Senate Power Struggle Continues

The last day of the 2011 Legislative Session started on a contentious note in the Senate as fighting among Republican leadership continued. Senate Pro Tem Tommie Williams and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle struggled over who would control the powerful Committee on Assignments. Proposals put forth by both camps would strip powers from Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, who was formally a strong ally of Senator Williams. The last minute jockeying continues to be a distraction from the Senate’s task of considering legislation and may have something to do with looming reapportionment decisions. 

Christmas in April

For the first time in recent history, the House began Sine Die without a voting calendar. The House focused on agreeing and disagreeing with versions of bills passed in the Senate that differed in form from how the legislation looked when it passed the House.

As is typical late in the session, legislators desperate to pass their proposals combined them into “Christmas Tree” bills, meaning that legislation successfully moving through the legislature is decorated with language from other bills which have encountered resistance for some reason or another.

HB 192 has evolved into this session’s biggest education Christmas Tree bill. The PAGE-supported legislation creates a study committee tasked with studying Georgia’s outdated funding formula. A measure PAGE opposes was added. Part of this “flexibility” language allows larger class sizes (already legal until 2013) until 2015. Wording from a bill passed last session which was vetoed was also added to HB 192, that language allows the reorganization of middle grades. After a floor debate, the House rejected efforts to add language from the Rachel Sackett Act to HB 192. The Sackett Act would allow students attending charter and virtual schools to participate in extra curricular activities at the public schools the students are zoned to attend.     

Other Legislation

The House and Senate agreed on HB 186, which expands career pathways for students, and will be sent to the Governor for his signature.

The House and Senate agreed on a final version of HB 285 which allows both the PSC and local school systems to run criminal background checks on employees. The final version of the bill also included HB 173, which allows the PSC to expunge the records of educators accused and cleared of ethical wrongdoing.

After debate in the Senate and an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate portions of the bill pertaining to Atlanta, SB 79 is on its way to the Governor. The bill moves Chatham County school board terms from two to four years, and eliminates the two at-large board seats in Dekalb. The legislation also would allow the Governor to remove the entire Atlanta school board if the system fails to regain full accreditation this year.

What will the Governor do now?

The Governor has forty days after Sine Die to sign or veto legislation. If Deal fails to take action on a bill before May 25, the legislation will become law.

Deal has indicated that he intends to call a special session in mid-August for the purposes of reapportionment. It’s not yet clear whether other legislation, like tax reform, may be considered during this special session.

Bills that Failed to Pass

The measures described below failed to pass yesterday. They are still eligible for considered next session.

• SB 184, mandating that school systems use teacher effectiveness, not length of service, as the primary criteria in identifying candidate for RIF, failed. Despite the efforts of Michelle Rhee’s Students First organization, SB 184 died when House and Senate members couldn’t come to an agreement on a final version. This is just as well, since SB 184 was a solution in need of a problem that Georgia lacks.

• With the exception of HB 325 which tweaks Georgia’s backdoor voucher program that awards tax credits for voucher contributions, no voucher bill passed this session. This included the PAGE-opposed measure allowing the state board of education to waive current requirements that students be enrolled in a public school for at least a year before becoming eligible for the Special Needs voucher program.   

• Language from the Rachel Sackett Act was added to a handful of education bills but was stripped off in the House and failed to pass.

And Finally, Thank You

To all our members who took time to read our reports from the capitol, to watch our Week in Review Podcast, and to contact House and Senate members regarding legislation this session, thank you. PAGE lobbyists work hard under the Gold Dome to ensure that Georgia’s educators and students are successful, but out efforts would be minimized without the help of educators like you who stay informed and contact policymakers regarding important issues.   

Professional Association of Georgia Educators

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