By Jim Puckett

The State Board of Education met in Atlanta on Wednesday, October 13 for committee meeting work sessions and on Thursday, October 14 for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting.

Wednesday, October 13

The Budget Committee met to review staff recommendations for action on contracts and grants.  The Committee also received financial reports and budget updates.

The Charter Schools Committee heard reports from staff, discussed revision of the Charter rule, heard a presentation on grant awards procedures, and discussed charter school implementation grants.

The Rules Committee recommended action on seven rules and four requests for waivers of rules (see Thursday report).

The Operations Committee reviewed recommendations of the three standing Committees and proposed a consent agenda for the Thursday board meeting.

A public hearing was held on rule Local School Board Governance.  No one spoke to the rule.

The Committee of the Whole reviewed committee recommendations and approved a consent agenda for the Thursday board meetings.  The Committee also:

• heard a report on the status of the Longitudinal Data System implementation.
• heard a report on the status of Race to the Top.
• received information on upcoming contracts and grants and charter school petitions
• received information on contracts of $50,000 or under approved by the Department in August and September.
• held a discussion on math curriculum and state required testing issues.
  

Thursday, October 14

After call to order, the State Board went into executive session to discuss personnel, requests by students for waivers of graduation rules, and other items.

The invocation and Pledge of Allegiance was presented by Dr. Mary Sue Murray, Board member from the 13th District.

The Board's Excellence Program recognized  students and local school systems' staff for excellence in school nutrition, young authors, teachers of English, pupil transportation, and GAEL Educational Leaders Award winners.

Action Items
The Board:

• Authorized posting for public review/comment of the Georgia Performance Standards forMusic Appreciation, Music Technology, Piano, and Guitar; for five Career Technical and Agricultural Education pathway course electives related to Maritime Studies; and for the History of Mathematics and Multivariable Calculus.The Standards will be considered for adoption at the February meeting of the Board.
• Authorized waiver of policy Employment of Relatives for the Georgia School for the Deaf.
• Approved minutes of the August 17, August 19, September 9, and September 28 regular and called meetings with corrections.
• Adopted a resolution supporting the pending change by the Professional Standards Commission related to payment for certification only if an educator is employed in the area of certification.
• The Board voted to re-post the Standards for Board Performance/Board Development in order to refine the documents. The Board is expected to approve the standards in November.  Therefore, the deadline for local boards to adopt a Code of Ethics will be moved to mid-February.  It was announced that the State Board will also adopt a code of ethics for its operations.

Contracts and Grants
The Board approved the following:

• Contract, Communities in Schools, $894,221 for implementation of dropout prevention programs.
• Contracts, individuals, $187,000 total, for evaluation and scoring of grant applications for Supplemental Educational Services, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and the McKenney-Vento Homeless Education Program.
• Grant, Georgia Student Finance Authority, $1,407,000, for disbursement of Robert C. Byrd scholarships.
• Continuation Grants, Richmond County, $747,000, for two 21st Century Community Learning Centers non-school hour programs.
• Grants, 89 school districts, $6,294,893 total, forRural and Low Income Schools.
• Contract amendment, Covendis Technologies, $2,000,000, to provide technology support of Department of Education web-based programs.
• Contract, MetaMetrics, $153,269.46, to provide the Lexile Framework for Reading for state-mandated assessments..
• Grants, Charter School Implementation, $200,000 each, to four Hall County schools.
• Grants, Bonds to Purchase Buses, $50,124,350 total, toeligible school districts.
• Contract, Open agency, $200,000, for a mailing/storage facility for school nutrition materials.
• Contract renewal, University of Georgia Research Foundation, $92,000, for the evaluation of supplemental education services providers.
• Grant amendment/redistribution, Agricultural Education, $84,402 total, to eligible school districts.
• Contract, College Board, $1,091,245, tor administration and scoring of AP exams..
• Grant, Georgia State University, $150,000, for research related to the Georgia Alternate Assessment.

Rules
The Board:

• Initiated ruleInstruction in United States and Georgia History and Government.
• Initiated rule Learning Resources Selection and Recommendation.
• Repealed rule School Day for Students, rule Employee Work Day, and rule Scheduling for Instruction.
• Adopted new rule School Day and School Year for Students and Employees.
• Adopted rule Local School Board Governance.
• Initiated repeal of State Salaries and Supplements and rule Experience for Salaries.
• Initiated new rule Experience for Salary Purposes.
• Approved waiver of the following rules:
  • Alternative Education Program for Middle School (Emanuel County)
  • School Year (Talbot County)
  • Middle School Requirements (Catoosa County)
  • Personnel Required (Dade and Jones)
• Approved waiver requests of students related to high school graduation requirements.

The next monthly meeting of the State Board is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10.  Note:  this will be a one-day only meeting and will combine committee meetings and action items.

This report is provided for information only and is not intended as an official record of State Board action.  For information, contract the Georgia Department of Education  www.gadoe.org