2015 Legislative Summary By Margaret Ciccarelli, Director of Legislative Services
T
he 2015 General Assembly focused on medical marijuana, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and transportation but also passed several important education bills. Below is a summary of education-related legislation passed in 2015. The bills and resolutions were sent to Gov. Nathan Deal, who had 40 days after the end of session to veto any legislation. The governor did not veto any education bills this year, so all of the legislation summarized below becomes law July 1, 2015, unless another effective date is specified in the legislation. Please note that in the electronic/online version of this PAGE legislative summary, whenever possible, we have included links to supporting documents and legislative voting records for some bills. Please take the time to see how your House and Senate members voted and to learn more about the legislative issues.
ALLOWING THE STATE TO TAKE OVER LOCAL SCHOOLS
SB 133 and SR 287 contain Governor Deal’s proposed constitutional amendment and companion legislation, allowing the state to take over local schools. If approved by voters in November 2016, the plan would allow an Opportunity School District, run by an OSD school superintendent answering directly to the governor, to take over local schools that receive three consecutive failing scores on Georgia’s College and Career Ready Performance Index. Four reorganization options would be available to the schools: closure, charter conversion, governance by the OSD superintendent or entering into a memorandum of understanding with the local school district. When the OSD legislation was being considered in committee, PAGE testified and described the need for additional support services for students attending the targeted schools. PAGE suggested that policymakers look to success stories occurring in notable Georgia high-poverty schools for a road map to turnaround and cited concerns regarding the staff in OSD schools. PAGE also requested that legislators prohibit for-profit charter school companies from operating in the Opportunity School District. When SB 133 and SR 287 passed, votes generally fell along party lines, May/June 2015
with most Republicans voting for the legislation and many Democrats voting against. There were outliers on both sides of the aisle, however. One Republican representative explained his opposition to the plan due to its duplicative creation of school services. Several Democrats speaking in support of the amendment cited frustration with and mismanagement by their local school boards. Georgians will have the opportunity to vote on the proposed constitutional amendment in the fall of 2016. The amendment will read: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?” TEACHER RETIREMENT SYSTEM LEGISLATION
SB 152, by Sen. Hunter Hill (R-Atlanta), changes Georgia’s Teacher Retirement System to a hybrid or blended plan. The bill was not heard in committee, nor did it receive a vote on the House or Senate floor. However,
the legislation will be viable next year if retirement committee members vote to send it for an actuarial study over the summer. A date for this joint House and Senate Retirement Committee meeting has not yet been set. MOVING ON WHEN READY
SB 2 allows high school students who pass post-secondary entrance exams to enroll in colleges, universities and technical schools and to obtain their high school diplomas simultaneously with their post-secondary degree or certificaPAGE ONE 13
