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Calendar
Monday, Feb. 27
Senate Education and Youth Committee - 2:00pm - 307 CLOB
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Revised Version of HB 338 Passes House Ed
After a delay due to a long House general session, the House Ed Committee passed the newest version of HB 338, comprehensive school reform legislation. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Kevin Tanner (R-Dawsonville). Highlights of the newest draft include some positive changes:
- Language requiring more collaboration between the Chief Turnaround Officer (CTO) and the State School Superintendent
- Changes to the professional requirements for the CTO
- More specifics regarding how schools will be prioritized for intervention
- Less vague language regarding the interventions available for the schools
- An allowance for input by the Education Advisory Turnaround Council in the third party request for proposals for vendors to assist in evaluation of schools targeted for intervention
- GAEL has been added to the list of organizations named to the Advisory Council (which also includes PAGE, GAE, GSSA, GSBA, and PTA)
- The Advisory Council will now be among the groups receiving a report detailing the schools that have received an unacceptable rating and the interventions applied to each school
An amendment was added by Rep. Tanner during the committee meeting that creates a leadership academy. Another successful amendment allowed for continuation of the school improvement plan instead of more drastic intervention if a district is complying and cooperating with the CTO and the plan. Committee discussion revolved around costs of the plan, whether the CTO should be moved under the supervision of the State Superintendent instead of the State Board, questions about whether schools could be run by for profit operators (answer: no, non-profits allowed only) and several smaller technical issues.
The committee also passed HB 114 by Rep. Robert Dickey (R-Musella); the bill is now on its way to Rules for placement on the House voting calendar. The bill seeks to prevent local school districts from prohibiting Move on When Ready Students from being named valedictorian or salutatorian.
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Senate Education and Youth Committee Hears Controversial Voucher Legislation
The Senate Education and Youth Committee met on Friday to hear and vote on several bills as the Crossover Day deadline to move bills from one chamber to another approaches next Friday. Sen. Hunter Hill (R-Atlanta) presented SB 68, a bill that would create an Education Savings Account (ESA) in which the state portion of funding for public schools would be eligible to be added to a savings account that can then be used to help pay for tuition to private schools, home schooling costs, private tutoring, and others.
During the hearing, Chairman Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta) and other members of the committee expressed strong concerns with the hefty $680 million (and possibly higher due to the use of slightly older data) price tag included in the fiscal note accompanying the legislation dominated the discussion as the public education budget continues to climb out of the financial hole created by austerity cuts over the past 10-plus years. Due to these concerns, the bill only received a hearing and was not approved by the committee.
PAGE opposes this ESA voucher program due to the lack of stringent accountability, and opposes any type of program that would allow private schools access to public school dollars.
The committee also had a hearing only on SB 188 by Sen. Donzella James (D-Atlanta) which would require local boards to
create a policy that prohibits school personnel from denying a student access to any program or service because their parent or guardian will not allow the student to be prescribed to psychotropic medication. The bill will be heard again on Monday and a vote will be taken.
The committee approved the following bills:
SR 192 by Sen. John Wilkinson (R-Toccoa) is a constitutional amendment that would allow for the option for the election of local superintendents and the appointment of local school boards by grand jury.
SB 186 by Sen. Lindsey Tippins would allow students earning their associates degree through the program set up by SB 2 in 2016 to be eligible for the HOPE grant to help pay for academic instruction.
SB 139 by Sen. Hunter Hill would allow individual schools to petition to the State Board of Education to create specific career pathways courses. The bill began as an attempt to create a leadership pathway to be used by certain schools in Atlanta and Savannah.
The committee has a deadline of Tuesday to hear all remaining Senate education bills.
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Judiciary Non-Civil Subcommittee Holds Third Hearing on Sexual Contact Bill
The Setzler Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee met Friday to discuss, among others, HB 32 sponsored by Rep. Joyce Chandler (R-Grayson). If passed and signed into law, it would make it a felony for persons with the authority to enforce school rules and policies and give directives to students to engage in sexual contact with a student at that school. Currently, it is a felony for teachers and administrators to engage in sexual relations with students 16 and above, even if the sex is consensual. The existing law does not cover paraprofessionals, though they are certified staff. HB 32 seeks to change this.
While the subcommittee agreed to move the bill to the full committee, there was a lively discussion regarding the definition of "school" for purposes of HB 32. Rep. Setzler expressed concerns that "school" could be interpreted to include private corporations, like learning centers. The subcommittee also spent some time debating whether this particular crime should qualify for a first offender status and whether or not an educator guilty under the bill should or would be required to later register as a sex offender.
In moving the bill forward, the subcommittee asked Rep. Chandler to continue working on these particular aspects of the bill. It now moves to the full House Judiciary Committee for review.
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House Subcommittee Passes Recess
and Opt-Out Legislation
The House Education Subcommittee on Early Learning and K-12 Education met following the full House Education committee meeting on Thursday to vote on two bills:
HB 273 by Rep. Demetrius Douglas (D-Stockbridge), also known as the recess bill, passed the subcommittee after the author made several changes suggested by legislators and other education groups. The bill originally sought to mandate that local boards require 30 minutes of unstructured recess for students in grades K-5. Due to concerns with creating an additional mandate, the bill was changed to require an average of 30 minutes of play time - structured or unstructured - per day. Concerns were raised that there may be certain events that take place at schools that would prohibit students from receiving the daily 30 minutes of recess.
HB 425 by Rep. Joyce Chandler would allow parents to request standardized tests in paper and pencil format for their child. The bill would also discourage punitive actions for students refusing to participate in federal, state, or locally mandated standardized assessments such as sit and stare policies.
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