Even though both the House and the Senate tackled relatively lengthy calendars on this twenty-sixth day of the 2007 session of the Georgia General Assembly, only one addressed an education bill (the Senate).  And, that bill could hardly be called a "high profile" one.  The upper chamber gave its approval to SB 427 creating the Georgia Foundation for Public Education, a foundation that would be authorized to accept donations on behalf of the state schools for students with hearing and vision impairments.  This bill now moves to the House for its consideration.

To no one's surprise, budget issues continue to dominate the discussion, both out in the open and behind closed doors. While members of the budget committees continue to turn over rocks looking for the legislative equivalent of "spare change," individual lawmakers continue to drop bills relating to money (some seeking money for local school systems, some trying to take it away). For example:

• HB 1374 would levy fines against lawbreakers who "overtake" a stopped school bus, and half the fine money would go to the local school system where the offense occurred (Money for a local system);
• HR 1651 would require local school systems to pay for elections that are related to the local board of education, elections such as those held for the purpose of replacement of members or ESPLOST elections (Money from local boards); and,
• SB 515 would prohibit local systems from furloughing teachers if they have a 6% "fund balance" (No money for or from a local system, but an obvious attempt to shift the focus away from the fact that the state is continuing to starve the budgets of local systems all across the state).