As expected, the Senate passed its version of the 2014 Budget on this thirty-seventh day of the 2013 session of the General Assembly, and there were no changes to the document that emerged from the Senate Appropriations Committee on the previous day.  After the House gave its formal "disagreement" to the Senate's plan, there will now be a conference committee to work out the differences between the two chambers' versions.

 

Meanwhile, in the House, approval was given to a much-amended version of SB101, the Senate version of a gun bill.  Of interest to educators is that the contents of HB 35, the bill authorizing local boards of education to arm school employees, were included in this bill.  This bill, of course, goes much, much farther than that, authorizing licensed gun toters in Georgia to carry their firearms in bars, churches, and even on college campuses.  Debate on this issue continues to be intense, and the final disposition of this bill is not likely until the final hours of the 2014 session, set for March 28.

 

SB 115, the bill which would treat the performance of students in residential treatment centers as a separate LEA (as opposed to counting those students in the data associated with the local school system in which the treatement center is located), passed the House and is headed for the Governor's desk.

 

HB 131, which deals with counting the grades of students enrolled in dual enrollment courses the same as grades earned by students in AP and IB courses, passed the Senate.  However, since there were some minor changes made by the Senate, this bill needs to go back to the House for agreement.

 

HR 552, calling for the implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program, passed the House with only one dissenting vote.

 

The end is nigh.  The last week of the 2014 session comes this week, with sine die set for Thursday, March 28.