Day thirty of the 2013 session of the Georgia General Assembly came and went more quickly than most had expected, as neither the House nor the Senate held sessions that went past 9:00 p.m. (The House came close, but the Senate was actually done by 7:00 p.m.).  And, while there were bills that were discussed which created much discussion and no small amount of controversy, not many were related to education.

 

One of the more hotly-debated bills of the day was HB512, the now-well-known omnibus "gun toters bill" that, among other things, would allow the concealed possession of guns by licensed carriers in many, many more places than are currently permitted (e.g., college campuses, churches, bars).  While GSSA and other organizations that focus on K-12 education had not followed HB512 in its original form, it is now of more interest to K-12 folks, as the contents of HB 35 (the "let local boards decide whether to arm employees" bill) were inserted into HB512 before it passed the House on this day.  Now that it has passed the House, it moves across the hall to the Senate, which has its own large number of gun enthusiasts and second amendment zealots and where passage is, in this writer's opinion, likely.

 

Another bill passed on this day by the House and favored by local superintendents and local boards was HB 211, Rep. Tommy Benton's (R-Jefferson) bill which would allow local boards of education to be exempt from the tax on motor fuel for their buses.  Like other bills that have passed the House, this one also heads for the Senate for their consideration.

 

The Senate, as part of their 30+-bill calendar, debated only one education-related one, SB 243.  This bill, a Governor's bill intended to place more transparency and consistency on the state's tax credit scholarship (voucher) program, sailed through the Senate with no dissenting votes.  It was amended, though, to continue to allow some exceptions to the requirement that a student actually ATTEND a public school before being eligible for the voucher (e.g., if the child was to be required to attend a "failing" school, if the child had been the victim of violence, if the child's family has a "religious objection" to the child attending and being subjected to the curriculum in the area public school).  This bill now heads to the House, where there will certainly be attempts to raise the $50 million (plus inflationary increases) cap on tax credit donations currently in place.

 

The General Assembly is in recess on Friday, March 8, and will return for their thirty-first day on Monday, March 11.  At that time, furious activities in committees will commence again, as the House takes up Senate bills that passed and vice versa.