Monthly Archives: January 2010
A Happy House Bill 908 Update
There must have been a lot of calls into the Capitol yesterday! A vote on House Bill 908 has been delayed for two weeks! If all of the GLMA members aren't kicked into high gear on contacting the House Education Committee members, they need to be now! What Happened During the Hearing... As we expected, Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn) offered a substitute that only included expenditure controls waivers and said he would not be willing to accept any amendments. Rep. Benton (R-Jefferson) offered a substitute to waive expenditure controls, the 65% rule, and added 1 more student to grades k-5 and 2 students to 6-12. House Majority Whip, Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) offered a substitute that left the bill as originally introduced but requires system level hearings before using the waiver provisions in the bill and requires budget reporting to DOE as an added level of accountability. Chairman Coleman did allow testimony, so we signed up to present GLMA's concerns regarding the bill. Approximately 4 testimonies in, the Chairman cut everyone else off and delayed the vote. What's Next... We need to put together a document with a few strong bullet points that effectively convey the GLMA message. We will work with you on this as soon as possible so we have something to bring to committee members first thing next week. Let us know if you have any ideas or suggestions for a message and it's communication to legislators. The House Education Committee members list is attached again here. Contact everyone on the list today! We will keep you posted! Michelle Crider JLH Consulting
Legislative Update, January 28, 2019: HB 908
** GLMA Legislative Alert **
House Education Committee to Vote on Flexibility Bill on Thursday
The House Education Committee met Thursday, January 28 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss and vote on HB 908 – the “Flexibility Bill.” Though a substitute version was expected to be presented to the committee, the bill as introduced would:
- Eliminate Expenditure Controls – media center, direct instruction, and staff development costs
- Eliminate the 65% Rule – minimum classroom expenditures
- Eliminate Maximum Class Size – maximum individual class size for math, science, social studies, and language arts
- Eliminate Funding for Additional Instruction Days
- Eliminate the Minimum Salary Schedule
House Education Chairman Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) told us that he will allow some testimony on HB 908 during the hearing on Thursday.
He also told us that a substitute of HB 908 will be presented to the committee by the bill sponsor, Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn), which would only eliminate expenditure controls through the 2013 fiscal year. He suggested that this new version would be a template that the committee members could work from. Meaning: the new version of HB 908 that is presented at the beginning of the hearing may look very different by the end of the hearing.
Options under consideration are:
- Remove expenditure controls from the waiver, but allow waivers for the 65% rule and funding for additional instruction days.
- Allow class size waivers with a cap on increases (i.e. 1 to 2 additional students in elementary grades, 1 additional student in middle and high school grades).
- Allow system flexibility for two years instead of three years, extending blanket waivers through 2012 instead of 2013.
- Require systems to hold public hearings before using the waivers permitted in the bill, and require systems to document use of waivers with the DOE for accountability purposes.
Rep. Coleman said he does not expect the salary schedule to be added back to the bill. If you can join us at the hearing, please do so. Contact Michelle at michelle@jlh-consulting.com for hearing details and meeting location.
Call to Action
TODAY: Contact House Education Committee members. Ask them to not allow the expenditure controls to be included in HB 908. Explain to legislators the impact a two-year systemwide blanket waiver on expenditure controls will have on your students and your school.
Stay tuned…
Michelle and Lasa
JLH Consulting
Georgia Conference on Information Literacy
I think last year’s conference was our best yet. We had several excellent presentations from K-12 and others that bridged K-12 and higher ed. Please consider sharing the work you’re doing to develop information literacy with your students!
7th Annual Georgia Conference on Information Literacy
October 1 – 2, 2010
Coastal Georgia Center, Savannah, Georgia
Keynote Speaker: Esther Grassian, Information Literacy Librarian, UCLA College Library, Los Angeles, CA
Deadline for Proposals: April 15, 2010
Submit your proposal online via the conference website.
Judi
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
Technically his birthday isn’t until March 2, but now’s the time to start planning, right? And high school media folks – don’t tune out. Thanks to the inspiring media specialists over at Sprayberry High School, we’ve decided to have our own Read Across America day at CHHS where high school students go to the elementary school across the street to read aloud to them. (Many thanks to Amy Bross at Walnut Grove Elementary for helping coordinate and being willing to host a bunch of high school students!) We’re meeting with the students after school a few times to pick out books, practice reading, make bookmarks to give to the kids (and, of course, to make sure they have the best of intentions and aren’t just trying to get out of school:).
It’s been a huge hit! We had 70 kids sign up within a couple of days, and now we’re well into a sign up list of alternates. The students get volunteer hours for it (coordinated by our wonderful volunteer center) and many have expressed how excited they are about this project. Teachers are getting involved too, and we’ve added several of our special education classes to the list of classes that will host our readers.
I’m hoping this event turns out to be a wonderful thing, with many thanks to the Sprayberry media specialists for helping me get this program off the ground. They were kind enough to post their handouts and resources online. The link is http://cobblearning.net/shsmediacenter/teacher-resources/ and I don’t think they’d mind that I shared it with you. (If so, ladies, let me know!)
If you have any resources to share, or want to tell about the success of your Read Across America program, please post a comment. We’d love to hear about it!
Here’s to a great Read Across America day on March 2nd!
Holly Frilot, Collins Hill High School
Legislative Update: The Dangers of HB 908
from Betsy Razza:
The following is what we are in danger of losing if HB 908 passes. Please note that our expenditure control covers online databases, supplies, equipment… any instructional material or item checked in and out of the
media center, not just books. This is the most economical way to support instruction – to have one central place in the school where items can be circulated and accounted for amongst everyone in the school.
I don’t think the legislators understand this. We are not just talking about books!
FY 2010 EXPENDITURE TESTS
TEST 4 – 100% of the funds designated for Media Center Costs at the System
Level.
(Program 1310). Media materials are those instructional materials including print, non-print, periodicals, online databases, supplies, and equipment that are critical to the support and enhancement of the school library media center program. These materials are housed in and circulated through the library media center for use by the entire learning
community of the school.
Please stay tuned to the GLMA list serv and to our blog for additional legislative updates.
