While a number of key education bills passed through both the House and Senate during the 2022 Legislative session and are waiting for the Governor’s signature, a number of bills were left sitting on the table. And because 2022 was the second year of the Georgia legislative biennium, lawmakers must reintroduce bills that did not pass in subsequent legislative sessions if they wish to pursue them.
HR 496 by Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton) would have created a state constitutional amendment allowing communities to vote to hold elections for local school superintendents. Boards of education would have been responsible for setting salary, qualifications, and duties for the elected position. The bill would not have mandated this process but would have allowed school districts to have the choice.
“This would not carry mandates,” said Carpenter when introducing the bill. “It would, however, allow any county that wanted to elect their superintendent a chance to do so. This was the way it was in the early 1990s until the government decided it wanted to take the politics out of education. And if I thought that was the case today, I would be all for it. But unfortunately, politics is in education.
“We need a separation,” Carpenter added. “This would allow the people to elect their school superintendent and their local boards of education if they choose to do so. Currently, a local superintendent is only beholden to the members of the school board that appoint him. This would give the power back to the people.”
Carpenter said he became interested in this after “seeing what happened in Gwinnett County with Alvin Wilbanks, who I think may be the best school superintendent ever in Georgia.” Carpenter said he felt Wilbanks was the victim of a “school board that flipped. He was run out of town.”
HB 60 and HB 999, by Rep. Wes Cantrell (R-Woodstock), sought to create a new private school voucher program called an education savings account (ESA). While each bill had slightly different language, each would have come with a high price tag. HB 60 would have been funded with an estimated $422 million in state funds intended for public schools. The funds from these savings accounts could have been used for private school tuition and other educational services.
HB 1295, by Rep. John Corbett (R-Lake Park), would have removed “needs improvement” as an evaluation rating that could lead to a teacher losing certification if he or she receives the rating two times within a five-year period.
SB 328, by Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), proposed creation of a new nonprofit organization governing high school athletics. Rep. Meisha Mainor (D-Atlanta) sponsored HB 1513, which was similar to SB 328.
Rep. Dave Belton (R-Buckhead) introduced HB 885 which would have allowed military students who enroll in public schools to complete the school year, regardless of any change of residence of students’ parents. Belton is not running for re-election, so someone else will have to pick up the cause if it comes back up. Also, SB 357 by Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta) would have allowed students in active-duty military families to attend any public school in the state, provided space is available.
HR 1048 by Rep. Ginny Ehrhart (R-Marietta) would have created the House Study on Education Accreditation in Georgia.
Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) introduced SB 231 that would have created a charter school pilot program for adults ages 21-35 who have not completed high school. This bill would have created a public-private partnership with Goodwill Industries that would feature three campuses across the state – Savannah, Macon and a third location to be decided, according to Anavitarte. Each location in the pilot program would be at a cost of $2.1 million a year.
According to testimony provided in the Senate committee meeting, Goodwill was going to play a major role in the pilot program – including providing building space, tutoring, transportation, and childcare for the student participants. A spokesman for Goodwill testified during the committee hearing that there are approximately 300,000 young adults in Georgia who have no high school diploma and are likely to live in poverty as a result.
