Capitol-watchers eagerly anticipated the meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on the morning of this thirty-seventh day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly, a morning on which the Senate version of the FY2011 Budget would be unveiled.  As was true in the House version, there was good news and not-so-good news.  For example, the Senate version:

• Proposed even greater cuts than the House had recommended to Ag Education (by almost $500 thousand);
• Agreed with the House plan to reduce funds allocated for student testing, but restored the funds for first and second grade CRCT, for the ITBS, and for the PSAT;
• Restored the charter school planning grant funds ($75 thousand) that the House had recommended cutting;
• Recommended a larger cut to Communities in Schools than had been recommended by the Governor, but less than that sought by the House version of the budget;
• Agreed with the House to reduce funds for curriculum development by some $750,000 over the Governor's original recommendation of a $230,000 cut;
• Agreed with the House to add 1,700 virtual courses, but put no money on that budget line;
• Supported the Governor's plan to completely zero out funding for Georgia Youth Science and Technology (GYSTC);
• Floated the idea of paying for a full six-week Governor's Honors Program for the summer of 2010, but "suspend" the program for the summer of 2011 or "seek other revenue options;"
• Agreed, as part of the restoration of some $6 million in funds to support RESA's, to "fold" the mission and function of ETC's into RESA's (also added $1.5 million in support of ETC's as well as $1.8 million in funds originally set aside for math mentors);
• Agreed with both the Governor and the House to eliminate the payment of salary supplements to teachers who have earned National Board certification;
• Agreed with the Governor and the House to eliminate funding ($500,000) for the National Science Center and Foundation;
• Disagreed with House on their proposal to eliminate sparsity grants, but restored only the sparsity grants ($3 million) and not the "alternative sparsity" grants (another $3 million, but spread over many, many more systems);
• Agreed with the House (but, differed wildly with the Governor) on the amount of money needed to fund the Special Needs Scholarship (a $1.5 million difference);
• Restored the $250,000 cut recommended by the House to the Migrant Education Program;
• Agreed with the House to reject the Governor's recommendation to revise the equalization grant formula so as to only equalize the mills levied above 8 (current law sets that base at 5);
• Made no change to the LFMS amount recommended by the Governor (and, agreed to by the House), even though the amount exceeds the 20% cap prescribed in law;
• Agreed with the Governor and the House to increase austerity reductions over the FY10 base by $527 million (offset somewhat by a $100 million add-back);
• Joined the House in recommending an additional $2 million cut to the school improvement line item;
• More than doubled (to $3.2 million) the amount recommended for cutting by the Governor and the House to the Technology/Career Education line; and,
• Agreed with the House to increase the funding level for the regular and exceptional growth capital outlay programs to the 100% level.

Undoubtedly, as is their custom, the Senate will approve this version of the FY2011 Budget on Wednesday, April 21, and after the House formally "disagrees," a conference committee will be formed to work out the differences before a final vote on the 40th day of the session.

The Senate Education and Youth Committee also met early on this morning, and in a hurried meeting gave "do pass" recommendations to the following:

• SR886, a last-minute resolution urging governmental agencies in charge of such to increase the nutritional quality of student meals;
• HB 977, the bill requiring public hearings when local boards give raises to administrators in years when teachers are furloughed;
• An amended version of HB 936, a bill which originally sought only to give school systems permission to use their bus replacement funds to refurbish older buses.  The lengthy amendment will revive an old entity known as the Georgia Education Authority, which would be empowered to facilitate the banding together of school systems for the purpose of issuing bonds provided under federal law (more details on this not-uncomplicated concept to come later).

The most interesting committee meeting(s) of the day occurred on the House side of the building, where both the Academic Support Subcommittee of House Education met to consider two bills (followed immediately by a full House Education Committee to follow up with action on the same bills).  To the surprise of virtually all the subcommittee members, a much-amended version of SB 251 emerged as a proposed committee substitute.  Readers of this site will remember that this bill was originally intended to provide a greater level of support to local school systems for students who are dually enrolled with technical colleges.  Following a pattern of "late session surprises," additions to the bill included a massive expansion of the information and counseling that must be provided to students about dual enrollment along with some rules about how credit should be granted for those courses.  The biggest surprise came in Section 4 of the revised bill which, in its original form, mandated the development by July 1, 2011, of a teacher, assistant principal, and principal evaluation system in which 50% of the calculation for the instrument would be based on student academic growth, as defined by the State Board of Education.  To their credit, the subcommittee (and, later the full committee) removed the "50%" language and simply changed the wording so as to mandate a new evaluation instrument that may consider peer review, parental input, etc.  It is still amazing to watch how issues like this, which most rational observers would agree should have a fulsome discussion, can simply pop up in the last few days of a legislative session and be successfully maneuvered through the legislative process by those who have learned how to work the system.  In the end, both SB 251 and SR 153 (the proposed constitutional amendment left over from 2009 seeking "educational improvement districts") received "do pass" recommendations.

The House of Representatives considered no education bills as part of their five-bill calendar on this day, and the Senate tackled only one on its twelve-bill list.  The Senate gave its OK to HB 651 (lets DOE provide sex offender registry information to local school systems electronically rather than by mail), and that bill now heads to the Governor for his consideration and probable signature.

Day thirty-eight, expected to be a long one, is set for Wednesday, April 21.