After the long President's Day holiday weekend, the House and the Senate returned to abbreviated schedules for their eighteenth day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly.  The Senate tackled three bills, the House acted upon five, and it was only in the House that a bill passed that related to education in any way.  HB 122, Representative Ed Lindsey's (R-Atlanta) bill calling for county and city governments and school boards to post their budget and audit information on a Carl Vinson Institute-developed web site passed 166-0.

Committee continued to be active, though, in both the House and the Senate.  Senator Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) gathered his Senate Appropriations Committee on this morning to give final approval to the Senate version of the FY2010 Amended Budget.  The Senate version differed little from the House version, as the Senate agreed with the House's attempt to return approximately $17 million to the equalization grant program (That cut had been recommended by the Governor.).  The Senate will likely approve their version of the budget this Thursday, but any hope that House-Senate differences will be resolved and that local school systems will know the budget outlook for the remainder of this fiscal year appears dim.  House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons) stated on Lawmakers today that they would probably "put this budget on the shelf and wait for later revenue numbers to come in" before giving it final approval.

Representative David Casas (R-Lilburn) convened his Academic Achievement Subcommittee of the House Education Committee on this afternoon to hear testimony on two bills:  HB 252 (Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan, D-Austell) seeking to revive the "Closing the Achievement Gap" Commission and HB 1100 (Rep. Casas, R-Lilburn) seeking an A - F grading system for Georgia's schools.  [Editor's note:  HB 1100 is identical to SB 352, which was heard by the Senate Education and Youth Committee last week.]  Representative Morgan's bill was not acted upon and is likely to return in the form of an "urging resolution" at a later meeting.  Representative Casas' bill was presented by its author, who responded to a few questions, but time ran out before any further testimony could be heard; discussion on this bill will continue in a future meeting.

Over on the Senate side, Senator Dan Weber's (R-Dunwoody) Senate Education and Youth Committee held a brief meeting and gave "do pass" recommendations to the following:

• HB 905 -- extends the sunset dates on the state's school capital outlay programs
• HB 906 -- extends through 2013 the teacher contract issuance date until May 15 in each of those years
• HB 907 -- makes it possible for schools to qualify for the middle school program regardless of the grade configuration of a school
• SB 387 -- requires the Georgia Student Finance Commission to provide some career counseling opportunities for students

HB 923 (attempts to extend the date by which professional educators can earn and still be paid for leadership degrees) was held by the committee for a final language change and will be acted upon at a subsequent meeting.

Even though the session has neared its halfway point, legislation continues to be introduced in the world of education.  It must be noted, in all honesty, that some of the bills introduced are designed for "attention" purposes rather than to enact new laws.  Judge for yourself in which categories some of these fall:

HB 1097 -- another school start date bill

HB 1103 -- would require "clearance certificates" for all public school educators, issued after such educators clear the criminal background check required for initial employment

HB 1114 -- train high school students as poll workers

HB 1121 -- penalties for test cheaters

HB 1130 -- class size relief as imagined by the General Assembly

HB 1132 -- eliminates the CRCT in grades 1 & 2

HB 1136 -- submitted by a gubernatorial candidate, restore NBCT supplements and drop requirement that such teachers must teach in a "needs improvement" school to earn them

HR 1238 -- a HOST for educational purposes???

SB 393 -- the Governor's plan to "appoint 'em all"

Day nineteen is set for Wednesday, February 17.