2018 Legislative Session
February 5, 2018

Table of Contents
House Education Passes Four Bills, Including Accreditation Study
Fiscal Note on ESA Voucher Bill
Upcoming Schedule
Day on Capitol Hill Registration Now Open
Day 15
The House and Senate reached agreement on the adoption bill today, thus breaking some gridlock under the Gold Dome.  HB 159 is now on its way to the Gov. Nathan Deal's desk. The Senate Education & Youth Committee meeting scheduled for today was cancelled when the sponsor of the sole bill on the age nda,  SB 361 , requested a hearing at a later date
House Education Passes Four Bills, Including Accreditation Study 

The House Education committee passed four pieces of legislation today, all of which now move forward.

HB 739, by Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway), the Tracie Rainey Act, allowing for temporary teacher certification for spouses of active-duty military, has been modified to name the law for a military commander's wife who assisted with the original substantive legislation. 

HB 655, by Rep. Rick Williams (R-Milledgeville), requires schools to post the Division of Family and Children Services phone number for reports of child abuse and neglect. Rep. Williams mentioned that 27 other states already do so and that the bill contains a hold harmless clause.

HB 722 by Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn) seeks to amend the Move on When Ready Act by allowing additional institutions to participate in dual enrollment and Move on When Ready. The thirteen schools must be non-profit higher education institutions that offer baccalaureate degrees. Additionally, the bill requires that the institutions have operated in Georgia for over 10 years and that they hold national accreditation.

HR 898 by House Education Committee Chair Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth): would create the Joint Study Committee on the Establishment of a State Accreditation Process. When presenting his resolution, Chairman Coleman explained that the accreditation study was part of HB 338, the First Priority Act, which passed in 2017. He mentioned that the accreditation study expired on December 31, 2017, when the Senate failed to appoint its study committee members, and that HR 898 merely recreates it
Fiscal Note on ESA Voucher Bill

The fiscal note on HB 482 by Rep. Wes Cantrell (R-Woodstock) has been published by the Department of Audits. The bill seeks to create a taxpayer funded Education Savings Account (ESA) which could be spent on private school tuition.  The Dept. of Audits estimates the cost of the ESA plan would be about $22.8 million in FY 2019 and would balloon by about $23 million annually. Additional costs to the state vary based on the number of students already attending private schools who might utilize the voucher. By 2022, if 75 percent of ESA participants already attending private school opt to use the voucher, the additional annual cost of HB 482 is estimated at an eye-opening $69.3 million
Upcoming Schedule

Tuesday, February 6
Legislative Day 16

1pm Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee, 341 Capitol

Wednesday, February 7 Legislative Day 17

2pm House Retirement Committee, 515 CLOB

3pm Senate Education & Youth Committee, 450 Capitol

Thursday, February 8 Legislative Day 18

House Education Committee, Time & Location TBD

Day on Capitol Hill Registration Now Open
 
Please join us on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, for Day on Capitol Hill. PAGE is partnering with the Georgia Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (GACTE) and the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL) again in 2018. Our focus this year is Georgia's teacher pipeline, and we'll spend time under the Gold Dome and at our luncheon session discussing the future of the pipeline with state policymakers. We'll also hear from education budget expert Claire Suggs and Georgia's newly hired Chief Turnaround Officer Eric Thomas, Ph.D. Please register now for this FREE event and invite your House and Senate member to lunch on Feb 20. 

Margaret Ciccarelli
mciccarelli@pageinc.org
  


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