Day 34 As we move
through the 139th legislative session, the Senate and House passed
the following education related bills, as of March 23, 2015. HB164, as passed by the House, this
bill will extend the suspension of the professional learning requirements until
the new regulations are in place. — PASSED BY THE SENATE on March 23, 2015. HB75, the midterm FY15 budget. This bill has been signed by the Governor, and
schools have already received their midterm adjustment sheets. — SIGNED by the
Governor HB76, the FY16 budget. The Senate and House have agreed to most
recommendations by the Governor, but there are some differences that will
likely result in the bill going to a conference committee this week. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE WILL MEET ON
TUESDAY. HB170, the Transportation Funding Act of
2015. The Senate and House versions of
this bill are very different. There will
be considerable negotiations needed this week in order for this bill to make it
through the legislative process prior to the end of the 40th
day. The Senate version of the bill does
not require counties or school systems to spend part of their SPLOST and/or eLOST
funds on transportation. It should be assigned
to conference committees for final negotiations and approval before the end of
the 40th day. MONDAY ACTION: The House
Education Committee PASSED SR287, to allow for the establishment
of the OSD, and also an amended version of SB133, the establishment of the
Opportunity School District for the supervision of public elementary and
secondary schools that are failing. Both
of these bills now move on to the House Rules Committee for a vote. A full House vote should occur this
week. A two thirds majority vote is
needed on the House floor for the constitutional amendment, SR287. The Senate
Education and Youth Committee met today and passed: HB401, Early Care and Learning clean-up
bill. — PASSED – Moves on to Senate Rules Committee. Several
other bills were heard, but no vote was taken on them. The one of
interest is HB502, the Title 20 clean-up bill. There will be an amendment to this bill,
ADDING language to Section 25 regarding 1st and 2nd grade
formative assessments in reading and math. This bill should be back on the committee agenda on Wednesday. UPCOMING EVENTS: The House
Rules calendar for Tuesday has one education related bill on it at this time. SB2 ,the Move on When Ready bill that will allow students who complete certain requirements
relating to postsecondary coursework to be awarded a high school diploma. This bill has been amended to remove the age
16 requirement. The House
may have a supplemental calendar on any day. The Senate
Rules calendar will have the full Senate voting on: HB62, to waive
certain qualifications for a student whose parent is an active duty military
service member stationed in Georgia within the previous year to receive the
Special Needs Scholarship. HB198, Suicide Prevention Training Act. There are a number
of committee meetings on the agenda today to consider education related bills. We will
report on the ones that make it out of committee. There are
now only six days left in the legislative session which is schedule to conclude
on April 2nd. If you have any
questions about the legislative session, please feel free to contact me at mwsurma@bellsouth.net. Hope you
have a great week. |