Although neither the House nor the Senate considered education legislation as part of their regular debate calendars on this twenty-second day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly, there was action elsewhere that took place that is designed to assist local systems in managing the current budget crisis.  It is becoming apparent that legislators from all corners of the state are finally realizing (some later than others) that schools systems are having to make excruciatingly difficult decisions as they attempt to handle the money crunch, and legislators are finally beginning to realize the need for action on their part.  [Editor's note:  Articles over the last few days in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution detailing the need for massive personnel cuts in large metropolitan school districts seem to have finally driven the point home that the budget issues are negatively affecting every school system, large and small, rural and urban, rich and poor.  Key leaders who represent those metropolitan districts have come late to the realization table, but they appear to have arrived at last.]

It was in an afternoon meeting of the Senate Education and Youth Committee on this day when a newly-revised version of HB 908 was unveiled.  The new bill, produced as a result of meetings with House and Senate leaders along with representatives of local school systems, seeks to provide a heretofore unseen level of flexibility to local systems reeling from the budget cuts.  Included in the latest version of the bill, in addition to flexibility on expenditure controls and on the "20 extra days" money are:

• An opportunity to use "system averaging" for the next three years when computing maximum class sizes;
• Permission to reduce the student year by as many as five days (to 175) and the teacher year by an additional five days (reducing the ten planning days to five) simply by notifying the State Board of Education that the local system intends to do this; and,
• A provision that allows the State Board of Education to increase the maximum class size even more in the event of a "financial exigency" during this time period.

As would be expected, there were objections to the bill expressed by teacher organizations and others, and even some legislators seemed unwilling or unable to connect the budget dots on this not-uncontroversial issue.  In the end, though, the bill passed the committee on a close 6-5 "do pass" vote.  It now goes to Senate Rules for placement on a Senate calendar in the near future.  [Editor's note:  Assuming the bill passes the Senate in its latest form, it would go back to the House for them to "agree" or "disagree" with the changes.  Assuming agreement, it would go to the Governor where it would become effective upon his signature.  If the House disagrees with the changes, a conference committee of senators and representatives would meet to hash out the differences before finally coming back to both chambers for their final "agree" vote on a conference committee version of the bill.]

In another part of the Capitol, the House Ways and Means Committee gave unanimous approval to HB 1020 and the accompanying proposed constitutional amendment, HR 1203.  These two pieces of legislation, together, seek to change the current constitutional provisions governing the use of SPLOST monies so that some of those funds could be used for maintenance and operations.  While some local boards have supported this type of proposal in the past, it must be pointed out that such a move is problematic for several reasons:  (1) Systems with little or no retail cannot benefit; (2) Systems with massive building needs cannot benefit, since they need every penny of SPLOST funds for bricks and mortar; and, finally (3) The political downside is that, for systems that might benefit, the state-level politicians might eventually use those systems' access to these funds as an excuse to further lower state support for public education.  Whether or not this proposal moves forward (assuming it comes to the floor of the House) will depend on whether it can muster the needed 2/3 "yes" vote before moving to the Senate.

Even this late in the session, legislators continue to drop bills in the hopper related to education (and, frankly, to everything else!).  A number of them have gotten a bit creative as they seek to find a money source.  Recently summarized by GSSA are:

SB427 -- seeks to create the Georgia Foundation for Public Education, which would be authorized to accept donations to support the state schools for the deaf and blind

HB 1167 -- proposes a one-cent sales tax dedicated to public education

HB 1200 -- authorizes local boards of education to accept donations for field trips, etc.

HB 1227 -- a sales tax/fee on tickets to athletic events

HB 1276 -- waives the requirement that certain tests be administered if funds are not available to pay for them

HB 1278 -- all kinds of tax changes to raise dollars

Ah, the ingenuity of the members of the Georgia General Assembly!  The legislators will be in session for two more days this week, three days the following week, and then a schedule that may well carry them into late April for sine die.