As predicted, this thirty-second day of the 2013 session of the Georgia General Assembly saw the House of Representatives approve the only bill on their calendar, HB106, the House version of the FY2014 Budget.  After the vote of 159-15 in favor of the document, it now moves to the Senate where they will have their shot at it.  Ultimately, as always, the differences in the two chambers' versions will be worked out in a conference committee on the last night of the session.  Stay tuned.

 

The Senate's four-bill calendar included no education bills, but in both the House and the Senate, bills from the opposite chamber began their moves throught the committee process.  Approved with "do pass" recommendations by the Senate Education and Youth Committee on this day were:

 

HB 115, sponsored by Rep. Tom Dickson (R-Cohutta) and calling for some procedural changes in how the State Board of Education handles cases involving local boards of education who have run afoul of the accreditation process;

 

HB 116, also sponsored by Rep. Dickson, authorizing the State Board of Education to transfer some funds to the Georgia Education Foundation (and, to authorize the Foundation to manage the investment of those funds);

 

HB 284, sponsored by Rep. Jimmy Pruett (R-Eastman) and others and named the "Return to Play Act of 2013," this is the "concussion bill" supported by any number of organizations, including GSSA; and,

 

HB 350, sponsored by Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) and calling for fingerprint background checks for all workers in day care centers.

 

Each of these bills now goes to the Senate Rules Committee to be considered for placement on a future Senate calendar.

 

On the House side, a subcommittee of the House Education Committee gave its "do pass" seal of approval to two Senate bills.  They were:

 

SB 115, sponsored by Senate Education Committee chair Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta) and dealing with a new method of calculating grad rates, etc., for students in residential treatment centers; and,

 

SB 212, sponsored by Senate Rules Committee chair Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) and requiring high schools to include some CPR training videos in the required health course.

 

Late on the afternoon of this long day, the Legislative Black Caucus held a four-hour hearing on accreditation issues, said hearing featuring speakers from the Georgia Accrediting Commission, AdvanceED, local school systems, as well as GSBA and GSSA.  The sometimes-contentious meeting focused on the procedure(s) involved in removing elected school board members in systems where the board has come close to the loss of accreditation due to governance issues (as a result of SB84).  No final resolutions were reached, but ideas for "perfecting" the law abounded. 

 

Day thirty-three of this fast-moving session is set for Wednesday, March 13.