Eyebrows raised during an afternoon meeting of the Academic Achievement subcommittee of the House Education Committee on this twenty-third day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly when HB 1097 received a "do pass" recommendation on a close vote of the subcommittee. The bill, which seeks to mandate that public school systems all over Georgia begin school no earlier than the third week in August, is sponsored by Representative Matt Dollar (R-Marietta) and is backed by various interest groups that are related to the tourism industry and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Dollar noted that the school calendar issue had become controversial in his home county (Cobb) and that his best suggestion for a solution to his local problem was a statewide mandated start date. Objections came from representatives who wanted nothing to do with the proposal in their own counties, and one even suggested that he pursue a solution to his local problem through local legislation. After the unexpected support for his bill, it now moves to the full House Education Committee for their consideration, likely early on the morning of March 11.
This subcommittee also gave a "do pass" recommendation to a much-altered version of HB 1100, the bill that originally called for an ABCDF grading system for Georgia's public schools as well as for the current student testing system to be modified to accommodate a "growth" model of student assessment. Almost all parts of the original bill were removed, leaving only a requirement that first and second grade CRCT's be eliminated. In addition, the bill was amended to add the language in HB 1276 seeking to provide that the requirement to administer certain state tests would be waived when state funds were insufficient to pay for said tests. [Editor's note: SB 352, the "twin sister" bill to HB 1100 that resides in the Senate, will apparently be changed to call for a study committee to consider just what type of "growth model" of testing should be implemented as well as what requirements should be in place to implement an ABCDF grading system for schools.]
Both the House and the Senate acted on education-related bills on this day, and they each passed one. The Senate gave its approval to HB 906, which delays until May 15 the deadline for teacher contract issuance or notification of nonrenewal for each of the next three years. This bill now goes immediately to the Governor for his signature, and and as soon as it is signed, it becomes effective as a new law. The Governor's office has indicated that this bill will be signed very, very quickly so as to be more useful to local school systems as they ponder contract offers during the budget crisis.
In the House, approval was given to HB 925, another of those bills intended to decrease the work load on local schools and systems during the budget mess. This bill would change the requirement that parents be notified of their children's attendance problems by certified mail, changing the notification method to first class mail. Not a really, really big deal, but saving a few dollars nevertheless.
As noted in yesterday's report, bills continue to be introduced even at this late date. Summarized by GSSA today for readers' perusal are:
SB 426 -- would deny per diem or salary to board members whose behavior causes a local board to end up on probation
HB 1205 -- seeks to award extra sick leave days to teachers in years when they have been furloughed
HB 1232 -- authorizes court action against parents who fail to show for parent conferences
HB 1303 -- suggests changes to the law governing meeting notices
HB 1305 -- from the same representative who sponsored similar legislation previously, seeks to outline procedures for local boards to follow when citizens wish to address them
HB 131 -- again from a representative who has introduced this legislation previously, a House version of a "Teacher's Bill of Rights"
The General Assembly will convene for their twenty-fourth day on Thursday, March 11, after which they will be in recess until the following Tuesday. |