Day 3 - Governor Deal made his State of the State Address today. As part of his comments, the Governor presented a preview of his “Opportunity School District”. This legislation would require a constitutional amendment proposed to be on the state wide ballot.

In addition, Governor Deal announced the establishment of an Educational Reform Commission to study a number of educational issues. The commission will make recommendations to the Governor by August 1, 2015. A subset of the Commission will study the QBE formula. It is the Governor’s intent that the changes in the funding formula and other Commission recommendations would go into effect as early as the 2016 – 2017 school year. This entire process will require your watchful eye and thoughtful discussions as the process moves forward. The details will be very important. To read the full version of the Governor’s comments go to: http://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2015-01-14/state-state-great-challenges-require-great-cooperation.

In an unusual development, the Governor’s budget will not be released until Friday. We will provide you with information about funding as soon as possible.

The legislators will meet on Thursday for day 4 of the session and then will be in adjournment until Monday, January, 26, 2015. Budget hearings will be next week.