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The GAEL Capitol Opinion
March 3, 2017
Crossover Day Edition
Bills Thin Out
Today is Crossover Day and many House and Senate bills have been left on the cutting
room floor. The end of this report includes a chart of education bills that either have
been adopted or are on the vote calendar today. (Today's session should go late into
the night.) A full report of the bills that crossed over will be in next week's
Opinion.
The Governor's Education bill, HB 338, won adoption in the House 138-37 with no
changes from the substitute version passed out by the House Education Committee. I
don't want to try to over simplify the bill but basically what is left in the bill is the
language that was adopted in 2000 giving the State Board the authority to intervene in
low performing schools. The bill does add five important components:
1. The Chief Turnaround Officer is specifically empowered to enforce and
implement the interventions currently in Title 20 and is provided a staff of
Coaches to work with underperforming schools. GADOE staff are compelled by
the law to work with the CTO BUT the CTO does not report to the State School
Superintendent, only to the Board. Look for that provision to be challenged in the
Senate.
2. The Governor has pledged financial support to the schools selected for the
interventions via grants from GOSA. The plan has no hope of success unless
more resources go into the underperforming schools.
3. The bill establishes an Advisory Committee consisting of statewide leaders that
will be involved in the operation of the process and be a part of the selection
process for the Chief Turnaround Officer.
4. A legislative study committee is established to consider a State Accrediting
Commission that would basically replace AdvancEd as the primary accreditation
agency for Georgia schools.
5. The bill establishes a study committee for the creation of a Leadership Academy
that will train school principals in how to deal with underperforming schools and
poverty based situations.
How those provisions stand up in the Senate will be determined in the coming weeks.
The House leadership has made a concerted effort to prepare Georgia for BRAC
attempts to close Georgia military bases by adopting HB 148 (unique identification
number for students), HB 224 (permits students to elect choice in which school to
attend), and HB 245 (permits military spouses to qualify for temporary certificates)
specifically aimed at assisting military families.
Some bills which GAEL and the other educational organizations opposed did find
adoption in the House. HB 217 raises the private scholarship tax credit to $100 million.
HR 58 calls for a constitutional amendment to permit the creation of new city school
districts. If it survives the Senate, it must be voted on by the citizens of Georgia. The
educational organizations opposed HB 114 which prevents any discrimination against
MOWR students in determining valedictorians and salutatorians. We would have
preferred that remain a local decision but the bill was ratified by the House.
One bill that will impact many schools is SB 152 which limits placement in alternative
school to the remainder of the current semester and the following semester. SB 3 is a
good measure and will encourage industry certification and credentialing in our CTAE
programs.
One of the bills that did not make Crossover was HB 415 which replaces the Georgia High School
Association with a non-profit entity run by the State Board of Education. The bill is far from dead
and Rules Committee Chairman John Meadows has promised to activate the bill should
appropriate changes not be made in the GHSA structure.
How Dead Bills Come to Life
While there are many bills that did not survive Crossover Day they are far from being
dead. Legislators use a variety of techniques to bring their bills back to life, particularly
in the last days of the Session. The most widely used strategy is to simply attach one
bill to another. Generally, the host (bill that passed to the other chamber) must be
agreeable to the addition. Procedure requires the presiding officer to rule to the
germaneness of the addition but rarely do they prevent the attachment. In some cases,
a live bill is stripped of its contents and replaced by another bill, once again, with the
agreement of the stripped bill's author. Both techniques backfired last year when
Governor Deal vetoed bills because of what had been added. The most difficult
technique to follow and accept is conference committee substitutions and additions. If a
bill that has crossed over has been revised by the other chamber the House and Senate
try to resolve the changes by accepting the other chamber's changes but when they
cannot agree a conference committee (three members from each chamber appointed
by the presiding officer) is appointed. The conference committee can make whatever
changes it deems appropriate to the bill including additions not found in either bill. The
House and Senate then make an up/down vote to accept the conference committee
report. Many times, the legislators have little knowledge of what is in the conference
report. The transportation bill passed two years ago, contained several such additions.
Yogi was right-it ain't over till it's over!
The Education Bills that Survived Crossover
The full bills can be read at BILL LOOKUP or http://www.legis.ga.gov/enUS/default.aspx
HOUSE BILLS
HB
9 Makes "up skirt" photography illegal (SB 45)
Blackmon
May not exclude dual enrolled students from val and sal
HB
114 consideration
Dickey
HB
139 Make public school site financial budget and information available
Belton
HB
148 Unique identifiers for children of military personnel
Glanton
HB
217 Raises private scholarship cap to $100 M
Carson
HB
224 Permits students of military to attend any school in a system
Belton
Tax credit for innovation/enrichment fund for underperforming
HB
237 schools
Coleman
HB
246 Repeals sunset on annual fitness assessment program
Cantrell
HB
273 Requires daily recess or PE for K-5
Douglas
HB
338 Governor's failing school plan
Tanner
HB
415 Creates state athletic association controlled by SBOE
Meadows
HB
425 Permits parents to request pencil and paper test options
Chandler
HB
437 Recreate the Agricultural Education Advisory Commission
Dickey
HB
198 Requires information on influenza vaccine
Dempsey
HB
430 Requires ERC be imposed on charter schools
Brockway
HB
463 Creates public foundation for DCAL
Dempsey
HR
58 CA to permit new independent school districts
Taylor
CA to call for the election of State School Board members by
HR
405 legislature
Teasley
SENATE BILLS
SB
3 CONNECT Act, industry credentialing and certifications
SB
30 Creates Sustainable Community School Operational Grants
Tippins
Fort, Orrock
SB
139 Permits local system to add leadership career pathway
Judson Hill
SB
149 Requires SROs to be POST trained and 40-hour SRO course
Jones
SB
152 Limits alternative school to two semesters
Jones
Clarifies that MOWR students earning an AA degree HOPE
SB
186 continues
Tippins
SB
188 Prohibits school personnel from distributing psychotropic meds
James
SB
211 Formative assessments for 3-12, one formative assessment
Tippins
SB
235 Urges athletic associations to use 4 star rated helmets
James
SR
SR
95 Distribution of elost revenue among multiple district counties
192 Allow elected superintendent/appointed board of education
Black/Tippins
Wilkinson
Highlighted bills have been adopted, others are on the Rules Calendar to be voted on today.
The Capitol Opinion will be published each Friday of the 2017 General Assembly. If you have specific questions or
comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] or 770-601-3798. The Capitol Opinion is
authored by Jimmy C. Stokes and is not the official position of GAEL or any of its affiliates.