Talk about a short day!  Senators and representatives were clearly in a mood to "head for home" on this ninth day of the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly, as both chambers were closed down way before the noon hour.  Neither chamber tackled an education bill.

That doesn't mean, however, that no education bill of interest was up for discussion on this day.  To the contrary, HR 1162, Representative Jan Jones' bill, came before the full House Education Committee for discussion and testimony (no vote taken on this day), and the discussion/debate was "spirited."  Representative Jones, in her presentation, described her bill's attempt to amend the Georgia Constitution as an attempt to "clarify" that document in the wake of the Georgia Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Georgia Charter Schools Commission.  Addressing a key funding issue in that now-defunct legislation, she asserted that "adjusting the proportion of state funds that go to charter schools is not the same as taking local property taxes."  Several speakers, including GSSA, begged to differ.

Speaker after speaker addressed the committee before the packed room, some in favor of the constitutional amendment and many opposed.  In the end, it was apparent (since no vote was to be taken) that this debate will continue over the next week or two as adjustments are made to the original bill, and the key issues of local control and the financing of state-approved charter schools (Will local funds be a part of the mix?) will continue.  Stay tuned.

Legislation of interest to the education community continues to be introduced.  Analyzed/summarized by GSSA in recent days are the following:

• HR 1150, introduced by House Education Committee chairman Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth), the bill would require that distribution of ESPLOST dollars be divided between county and independent school systems on an FTE basis only.
• HB 797, another bill sponsored by House Speaker Pro-tem Jan Jones (R-Milton), would provide some additional funding for state special charter schools.
• SB 334, SB 335, and SB 336 all deal with proposed changes to eligibility for the HOPE scholarship [Editor's note:  All three bills are sponsored by Democrats in the Senate.].
• HB 809, creating a "high school athletic oversight committee"  [Editor's note:  Wonder if this has anything to do with recent actions taken by the Georgia High School Association???].
• HB 807, by Rep. Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta), entitled the "Dropout Prevention Act."
• HB 780, by Rep. Dar'shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia), seeking to prohibit the use of credit report information in hiring decisions.

The General Assembly will be in recess until Monday, January 30.