PAGE Position Statement and Analysis
of Evaluation and Testing Bills
PAGE actively supports and is engaged in the movement of two educator evaluation and testing bills moving in the Senate. SB 355 and SB 364 each tackle these issues of critical importance to PAGE members. The bills address the issues in different ways and SB 355 includes protections for opting out of testing for students and parents.
Go HERE for PAGE's position statement and analysis in document form, and HERE for the information on the "I Promise" campaign website. Read up on these bills and then call your legislators to encourage their support of educators and students. PAGE member calls to legislators have helped move these reforms to the forefront of this year's session. 
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House Passes Budget Transparency and GHSA Bills
House Education Committee member Rep. Dave Belton's (R-Buckhead) school budget transparency measure, HB 659, passed on the House floor Wednesday and now heads to the Senate. The House also passed HB 870 by Rep. Brian Strickland (R-McDonough). The bill prohibits the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) from discriminating against students due to student displays of religious expression and also allows GHSA and non-GHSA member schools to scrimmage each other in games that do not count toward region standing.
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Senate Education Committee Addresses GHSA and
Career Academies at Charter Schools
The Senate Education Committee passed SB 309, which is very similar to HB 870 which passed the House on the same day. The Senate version is sponsored by Sen. Burt Jones (R-Jackson). Senate Ed Chair Lindsey Tippins' (R-Marietta) SB 348, allowing for the creation of College and Career Academies at charter schools and in Strategic Waiver districts, also passed.
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Bill Restricting Retirement System Investments
Heard in Senate Committee
SR 725 by Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta) seeks to amend the state constitution to prevent the investment of state retirement or pension funds, like the Georgia Teachers Retirement System (TRS), from investing in a foreign state that sponsors terrorism or entities engaged in certain for-profit activities with such a foreign state.
When asked by the committee to weigh-in on the bill, Jeff Ezell from TRS expressed concern about the financial repercussions of the bill and expressed concern that the proposed constitutional amendment lacked the proper certification required for retirement bills to move forward. Legislative Counsel, the staff attorney assigned to the legislative committee, told the committee that the retirement bill certification requirement did not apply and that proposed constitutional amendments cannot be abridged in the same manner as regular House and Senate bills.
This legal opinion inspired a lengthy debate by the committee about whether SR 725 sets a dangerous precedent by limiting the investment authority of public retirement systems and whether putting the onus, however well-meaning, on retirement systems to investigate political entities, is appropriate. The committee did not take a vote on the legislation.
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PAGE thanks its members for their great response to PAGE Day on Capitol Hill next Tuesday, Feb. 16, co-sponsored with the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders. This event is now at capacity and no further registrations may be accepted. PAGE looks forward to hosting all the participants as we hear from our speakers and facilitate meetings with legislators.
UPDATE: Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta) joins us in the morning session to discuss educator evaluation and testing bills that have been introduced in the Senate. Sen. Tippins is the chair of the Senate Education and Youth Committee and was a member of the Governor's Education Reform Commission.
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