The Georgia Senate tackled a thirty-seven-bill calendar on this thirty-seventh day of the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly, starting early and going late into the afternoon.  The House, on the other hand, tackled a shorter calendar (no education bills on their calendar), starting late and finishing quickly.

The Senate, to no one's surprise, passed every bill on their calendar, and that calendar included the following bills of interest to educators:

• HB 152 -- HOPE scholarships for home-school students who score at high levels on college entrance exams
• HB 969 -- approves home school driver education programs
• HB 1209 -- the Governor's bill emanating from the meetings held by his Education Finance Task Force (IE2) and allowing for school systems to enter into "flexibility with accountability" contracts with the state.  After a relatively spirited debate centering around teacher fair dismissal rights, the bill passed 30-20.
• HB 1335 -- a technical bill adjusting the QBE weights as required by law
• HB 791 -- sets "School Bus Drivers Appreciation Day" (3rd Monday in October each year)
• HB 790 -- schedules "School Bus Safety Week" each year (3rd week in October)

The House of Representatives has set their calendar for Tuesday, April 1, the thirty-eighth day of the session, said calendar containing 23 bills and including the controversial SB458,  Senator Eric Johnson's (R-Savannah) second annual attempt to introduce and pass voucher legislation.  Some frustration exists in the House, where members were promised after last year's intense debate over SB10 that further voucher legislation would not be forthcoming.  Here we are again, though, to the surprise of few and the consternation of a few more.  So that readers of this site will know how their representatives stand on this issue, GSSA will post the member-by-member vote on this key bill in the Report from the Capitol--Day Thirty-eight, 2008.