Advocating for every child
Georgia PTA’s weekly update on legislative activity – Mar. 22, 2009

The General Assembly has completed 34 of the forty days that it will meet in 2009. There are only six days left this session with the last day, sine dei, scheduled for April 3.

Update: School Nurse Funding

What happens when PTA members from all over the state take action? We get noticed and make a difference! The Popsicle campaign was a success as legislators from across the state commented about how they had been inundated with Popsicles and now understood how important school nurses are. More importantly, the funding for school nurses was put back in the 2010 budget in the House version of the budget. The Senate now will make its changes and we hope they will keep that funding in. Call your Senator this week and remind him or her about how important the nurses are to the health and safety of our children. Thank you for making a difference!

Voucher Legislation:

While SB 90 appears to be dead at least for this session, another bill has quietly made it through the legislature and onto the Governor’s desk, HB 100. Last year, legislation was passed that allowed individuals to make a scholarship donation to a private school and claim it as a tax credit (which means it goes directly against the bottom line of how much that individual owes in taxes). The amount was capped at $1,000 per person or $2,500 per couple. Sounds innocent until you realize that an individual can make a donation for a “scholarship” to the private school his child attends and then that child is the recipient of the scholarship. The net result is the person gets a tax credit for subsidizing his own child’s private education. This year, HB 100, removes the $1,000 cap and instead allows an individual to make a donation and receive a tax credit of up to 75% of his income tax liability. Private schools benefit and public schools and the state lose the money that could help in this time of falling revenue. If you don’t support private individuals receiving tax credits to subsidize their child’s private education call the Governors office and ask him to veto HB 100.
The Governor proposed legislation that would create an arm’s length relationship, that those who donated could not be the recipient of the scholarship and that scholarships would be awarded based on need. Unfortunately his legislation didn’t move this year.

Legislation that Passed:

HB 229: Student Health and Physical Education Act. Students in grades 1-12 enrolled in physical education in 2011-12 must have an annual fitness assessment during the PE class time. The aggregate results shall be reported to the state board yearly. Results of any assessment shall be reported to parents. Waiting Gov. signature

HB 157: If the lottery end of year balance is less than 92% of the year with the highest year end balance, it will trigger a reduction of the HOPE recipient book allowance to $150, excluding Pell Grant recipients. If the year end balance is less than 84%, the book allowance is eliminated, excluding Pell Grant recipients. If the year end balance is less than 75%, mandatory fees will not be paid to any recipient, including Pell grant recipients. Currently, if any year end balance is less that the highest year end balance, by even $1, the book allowance is halved, the second year it is lost and the third year the mandatory fees are not paid. Waiting Gov. signature

Legislation to Watch

Every week we will report on new legislation and the status of existing legislation critical to you. If PTA has an official position it will be shown next to the bill number. Please note if PTA has an established position, a local unit cannot take an opposing position. This week we’ll report on those bills that made it out of one chamber and still have a chance of passing this session:

HB 120: 2009 sales tax holiday is from July 30 to August 2. Passed House and S. Finance

HB 23: Drivers under age 18 cannot use a cell phone nor text message while driving. Exceptions are made for driver emergencies, reporting an accident or criminal activity, or using while parked. Passed House

HB 149: Move on When Ready: Students in 11th and 12th grades may enroll in Georgia public colleges and take Department of Education approved courses that will meet both high school graduation requirements and earn them college credit. Hours earned will not count against HOPE. What this means to you: If a student is ready to attend college and only has a few high school credits remaining to fulfill the high school diploma requirements, (s)he can earn those credits while attending college. Passed House, Passed Sen. Ed.

HB 193: Permits the required 180 day school year to be defined in hours, thus providing local school boards with flexibility in setting the school calendar. Passed House.

HB 243: Eliminates bonus for Nat’l Board Certified teachers. Grandfathers those currently receiving the bonus and those who began the certification process prior to Mar. 1, 2009. Eliminates from funding those teachers leaving teaching and going into administration or some other area effective July 1, 2009. Passed: Housed.

HB 300: Parents to be informed about meningococcal meningitis and other vaccines. Passed House, passed Sen Ed.

HB 400: BRIDGE, Building Resourceful Individuals to Develop Georgia’s Economy Act. Department of Education is to develop programs so a student can get courses at the home school, a technical college, a two or four year college, a work site as an apprentice, and other approved settings. Middle grades advisement shall provide counseling, advisement, career awareness, career interest inventories to evaluate each student’s academic skills and career interests. In grade 8, students shall select a preferred focused program and study and develop an individual graduation plan, IGP, with parents. High school students shall have annual reviews of the IGP which are to include academic core subjects and course work in math and science OR humanities, fine arts, and foreign language, OR sequenced career pathway courses; include IEP components if applicable. Passed House

HB 422: Bikes would be allowed to be ridden on sidewalks by children age 12 and younger. Passed House

HB 484: Children of military personnel stationed in GA can qualify for HOPE. Passed House, Passed Sen. H. Ed

SB 5: SUPPORT Requires seatbelts be worn in all pickup trucks with an exception for those over 18 who are doing agricultural work.. Passed Senate. SB 23 also requires seatbelt use in pickup trucks

SB 84: is the result of a study on school board governance, in light of the issues with the Clayton County School Board during 2008. The bill would require local school boards to have at most seven members and abide by an ethics policy. The bill gives the Governor the power to remove board members if a school system is placed on probation by an accrediting agency and board members can remove fellow board members by a 2/3 vote. Passed Senate

SB 94: Removes the requirement that a dependent child up to the age 25 be a full-time student to be insured medically under the parent’s health plan. Passed Senate

SB 206: Requires tax expenditure reviews detailing for each item the amount of tax revenue foregone for at least a three year period, the intended objective of the expenditure, an analysis of whether or not it is achieving the objective. Taxes included in this report shall cover all state taxes collected by the Department of Revenue. Passed: Senate

Key: HR - House Resolution, HB – House Bill, SR – Senate Resolution, SB – Senate Bill

Daily Reports with additional details on all the bills being tracked by GA PTA can be found on the Capitol Watch website under News:

Karen Hallacy
GA PTA
Legislative Chair