portion of their SPLOST proceeds for maintenance and operations (Major caution urged on this concept!)

SB 320 -- a slightly altered/updated version of the "Teacher Bill of Rights"

SB 332 -- seeks to add reporting requirements in the area of student discipline, particularly where weapons are concerned

SB 340 and SB 341 -- two bills dealing with proposed changes to grade reporting and residency requirements for HOPE eligibility

SB 346 -- proposes major changes to procedures dealing with ad valorem taxation (Senator Chip Rogers' years-long effort seems to culminate with this bill.)

Day eleven of the 2010 session of the General Assembly will commence on Wednesday, February 3.