Members of the House of Representatives overwhelming gave their support to a bill Wednesday that would require local school systems to conduct certain screenings, assessments, and reviews prior to expelling or suspending a student in kindergarten through third grade.
House Bill 740 was initially introduced last year by Rep. Henry Wayne Howard; however, it stated those students “could not be suspended.” Rep. Randy Nix, re-introduced the bill this year, but changed the wording that required the schools to use the ‘Response to Intervention’ program to evaluate the child before any out-of-school suspensions could take place. It passed the House by a 157-13 vote Wednesday.
“I liked the intent of the original bill, but felt uncomfortable with the wording regarding no suspensions,” said Rep. Nix.
According to Nix, approximately 15,000 students in kindergarten through third grade are assigned out of school suspension each year. Of those, 2,600 are suspended for five or more days at a time.
“I just don’t believe we should suspend these children until we are sure there isn’t some underlying problem,” said Nix.
According to Nix, this would not apply to students who were in possession of a weapon or drugs, or who were a threat to others.
Rep. Howard, said it was these numbers that caught his attention and caused him to propose legislation last year.
“The question came up of how do we keep these children in school,” said Rep. Howard. “I believe this legislation leads us in the right direction. We are not just suspending these children and sending them home, we are digging deeper and trying to uncover any under-lying factors. We must make sure we keep our children in the classroom. If they aren’t in school, they can’t learn.”
Nix said there was a little concern and pushback early from speech pathologists because they felt the screenings might cause a hardship due to a lack of personnel.
“The Response to Intervention program is the answer to this concern,” said Nix. He added that after making this change, he received “universal support from the Education Committee, as well as from educational support organizations such as Georgia Association of Educational Leaders, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, school nurses and a number of Juvenile Judges across the state.”
The legislation now goes to the Senate.
