The infamous "crossover day" occurred on this, the thirtieth day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly.  The Senate finished their single calendar by dinner time and headed home, and the House trudged on past midnight tackling three calendars of bills.  [Editor's note:  House rules permit them to develop and begin to act on "supplemental calendars" while Senate rules and practices do not do that.]  Bills of interest to educators were addressed on both sides of the building.

Over in the House, they did pass a couple of bills that could have the effect of allowing systems to use a portion of their ESPLOST dollars for maintenance and operations.  GSSA and GSBA had been in something of a quandary as to what position to take on these bills (HR1203 and the enabling legislation, HB 1020), as some of our members support this option while others (particularly those for whom this is not really an option due to lack of a retail sales base or those who need every available ESPLOST dime to be dedicated to bricks and mortar) do not.  This legislation now moves to the Senate, and if the two gain approval in the upper chamber, the question as to whether to approve this option would be up to Georgia's voters in November.

A couple of other education-related bills were on the House calendars (HB 927 dealing with the bullying statutes and HB 1121 making test cheating a misdemeanor), but neither was called for a vote by the Speaker of the House.

The Senate, on the other hand, churned out a number of education-related bills, and we will save the "worst one" for the last part of this report.  Gaining Senate approval were the following:

• SB 496, which provides some "needs-based" assistance for HOPE scholars;
• SB 332, requiring local boards to report how many expulsions occur due to weapons violations;
• SB 521, which continues the Lieutenant Governor's attempt to restore a higher level of funding for students in dual enrollment (and, which was amended through some contorted language to prohibit school systems from using accrediting agencies that require the principal to be the highest paid employee in a school or the superintendent from being the highest paid employee in a school system);
• SB 426, prohibiting per diem and/or salary payments to any board member whose misbehavior is the cause for a system to lose its accreditation; and,
• SB 518, requiring study in the state's public schools of the pledge of allegiance to the US flag.

As readers of this site have become aware, the Senate embarked a few days ago on a mission to control the use of local system fund balances through SB 515, called by its author the "Educators' Salary Protection Act."  The title of the bill itself is somewhat disingenuous, as it attempts to imply that, if local systems would just turn loose of piles of money that they are supposedly hoarding, teachers would not have to be furloughed.  Conveniently ignored is the fact that the state's lack of commitment to the funding of public education is the major culprit in causing said furloughs, but the truth seldom has much place in a good political argument!  In the end, the bill passed the Senate and now moves to the House for its consideration.  To see how senators voted on this bill, click here.

The General Assembly will be in recess until March 30, 2010.  As part of the Day 31 "Report from the Capitol," GSSA will attempt to provide an up-to-date list of education-related bills that are still "alive" for this session.