2026 Georgia Education Legislative Recap

The laws that hit Georgia classrooms rarely start as clean, simple ideas. They start as priorities, get reshaped by amendments and late-night negotiations, and land in districts with real staffing, scheduling, and budget consequences. We sit down with GSSA leaders Josh Hooper, Rob Brown, and Mike McGowan for a detailed Georgia education legislative recap that connects what happened at the Capitol to what superintendents, principals, and district teams will actually have to do next.

We talk through the collaboration behind the scenes with Peach State Education Partners and why relationships and in-person advocacy still matter. Then we dig into the biggest K-12 public education bills: the literacy legislation (House Bill 1193), what the timelines look like, and why the move toward QBE-supported literacy coaches matters for long-term stability. We also cover the cell phone restrictions moving toward high school, the Math Matters Act time requirements and advanced math placement rules, completion schools cleanup, educator preparation program performance measures, and the return-to-work extension for retired TRS educators through 2030.

The financial storyline gets just as real. We unpack the property tax fight, the shift from proposals that could have capped district revenue to what ultimately passed, and the state income tax reduction plan. We also explain new district fiscal monitoring and accountability laws and why strong financial practices protect local control. If you lead in Georgia schools and want a clear, practical map of what changed and what’s coming next, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe for more Georgia education policy updates, share this with a colleague who handles budgets or scheduling, and leave us a review. What bill will impact your district the most this year?

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Recap

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Welcome to Gale Unscripts, where leadership needs learning and real conversations to have real impact. I'm Ben Weggins, Executive Director of Gale. Join us as we go beyond the headlines with Georgia's top education leaders. Let's elevate the conversation. Welcome, Gale family, to another episode of Gale Unscripted. We've got a great episode today. We're going to do a legislative recap. And our special guests today are all with GSSA, the Superintendent's Association. We've got Josh Hooper, Rob Brown, and Mike McGowan. And they do an incredible job of working extremely hard during the legislative session and do a ton of things, not only up front at the Capitol, but behind the scenes. Lots of conversations, lots of meetings, and a lot of long days. Why don't we start off, Rob, with you? Maybe talk to our listeners a little bit that may not know about the other educational agencies that join GSSA and Gale and are working at the Capitol and who those people are and how we work together throughout the year to come up with legislative priorities.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Yeah, Ben, so uh thanks for having us and thanks for giving us the opportunity to share some of what happened in the legislative session with with your listeners out there. Um we would be remiss if we didn't recognize our partners and the partnership. We formed a Peach State Education Partners Group, as you know, um, with our friends from GSBA. We have Justin Pauly, Stephanie Tanner, and Annie Gerstrom who work uh with us from GSBA. And then we have our partners at Page, Margaret Chiccarelli, Rob Aycock, and Josh Stevens. And then there's uh the infamous Claire Suggs, who who does it all. She's amazing, works with all of us. And so this group, we we began working well before the session ever begins to try to align what our priorities are and how we're gonna try to best serve each of our membership groups. And uh this year we came up with three collective priorities. We wanted to, number one, help with reducing chronic absenteeism. And and the way we thought that we could address that and have conversations with legislators around uh helping the absenteeism is increasing the social workers, school psychologists, and counselors who serve our students. Uh, secondly, our second priority that we felt like was was appropriate for all groups was addressing the incredibly uh increasing uh cost of state health benefit plan, the per member per month uh costs that continue to go up and and and hinder our local school districts from being able to do other things with those monies. Uh, we wanted to address that. And then finally, we wanted to make sure that we strengthened educator workforce. Of course, a big piece of that was the return to work bills and whatever we could do to help have the conversations necessary to generate more interest in the education profession and to drive that ship forward. Um, so with that, that's kind of uh what where we started and and where we entered the session, and then the session begins, and and uh you never know what's gonna happen then. Fun times, right?

Why Leaders Show Up At The Capitol

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Always let's talk a little bit, maybe Mike jump in there or Josh a little bit too. You know, this year, um, and we've always had some superintendents visit and some RISAs, but it seemed like this year there was a lot more. Um, and and I know you know uh GSSA really asked and and challenged those those RESAs to come and visit, and I thought they did an outstanding job and really showed up. Uh, it seemed like there for a while, every day there was a different RESA or RESAS there. Talk about why that's important and um how that went. Maybe, maybe for our listeners that are are listening to this podcast, how did they go about that? What if they were interested in coming in the future? What if uh what if a group of principals from Southwest RESA wanted to get together? But talk about kind of what that process looked like, what they did when they came to the Capitol on those days, maybe who they met with, and why that's so important during the session.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah, and I don't mind jumping on that real quick. Ben and and Josh and Mike can jump in as well. Um, yeah, we've when we started out the session, and I gotta get credit where it's due, had a conversation with Philip Brown, uh Superintendent Jackson County, and and he was talking about uh coming to the Capitol, maybe bringing a group, and that just triggered me to expand an invitation to all RESA directors to try to coordinate uh their superintendents, their district leaders, the people in their region, a day that worked for them. Everybody has different calendars, different schedules. And so they many of them jumped on it, some of them got on on the the wagon a little bit later, but ultimately we had around 80 uh superintendents and district leaders, research directors that came to the Capitol. And why is it important? Because we're in the relationship business, and you can't build relationships if you're not having conversations with people. We um we got these folks to the Capitol, they were able to have most of them were able to sit down in a smaller group, have uh conversations with uh Chairman Chris Irwin and House Education Committee, Chairman Billy Hickman from the Senate Education Committee, and and sit down, have conversations specifically for education. And then uh they were able to sit down with their legislators to talk about legislation, how it's going to impact them back home. Those conversations were extremely powerful and uh we're greatly appreciative. Our RESA directors were phenomenal. We've got some amazing leadership uh in our RESAS and appreciate their help and support in getting those folks up there.

unknown 6:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Josh Mike.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Mike, why don't you piggyback and talk about who else is up in those lobbies outside in the Capitol waiting for those representatives and senators uh on a daily basis and maybe why that's so important that our superintendents and leaders uh are there with a presence as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

I think our superintendents uh quickly learned that uh there's nothing like face-to-face interaction with the legislators. They uh they welcomed the input, they were appreciative of the fact that uh they were there in attendance physically, and uh it's it's it's a rather uh situation down there that's typically fairly crowded, and uh you can typically call on your legislators come out the uh on the roads, and in many cases they were they were taken out on the floor, but uh various advocacy groups, uh hundreds of lobbyists uh typically uh out in in that area in the galleries outside of uh chambers. But I think what we found would agree is that uh our superintendents who hadn't made a visit down there uh previously appreciated the opportunity and found out that there was a reason to be intimidated. Uh uh our legislators definitely uh appreciated the fact that they had face-to-face interaction. There's nothing like talking to someone personally as opposed to calling or sending them an email.

Learning Politics Without Becoming One

SPEAKER_03 7:45

I know Chris Irwin made multiple comments to me about how impressive it was, the number that was down there, and I think the frequency that was down there. Josh, why don't you talk very quickly about you know, GSSA is gonna actually add a course that I think is meeting uh in May of maybe of this year? Yes, next week. But talk about maybe because it kind of ties into this conversation, like maybe why are y'all doing that? What are the hopes of doing that? What are you hoping those leaders are able to take back home and meet with their their uh General Assembly members on a on a regular basis, even outside of the session?

SPEAKER_04 8:27

Well, uh what we're uh starting this year for this workshop will be next week, May 4th and 5th, um, is politics and K-12 workshop. And basically it's a uh looks at politics and how the impact it has on education, uh, not only in the state level, but also at the local level as well. There's local politics that are involved. You've got your your mayors, your sheriffs, uh, your city councils, your county commissioners, all of that, all of those politics all play in and lean into what how things run in your system. And making sure that you have good relationships with at all levels of the political spectrum is what helps you be an advocate for your uh community and for your school system, making sure you get the best and what you need uh to make sure you're putting the children at first and uh making sure that all those priorities are met that you need to make sure that the students are set up for success. And so we have some uh experienced superintendents coming to do some uh uh panel discussions. We've got some key legislators coming to give some of their perspective as long as some other uh local politicians as well to kind of give that local perspective. And so it's gonna be a good uh opportunity for us to for people who are in tenants to bend the ear of those locals and state politicians, kind of understand what it means to be an advocate, what they're looking for, how how you can best present information to make sure that you're getting your point across and clear, uh, especially before the session and during the session. You know, um politics is kind of a team sport, unfortunately, and there's a lot of things, you know, whether it's Republican or Democrat, but also, you know, you've got groups of politicians working together to get legislation across the line. And so a lot of times that group team mentality sometimes gets lost in how it's affecting each community locally, and that's why we are encouraging superintendents and principals and teachers and everybody up and down the educational ladder to be an advocate and to reach out to those legislators to let them know how this is going to impact each community differently. There's what's gonna happen well, how legislation is gonna impact Cowita County is gonna be completely different than how it's gonna re affect O'Coni or Decatur County or Clinch County or Effingham or Savannah Chatham or the metro area. All of that stuff has impact, and we need and it's our best way to communicate that is to understand how it's gonna impact us locally and communicate that with those those who are down there to represent us.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

It's gonna be a great course. So if you're if you're listening to this podcast and you go, oh, we missed it, don't worry. I'm sure GSSA, um, I don't want to speak for you, Josh, but this probably becomes a yearly course uh offering, and so you'll you'll have opportunities to do that as well. Rob, just real quick before we jump into the uh the bills, we we've got a lot of leaders, maybe young leaders, they're assistant principals, you know, they're gonna end up being superintendents one day, or they're principals now, or district office, but they maybe they're thinking as they're listening to this, I'm not a politician. I don't want to get involved in politics. Just real quickly, just make a comment toward that that thought process, real quick.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

It's funny you say that, Ben. I I remember distinctly uh when I was uh early in my career, I don't remember if I was an assistant principal or a principal, and um someone asked me a question about politics, and I made the ignorant statement of I don't do politics. I I'm I'm a school guy, I don't do politics. And the irony is that you know what I'm doing now is all politics, and what I did for the last 12 years of my career as a superintendent was highly engaged in politics, whether you like it or not, whether you want to or not, you're in a role that's going to be impacted by politics. And you have to be somewhat strategic in how you you approach that, and I think that's part of why we're we're having this course with GSSA with politics and education and and how your roles, whether it be at the principal level, at the district uh superintendent level, um, or in a in a role um you know like I'm in right now with our organization, you know, you we're all in politics, we're affected by politics. We saw that more so you know in the last couple of years, especially this year being an election year. And uh and so politics is just part of it. You better embrace it and figure out how you're gonna handle things when it comes your way. Uh, I think um, you know, when for us, and I'll segue into you know what we're focused on when we're at the Capitol. Um, number one, we will we try to help legislators who have really good intentions, uh we try to help them create good bills, bills that are going to help move the needle forward, move us in a positive direction for uh K-12 public education. And then sometimes, unfortunately, we have to try to make bad bills less bad. Uh what I've realized over the last few years is that we have legislators from all walks of life, from all corners of our state, and they all have good intentions for somebody with what they're proposing. It's just that sometimes there are unintended consequences for us in education on on how a bill might have a negative impact on us. Uh so there are some bills that we believe you know are not good for public education, and and we try to work with them to find some some balance there, find some common ground. We as shared before, we also work with other lobbyist groups uh to try to align our efforts. Uh I joke with people, you know, most lobbyists down there, most people uh standing up on the balconies, they have a pile of cash and and maybe some perks that they can take with folks. Uh in K-12 education, we have reason and logic and what's good for children to try to drive our conversation. We we don't have a big pile of money that we use to um to make donations or or take people to dinner and do some of those things that maybe some of the other other lobbyists do. Uh, but we try to leverage those relationships. That's why it's so important that we get our members engaged. Um, you know, also we try to keep our members informed. Um we try to make sure that superintendents know what's coming down the the down the track so that they can have conversations with their local school board members, they can have conversations with their delegates and be informed in those conversations. And and then supporting those relationships between our our superintendents and our legislators is critical, uh, I believe in our role to try to bridge those gaps. Again, sometimes when you have had a conversation last night, um uh Senator Billy Hickman called me and we're talking about this uh workshop next week, and and and he his background is in accounting, he's a CPA, and he said, you know, I I don't know how to answer some of these questions that are specific to education. That's not my my area. Uh and I say yes, but but as the leader of the Senate Education Committee, Senator Hickman, and I'll compliment him time and time again, he he comes to us and asks questions, has conversations, he goes and talks to his local superintendents, he tries to become informed. And sometimes uh yeah, those those conversations you you have to drive forward uh from the local level and and help people understand and see your perspective on things.

The Literacy Act And Funding Details

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Exactly. Good point. Well, let's jump right into those education bills that passed. And I get all right, Mike, let's start this thing off and let's talk about the literacy bill. Why don't you kind of kick it off for us and talk a little bit and Rob jump in at any time? Uh I know there's a lot of a lot of folks out there waiting to get some specifics on this, and some we have, and some uh will come later on with some timelines. But kick us off, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yes, sir. Um, House Bill 1193 was the uh speaker and Chairman Irwin's uh literacy act that uh we heard about most of the session. Uh it landed with various components and and various um implementation commands. Um there's there's to be a Georgia Literacy Task Force established that that task force will uh ultimately uh improve the quality of functional materials and and screeners that will be utilized in the school district. Um first and foremost on district commands is probably the fact that every district in the state will need to uh unified literacy point in January 1 of 2027. Uh beginning with the 27-28 school year, there's uh there's a first grade um promotion component that basically uh will determine significantly the students who are significantly grade level reading on the next grade unless there's a committee approach to that for many uh the the matter that received the most detection is uh funding um subject uh relationship uh what you want to do. Um allow for literacy cutters in every school in the state that has a K to three or some sort of K to three uh grade configuration, and those schools with uh fewer than 200 students will receive 50 percent of whatever that allowment ultimately uh is determined to be.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

So you alluded to the the funding piece, and that that's a piece that was uh changed uh multiple times and back and forth and used as a a leverage tool. And so the bill um d does not say exactly what's going to happen because the bill says on line 42 that it's subject to appropriations and that the doe shall provide grants to local units of units of administration. That's what they passed, that's the language in the bill. And uh, and I may have misspoken at the bootstrap conference, I've gotten clarity since then, uh, and actually spoke with uh Chairman Irwin uh this morning. He informed me that at the uh 11th hour, the very final budget uh conference committee, which uh people like myself or other lobbyists are not privy to those conversations that occur behind the scenes, uh, but we were informed that there is going to be a change to add a column or a line in QBE. And so whereas we're used to seeing, you know, across the top on the right-hand columns, you'll have superintendent, assistant superintendent, and all the categories. We're not sure if it's going to be added over there or if it's gonna be added on the left-hand side as you go down the list, but it was confirmed that uh, in contrary to the language in the bill, it's not going to be grant-funded. It will be an addition to QBE, which is great for longevity and sustainability of this position. The people who take these positions will um will have some security in their job. It's not going to be subject to political decisions each and every year, which is fantastic. Now, where it ends up on your allotment sheet, we don't know. That'll be for OPB to uh make the final determination on where that shows up on the allotment sheet. But we're thankful for Chairman Irwin's continued work to make sure that these positions were put in there in a manner in which they can be sustained and counted upon every year. So good.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

That's a big, big deal, you know. With now TE will be um impactful. So maybe maybe talk about that a little bit, just in case there's a new superintendent or a new principal. What's the difference if it would have been in the grants as opposed to actually in QB?

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, those of us have been around forever, we've seen grants come and go. And those positions that are grant funded when they when they roll out uh or or not get continued by whoever's making that decision, then we we're forced at the local level to either eat that cost to sustain the position, or we have to um just cut the position altogether and find a place for those employees who are who are employed in those spots. So that that's uh that's one of the problems through uh the way that they're going to add this through uh QBE as an additional line, not a change to any other formula in QBE, but an additional line in QBE. Uh that means that you're gonna earn training and experience on those employees. You will it's always in arrears, you're not gonna earn it before you have that person work for you for a year, so you're gonna have to build up to that point. Um, which brings us to the next question. When? Uh I've had a lot of superintendents. When do I need to have these people hired? And uh the the question uh can only be answered this way when it works for you. If you can afford to go ahead and get started, go ahead and get somebody in that position. You have people who are prepared to be trained in this uh area, you jump on it now. If you don't have somebody who you feel like meets that critical need in your district, don't worry, there's no um no urgency that you have to do it right now. You can wait and find the right person uh to do it. There are several different dates in the bill. Um Mike shared a couple of them, you know, uh the with the uh first grade readiness uh piece. He shared a date with the uh uh instructional material materials. Uh having a unified literacy plan is probably the most important first step that districts need to have, and that's before January 1st of 27. A lot of these other components are gonna come down the track later, but you can hire that person as soon as you're ready and you've identified the best person for the job.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

That's great news. I know a lot of schools out there trying to make a lot of decisions. Um, I know more information is to come. Mike gave some of those dates and timelines as far as what the uh training will be for those literacy coaches, the qualifications, um, and and some more information to be determined later uh will be things like the approved screeners and the approved high quality curriculum. Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yeah, all that's to come. And uh, you know, what one thing that I do want to emphasize here is uh that this person is not a uh paper pusher, that this person is not an admin assistant, this person is is their focus is to be on uh doing the work of a literacy coach working in the classroom. I think it's 70 percent of their day needs to be spent directly in the classroom. And uh when I spoke with Chairman Irwin uh earlier today, he was clear that that that is the expectation, and that's how these positions are gonna be utilized in the classroom, working with teachers and working with kids.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Perfect. Well, uh Fran Dundor of GOSA or goes uh will be at Somergale along with Stacey Lutz. I know they're gonna speak in a general session. They're gonna have a breakout, and I I know on Wednesday on that professional learning day, they're gonna they're gonna have about a three-hour session uh where they're gonna go over some of this stuff in depth. We're going to um um live stream that for our members, so even if they can't be there, they can get the latest information as of summer gear.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

And that that's another kind of unique piece to this piece of legislation is that uh the legislature decided that this would be driven from that department. The the artist formerly known as GOSA is going to be GOE's and they will drive the ship on this literacy bill. They will oversee the the components moving down through uh the Reese's. The Reasas have a huge piece of this bill, and uh a lot of confidence in them to do it well. But Fran and her team uh will be driving the ship on this. So yeah.

Completion Schools And Student Pathways

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Well, perfect. Rob, Mike, thank you for the update on the literacy bill as we continue through some of these. All right, let's jump into some of these education bills that we anticipate the governor signing in in somewhat uh quick time frame. House Bill 907, the Completion Schools Act, um, from Jan Jones. Just real quick. Mike, you want to hit that one?

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah, um, there had been um there were quite a few changes to the completion special school uh enrollment process uh legislated a couple three years ago. And this basically cleans up some admission issues that uh students and parents were having. They couldn't enroll directly, uh, they had to have the sponsorship uh of a district in order to move on to the school andor uh be of a certain age before they could be considered dropout. Um, and then in this case, specifically now parents can enroll directly with their student. This also requires local districts throughout the state to have a collaborative agreement with one of these schools and or have their own type of uh dropout prevention system uh within their own district. So it's basically a cleanup of the program and an extension of the program for completion schools.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Yep, that's right. I think it makes that dual achievement program permanent as well, which I think's been a pretty good deal for a lot of students around the state. Let's go to 1009 and it might be a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Um there's some shoring up of reporting requirements from districts to those schools. Um, and it's it's more specific than it was previously as to when you report and how you report to those districts, who your students are, who the dropouts are, who are who who is enrolling and how they're gonna be uh reported in the accountability reports.

Cell Phone Limits And Local Flexibility

SPEAKER_03 27:23

And from my memory, it and GOSA gonna be the ones that um that's reported to and handles all of that. I thought so. All right, House Bill 1009. This is a cell phone bill, but it might be a good opportunity, Rob, to remind everybody this July 68 kicks in officially if they haven't already started. And so when this bill for 912 kicks in.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Yeah, and and this bill was was really uh just an extension of last year's, and most everybody have already implemented their policies and procedures that that are going to address this. But the the law requires that beginning no later than July 1, 2026, uh just two months away, no kinder, no student in kindergarten through eighth grade may access a personal electronic device during the school day at any Georgia public school. Most districts, again, have that already in place for this year. Uh this expands that to 912. It also defines the school day as being a bell-to-bell period encompassing all instructional time, breaks, transitions, assemblies, and other school-related activities, not only class periods. So when you walk into the building till the time you walk out, K through 12, again, that that would be July 127 when it's required. Uh, I don't know why you would want to delay it an extra year if you already have those policies developed. Um, and then uh uh there were a lot of conversations during the the legislative session about um cutouts for kids that are dual enrollment or work-based learning, those things that you know it they may be leaving our presence and and need access uh to their cell phone. So uh there are those provisions in there. Uh and then um, you know, the definition of personal electronic device, what does that mean? Uh covers any portable device capable of transmitting, receiving, or accessing communications data or media, explicitly including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and headphones. Uh anything to access includes holding or wearing a device. Uh, again, another uh little cutout fee, students who have medical issues that require that device for communication. So a lot of common sense went into that. That build, the conversations, uh very little resistance, uh except for perhaps maybe from high school students across this.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

Mike, help me remember Mike.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

I think I'm sorry, I was gonna just add quickly. I think the real good news here is that uh they have left uh a lot of the specific decisions about storage and implementation specific to local school districts. Uh, there isn't uh specificity in the bill as to you must do this and you must do that.

Teacher Prep Standards And Math Minutes

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Right, perfect. That's what I was gonna ask you, might clarify that. And I think there's some um language to give those local school districts some uh what's the right word? I don't leeway is the only one I can come up with, or common sense for those students that are dual enrollment, work-based learning, they're you know, job-specific kind of things. But again, to your point, allowing the local school district to make some of those decisions. All right, let's go to 1107. That's the excellent teacher preparation act by Carmen Rice. Um, I think that was one of the many bills that gave um our good friend, Dr. Jody Barra, uh, another job. So talk about that with us.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Anything that has work to Dr. Jody Barrow's uh plate is okay with us. Uh now uh obviously uh Dr. Barrow's a great friend to us, and and we're proud of the work he's doing at the Professional Standards Commission. And this bill is gonna uh require them to develop a standardized set of performance measures for every educator prep program. Uh, you know, we keep kept hearing this EPP, uh this new acronym, uh, which was uh not new to many of us, but educator prep provider um program in Georgia covering enrollment, graduation demographics, uh certification exam passage rates, job placement rates, all these things. And fortunately, Jody uh has plenty of time that he can invest in.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

He's very excited about that. But it's basically making sure that graduates of college programs are prepared, they're passing the gaze, they're getting hired, they're remaining hired, just those kind of basic things.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah, and and I think um, you know, from my perspective, Ben, uh yeah, we we have some great educator prep programs around our state. Our providers are great partners to us. Uh, but we all we know that every program is a little bit different, and I think that this effort is to align uh some of the best practices that occur in those those provider programs and try to keep them all held to uh similar standard. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

Let's go to uh House Bill 1030, the Math Matters Act. They had one bill in the House, another one in the Senate. I think they kind of met the middle a little bit, but let's talk about math matters. Mike, you want to take that one?

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Sure, sure. And let me refer to my notes so I get the text correct here. Beginning with the 27-28 school year, each local school district must provide students in grade four and five at least 60 minutes of core math instruction daily or three 300 minutes weekly. Also beginning that year, each district must automatically enroll in an advanced math course. Every student who scores as a distinguished learner on the on the statewide math assessment, or students who demonstrate proficiency on a qualifying local measure. Each district must establish a procedure allowing parents or guardians to withdraw a child from automatic advanced enrollment if they so choose. And finally, parents have scoring proficient one level below distinguishing a request advanced math enrollment, and the district must either approve the request or require the parent to attend a placement meeting reviewing the student's math achievement and readiness before approving such enrollment. So it's um time requirements and it's placement requirements as it relates to math or the major components of the bill.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Yeah, again, you you have a year to get things adjusted and at the local level, it's not an immediate implementation. So you have a little bit of time to work on that, but that will require uh many schools to adjust their time frame and and instructional uh structure in their schools. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

And that's a good example of advocacy. I know the the author of that bill got a lot of feedback because originally it was if they scored proficient or distinguished, they would automatically be enrolled. And so there was a lot of give and take there. And uh again, it's a good example of what happens when our leaders across the state get involved, like exactly what Rob said. A bill that had good intentions, but we were able to uh make it better because of that. All right, House Bill 1123, that's the after-school. If you uh if you have an after-school program and you have pre-K in your building, just real quick, Rob. Catches up.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah, I have no idea where this bill came from in terms of you know who who wasn't allowing pre-K kids to stay after school, but now if you offer uh pre-K, state funded pre-K, and you offer an after-school program, you must allow the pre-K students to participate in the after-school program. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

We assume somewhere in some galaxy, some somebody that daycare was taking the pre-K years to a private facility, and some parent was like, My second grader and my fourth grader get to stay after school, but we assume that's right. That's right. House Bill 1280 84, that's the end of life uh bill, had um, you know, a student uh family that they ended up naming the bill after, but very quickly, Mike, catch us up on that one.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Uh it's gonna that bill will require um the state doe to establish a process to allow for uh local districts to apply to the state to uh grant an issue of diploma to a student who's been diagnosed with a terminal condition and will allow for uh posthumous awarding of diplomas for students. Um there are many districts that presently already do this, but uh that will allow for uh you know a statewide process.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Yeah, one one key piece of that this is upon written request from a parent or guardian. So it's you know, if it's requested, the local board shall provide that that diploma.

Return To Work And Other Key Laws

SPEAKER_03 36:26

So that's right. All right, let's go over to the what we expect the governor to sign on the Senate side, a couple of bills. Senate bill 148, a little bit about some public school property and facilities and the outdoor learning spaces. Uh catch us up on that one a little bit. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Three subjects that aren't necessarily germane to one another, and this will be that uh fairly early in the session. Um, there was a lot of talk last year uh and then early on in this session about expanding uh the number of personal leave days you can take from three to five annually. That was a component of the bill. It also um authorizes uh outdoor learning space pilots throughout the state uh and funding included for that beginning in the 25-26 school year, and then um beginning in the upcoming school year as well, authorization, but not a requirement to offer under safety in grades six through twelve. So three three subjects that aren't necessarily germane to one another. Uh the one that uh you know has gotten the most attention is the increase in personal days from three to five, which uh in a lot of cases will require adjustment of a local board policy uh to to match the statute.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

All right, let's go to Senate Bill 150. This is the return to work bill uh that all of us worked incredibly hard on. Paige was huge in this one. Uh talk to them a little bit, you know, remind them we had two bills, one in the house, one in the Senate, and uh how the two authors had to come together. We were we were getting close on time, but they they got together and worked on it and and figured it out.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah, again, both uh Senate and House versions were were well intended and and some personal preferences from the sponsors on each side of those bills. Uh, and just letting the legislative process work with those two, kind of you know, starting at two different places and and coming together towards the end. We were fortunate to to be a part of that conversation along the way, uh, again with our partners from from Page and GSBA as well. Um the the ultimate um decision came down to the Senate version. And that uh from from our perspective, we would have been good with either one of the bills, the House or the Senate version. We had some preferences in the bills uh along the way. And what we wanted to focus on, number one, was a continuation because the bill was set to to sunset, and we weren't going to be able to utilize the the talents and resources of our retired educators if it didn't get something passed. So that was our first priority. Uh secondly, we wanted some more flexibility with regard to the um the areas of need, you know, being structured by by Resus was was was great, uh starting point, but we need a little more flexibility at local level. So um anyway, a lot of conversation during the session about uh 25 years and and would that factor in, you know, if an educator with 25 years of experience, I think there was a lot of confusion out there, maybe a lot of hope out there uh that that TRS was changing the retirement uh requirement down to 25 years. That was never a part of the conversation. It was only a part of the conversation in that if you had 25 years and had reached um uh the age to to retire, that you could then come back after that. So it was never going to change our TRS structure. But where we landed is, I believe, a really good spot. Uh it it uh extends the authorization window for uh public school systems to employ retired TRS recipients. As full-time classroom teachers, it changes that sunset from June 30, 2026 to June 30, 2030. So we have you know four more years. The bill shifts the definition of area of highest need from the RESA to the individual school system, uh, meaning that each district's vacancy data, not a regional average, can determine the three content areas that allow you to hire in your schools. So that's a lot lot more localized decision making. We're very much in favor of that. And uh the the caveat, the district that this has not changed. The district employing uh TRS beneficiary uh is uh on the hook to pay for the TRS uh equal to the amount, both the employer and employee contribution rate applied. So, you know, that um again, we I think we had like 450-something teachers across the state that utilize this avenue to return to work, and we're grateful for those folks. We hope that this flexibility at the local level um might provide some more opportunities for people to return to work.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

Absolutely, absolutely. Mike, you got anything you want to add to that one?

SPEAKER_01 41:48

No, I like Rob said, uh good bill.

SPEAKER_03 42:00

Yeah. Well, are there any other education-related bills before we get into taxes that you you two want to talk about? Um that maybe we've missed.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Um one of the subjects is in not the upcoming year, but the following uh is an expansion of extra movie to uh allow eligible virtual students in grades six through twelve to participate in the um there's a technology expense reporting requirement in that bill, and then uh um there's um uh$250,000,$250,000 incentive for uh local school boards to approve charter school petitions. Um the Dexter Mosley piece uh kind of kind of went under the radar, but uh that that seemed a little bit of a Z shift in what goes on there.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

That's right. Good point. That's that's that bill's got quite a few things in there for everybody to be paying attention to.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Rob, anything uh Ben uh House Bill 1302, that is the bill that changes GOSA from GOES, and although it doesn't have a whole lot of practical um you know changes for for us, uh it it will change the name of that organization that we've uh gotten familiar with as the governor's office of student achievement. It's gonna change that to the uh governor's office of education and workforce strategy. And uh we are are very thankful to have a great relationship with Fran Dundor, phenomenal person, incredible leader uh who is leading that organization. We look forward to our continued uh success moving forward. So that's right.

SPEAKER_03 43:57

Again, like um like Prince. You know, they how how much longer, you know, he changed his name to a symbol, the artist formerly known as Prince.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

So we'll see how long all of us keep going on before we go to goes. Yeah. That's uh awesome.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

There uh Senate Bill 431 is gonna require um an expedited enrollment of of foster care students uh no later than three days after receiving a registration form, regardless of whether the critical records have arrived. Um there was a lot of talk about Senate Bill 552, the true patriotism and universal student access act. I know Rob and I have spoken to many superintendents about this bill. Um it really is just a reiteration of the federal Equal Access Act. Um there aren't any like significant changes to how that is implemented um uh at the local level now. Um but it did it did cause a lot of concern in various forms throughout throughout the session. It landed where uh there's really not much of a there is no change from federal legal access. And then there was uh um expansion uh um hope eligibility uh now will include uh AP, IB, and Cambridge fine art courses will be uh included in the calculation. And then one other that I continue to be uh queried uh about is the speed zone camera bill. Um that's not like direct school, school district, but uh throughout the state there have been arrangements with the speed zone cameras, counties and cities, uh various jurisdictions have those and they they receive the funding for the civil penalty associated with those cameras. Um when the current contract for those cameras expires in order to continue with speed zone cameras, there will have to be a local referendum um in order to continue uh that process. And if the referendum is defeated, it can't be uh there can't be an additional attempt to have a referendum for three years. So that's right. Those are just a few I had on my list.

SPEAKER_03 46:13

Perfect, great.

Property Tax Fight And Income Tax Cuts

SPEAKER_00 46:15

Anything, Rob or Josh, that you can think of before we get to taxes? Jump into the taxes and then some financial accountability. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 46:25

We'll hit taxes first. Mike is like the tax expert, he loved all of those meetings and committee meetings. So Mike, why don't you start us off? Maybe tell us real quick there was a house resolution, some enabling it legislation, and then it began to change. Go through it.

SPEAKER_01 46:44

Do a high-level approach here. Um at the beginning of the session, uh, the speaker and the house, uh specifically the speaker announced that he had two main priorities literacy, as uh Rob um described previously, and elimination of property taxes. On the Senate side, the lieutenant governor and various Senate leaders um had the priority of elimination andor reduction of the state income tax. And those two, the state income tax versus the property tax, became the the prevailing uh financial theme throughout the session, and there was quite a bit of back and forth all the way to the finish line about who was going to do what to whom and who was gonna get their way, uh, etc. Ironically, where it landed is um the state income tax bill um through there were there were multiple Senate bill proposals as it relates to elimination and reduction of state income tax and to simplify what happened there. Ultimately that became a House bill on the last uh night of the session. And uh it it it provides a homestead exemption for senior citizens who volunteer with local governments, and the requirements for that are to be determined, and I think that is going to uh include um school and city-county taxes, depending on the county and how that how that is ratified. But then most importantly, it reduces the state income tax immediately to 4.99 percent, and then one eighth of a percent, 0.125 percent over the next eight years until it reaches 3.99, and there are trigger points along the way, the state revenue has to has to increase by a certain amount each year for those trigger points. So bottom line on state income tax is it's been reduced to 4.99 immediately and can go all the way down to 3.99 over the next eight years if all of those qualifications are met, and they don't change anything over the course of the next eight years, which you know is highly unlikely. On the uh on the property tax side of the ledger, early in the session there was a bill, uh there were two bills, uh House Resolution 1114 and House Bill 1116 were filed uh by uh Chairman Shaw Blackman, Chairman of Ways and Means. Um, and immediately uh we we started trying to pick those details apart. Uh these were very comprehensive bills. The resolution called for um constitutional amendment, two-thirds vote that would have uh allowed for uh additional pennies for school districts and city counties in order to defray, reduce, and or eliminate property taxes depending on your situation in your county and how the revenue was derived and how much you might be able to derive through additional pennies. Um there were multiple um versions of the enabling legislation House Bill 1116, which would have been how HR 1114 would be implemented in detail uh if it were to pass. Um and when I say multiple, I believe there were over 20 versions of House Bill 1116. Every time Houseways and Means met, there was a new version at that meeting that no one had seen that we then had to review and get ready for the next meeting. And then by the next meeting there was a new version, same drill, rinse and repeat on on multiple occasions. There was quite a bit of concern uh from school districts, especially those that don't have uh a lot of uh sales tax generating ability, that uh an additional penny would not generate enough money to uh equivalent to that generated through property tax and what that reduction would look like. Lots of confusion, um, difficult to understand. Um shortly before crossover day, the uh enabling legislation, the the actually the resolution constitutional amendment was defeated in the House. So um the House abandoned um that effort. Uh they couldn't get two-thirds vote uh for for passage of that. And then um we had heard at the time they they might abandon the property tax initiative uh entirely. That turned out not to be true. There were still multiple versions of House Bill 1116 uh all the way down to the wire. Um, several that that called for additional pennies for cities and counties. School districts basically got eliminated from the whole consideration um for additional funding. And uh it it it wound up being a situation where we were trying to determine how it would affect us as it relates to how it directly affected the cities and counties. And in many of the versions, um the cities and counties were gonna be able to eliminate their portion of the property tax or an additional penny while the school districts were kind of hung out to dry and didn't have uh didn't have any role in the whole process, and we were ultimately gonna be left with the knowing thing on the on the tax bill. Um toward the latter parts of signing die, um 1116 was called up over in the Senate and it was defeated. Um the Senate did not pass it, and this was while they were negotiating the state income tax matters as well. Ultimately, what happened is Senate Bill 33, which was originally a bill uh pertaining to him, um, was gutted and replaced with uh the property tax matter. And there are really four components to Senate Bill 33, which passed the Senate, and I believe it was after midnight, uh if I remember correctly. And ultimately what occurred there is um they have granted cities and counties the ability to do the local homestead option sales tax. Cities and counties can pursue a penny in order to defray and or eliminate uh property tax at their level, uh, that would require a local referendum. Um that had previously been covered in constitutional amendments, so it's just kind of an add-on to the previous constitutional amendment without the accompanying resolution. Um it also uh allows for um school districts to raise their uh reserve cap from 15% to 25%. Uh I don't know that that's uh I don't know that that's a big win for for school districts in that uh there's no there's no additional ability to to generate revenue. So how are you gonna move from 15% to 45% anyway? Um there's an exemption piece that uh is key to the bill. Um devil's in the details here, but um they're going to calculate the the local five mil share based on net digest as opposed to gross digest. Um in other words, if you have local exemptions, they're going to apply those to your net before calculating the local five mil share. And there will be school districts that benefit from from that provision. And then I'm I'm looking for my notes here. The fourth matter, oh, the most important matter is that um unfortunately school districts are rolled back into the requirements of House Bill 581 and to to refresh everybody's memory there if necessary. Um that would cap assessments at CPI on an annual basis back to the 2024 uh calculation of the as a base year. 2024 is a base year on your assessments capped at CPI, not this year but next, next year's budget. That will be a limitation on most school districts as it relates to the property tax revenue. So all of the districts that opted out of CPI, uh out of House Bill 581, uh previously are opted back into the requirements of that bill.

SPEAKER_03 55:40

Perfect. It's a lot of work, Rob.

SPEAKER_00 55:42

I don't know if you're a ton of work. Yeah, a ton of work and and appreciate Mike and all his efforts. He was really the driver of the boat on all those tax matters, and and um where it landed, I think the biggest difference at one point, really all the way up until about 11.45 p.m. on Signy Die, we were uh we we believed that the bill that was gonna pass was going to cap your revenue and you were going to be restricted on what you could collect. Uh and then of course we had some uh some uh voters who who maybe went against their party's desires and voted uh to not pass that legislation, that 1116 final version. And uh and so ultimately the Senate Bill 33 is what passed, which uh puts the cap on your your uh digest going on, but it does not cap your revenue, and that's the big difference and the big win, if you will. Um but so you no cap on your your uh revenue, which means you can still adjust your millage rate to meet your budgetary needs. Um we'll see. We'll see where that lands. Obviously, the um the the piece with the net versus the gross on the local five mil share uh could impact districts uh differently across the state. Something that superintendents should be looking at. Uh, but ultimately what passed is much better than what was um well what looked like was going to pass.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

It's a perfect example uh how how you started the call. It's uh going from bad to not so bad. Uh and and I didn't do a real good job of explaining what Rob just hammered home is um uh a cap on cap on your revenue is much different than a cap on assessments because school boards are now still in control of their millage rate and how much they can generate vis-a-vis their their millagery, and that was totally out the door with the proposal uh ultimately that was in 1116 that got defeated that last evening.

unknown 57:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:57

I think a great point is um, you know, as you're watching the um political commercials right now, it's it's obvious that that property tax discussion is not going away. Um, so we'll certainly be on the lookout for that next year. And I think it's important for superintendents and educational leaders to continue to have that conversation about why it's so important for local control, for those locally elected officials to be able to make decisions that are best for their specific community. Like Josh referenced at the beginning of our call, you know, those communities are different. Some have a lot of sales tax, some already have senior exemptions. Um there's a lot of things that are already going on, but we do know that's gonna be a topic that comes back, which leads us to the uh last part. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Before we leave the topic, I'd like to you know tip my hat to Justin Pauley with GSPA, who was uh instrumental in uh helping helping me to understand what the bill said half the time. And uh we we had we had basically a nightly discussion as to the newest version of uh the bills. And uh can't help but think that uh some of that was probably intentional, uh keeping everybody confused, but uh it wound up much better than we were afraid it was going to be uh on the last uh couple nights of the session.

SPEAKER_00 59:23

So yeah, many of many of those uh financial committee meetings also you know occurring late in the evening, six, seven o'clock at night. Uh that you know, maybe trying to avoid a crowd. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

Maybe, but uh that's a great point by Mike though to shout out Justin. I mean they GSBA was on the front of that very first committee meeting. They had three different school districts there, their board chair and the superintendent. Either three or four. I know it was Darty, three, Newton, and Jackson. Um, but I wish, you know, I wish our listeners could see the work um that Mike and Rob, Justin, and everybody, the page that everybody did uh working. Um they they spent a lot of hours, and like Rob referred to, late night meetings, late night conversations, but they won't toot their own their own horn, but I I'll brag for them and Josh is gonna brag on them a little bit too, I think. Go ahead, Josh.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:22

This is just to kind of do a slight callback to how this is all kind of tied together. The the how boards are still able to operate and generate revenue that they need to because of the local requirement, the local buy-in to the school system, is if for a certain situation like the literacy bill, if those appropriation funds, if those grant funds are taken away, then the and the local community still supports that action, they have that ability to generate the extra revenue that they need to maintain that program if they see it as being successful. And that's what we are fighting so hard for is making sure the local control is still uh respected and left in the hands of each community.

New Financial Monitoring And Board Accountability

SPEAKER_03 1:01:04

Yeah, great point. Well, let's finish up by talking about bills that didn't pass. And we don't have to go through specifics, but go ahead, Rob.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

We've got a couple that did a couple more that did pass that may not apply to to um you know principals and and school leaders, but uh they they play a huge part in making sure that school districts are financially accountable and forgetting good memory the right way. So thank you for getting you know the uh our capacity to um to generate funding and to have sustained funding thrown from the legislature is is often um um very much aligned with our capacity to manage, monitor, and utilize the funds that we receive. Uh of course you can watch the national news any day of the week and see uh fraud and abuse going on around our our country with tax dollars, and we want to make sure that does not occur in our school systems, and our legislators passed a couple of bills this year that trying to uh make sure that doesn't occur as well. Uh so what this does, House Bill 1164 we'll touch on first, and this uh says that the Department of Audits and Accounts uh must develop and begin implementing a four-tier progressive monitoring system assessing each local school system's fiscal condition by July 1, 2026. So two months from now they'll have this uh in place uh or or developed at least, and it will start the 28-29 school year. The four tiers uh will be number tier one, fiscally sound. Things are are working, things are going well. Number two, fiscal watch, things are still pretty stable, but hey, we've got some issues. Tier three, fiscal distress, and then tier four, critical fiscal emergency. All right, and so uh ultimately I don't want to get too much into the weeds for for our school leaders, but if you're not uh making your payments, your TRS payments, your state health benefit payments as a district, if you're not meeting audit requirements, if you're not doing some of the very basic things that 95% of our school districts do day in, day out, week to week, month to month, they're taken care of. They have those districts have no worries. But if you're missing some of those payments and you're not getting your audits done, you should have a little bit of concern. And and that's where some of the punitive actions, you know, this these um high-risk designations um could could impact your flexibility contracts, your strategic waivers, your charter status. Um, it could also affect um, you know, your board members, and that's where the Senate version kind of comes in. So with um get to my notes right here with uh Senate Bill 472. So this one um again talks a lot about the Department of Audits and Accounts, what they're gonna do with regard to audit findings, chronic failures, things that continue to pop up in your annual audit. Uh, and and your um the monitoring system uh factors in, and that that's where you can have school board members who uh if they're determined to have violated some rule or regulation, they can have uh suspension. They can be removed or or held suspended from the school board uh and their services there. So uh this this bill also addresses uh superintendent employment contract. So many of many of your listeners are are uh you know looking to be a superintendent one day. It would not affect you to go into a district who has financial struggles. Uh that door is still open for your contract to be a full three-year contract to come in and and kind of fix the issues. Uh, but if you're the superintendent when those issues arise, then your contract would be limited to a one-year extension. So that um that's basically it. Again, if you're doing things the right way, you got no worries.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:30

Nothing don't worry about it. I think this is a great time for a little commercial for GSSA's finance course. Uh so Josh, why don't you just remind our listeners out there, uh, and maybe a nudge to superintendents too, you know, send your people to these uh two workshops that GSSA has. You got one in the fall, you got one in the spring every year. And the more people you get in your district to learn, because they are the future superintendents, but talk about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:00

So we have our planning, funding, and budget institute. It's uh three sessions. Uh each session is a day and a half. Um, and it's uh takes place in Macon. Uh one in the fall, like Ben said, one in the fall, one in the spring. Uh in the fall, it's there's two dates in September, two dates in October, and two dates in November. And then we do we do the same session again uh in January, February, March. Uh so if you're interested, we'll should have those dates up and available for registration uh towards the middle end of May. Um we're working on finalizing contracts with venues and and hotels uh contracts as well. So be on the lookout for that. But I we've seen folks all the way from up and down the level of uh the education system, principals, district leaders, just anybody who needs to know and understand uh how public education is funded. We've cover cover it all. So it's it's a good place to start uh to get into the weeds to make sure that you fully understand uh what you're on the hook for and how to properly handle the taxpayers' money that and from the state and from the local level.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:09

I'll just echo that. I just strongly encourage all school districts to you know build your pipeline, you know, the way superintendent positions, CFO positions, that their uh district office principal, it's important for a principal to come to know how the allotment sheet works, how they earn funding, why coding's important. So get your people there. I mean, there really should be so many people that um Josh and Keith are going, oh, we've got to add six courses, three in the fall, three in the spring. I mean, it's really it's an important PL for all of your people.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:41

Yeah, Ben, and you know this as well as I do. Before you become a superintendent, you you you think you know how things operate, you think you have a pretty good idea. You you recognize that there are some things you have to have to learn, but the finance piece is so, so deep that as a superintendent, you ultimately have to have a lot of blind trust in people to do their work and to do it the right way. And that's not a good position to be in. Uh, everybody doesn't have to be an accountant, but it is your duty to get out there and learn what you can about planning, funding, and budgeting, and and to know um all those pieces that are going to get you in trouble as a superintendent. Uh get out there and learn it now. It'll make you more marketable to become a superintendent. It will.

Bills That Failed And What Returns

SPEAKER_03 1:08:33

And uh Gail listeners at Summergale on Wednesday, that PL session. Steve Smith always does a half day. Um phenomenal teacher, phenomenal. It would be a great start. Go to Steve's session for that half day on Wednesday. Sign up for GSSA's fall or spring, and um, you know, I think it would just give you a great head start, like Rob said. Well, Mike, Rob, let's talk a little bit about some of the bills that didn't pass. We don't have to talk about specific ones, but maybe just a general um idea of some things that were out there that didn't pass, because what that means is it's on the General Assembly's mind, and it's probably gonna come back up next year. So, Mike, you want to start off?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:18

Sure. Um, there were several charter school bills associated with charter schools. Um one was to grant them the ability to take uh unused public school facilities for for their own purposes. Um another was to uh grant charter schools their share of uh local loss dollars for capital or to treat them uh less favorably, I believe, with the uh um there were there were various bills that were additional requirements and uh it's gonna be a requirement that uh district maintaining a registry of every contract with any provider that was everything. Uh in in this case, this year uh media specialist uh knowingly uh materials in the library that it challenged and removed and uh they were to be charged with a misdemeanor.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:47

Um jump in there. I just want the people to hear number one these are all the bills they could have passed.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:01

Yeah, we already spoke uh um HR 1114 and 1116 the property tax bills. There were five or six different um Senate bills provided to income tax that uh didn't make the finish uh proposal to allow for uh enrollment and participation which would be problematic probably uh requirements that will have a weapon and uh continue to fund it through shaking hands when we all know the people listeners know that that funding is already being utilized for for various purposes throughout the state, uh and and in many cases pays for uh the police and resource officers in local school districts.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:12

Um Yeah, that that bill was a little bit tough for us, and and I I'll tell you, um, we certainly do not oppose weapons detection systems and weren't gonna lobby against something like that to be um utilized in our schools. It was the requirement that every school had it, uh yeah, their primary entrances. It was very problematic in some of the structure and the language that was in that bill. Uh, we knew that it was going to be a cost on the upfront. We knew the sustainability of technology as a cost. We knew the personnel required to manage these systems was a cost. So we were trying to have a lot of practical conversations behind the scenes with our legislators about that bill. Um, you know, and the reminder that we passed a 57-page safety bill last year, and it we did not require weapons detection systems, and we allowed local districts to make local decisions on what they felt they needed uh for safer schools. And um that that's kind of where we were on that bill. That was a tough one. I hate to call it a bad bill, but it was problematic for a few different reasons. And um, schools that felt like they needed a weapons detection system utilized their funding. As Mike was saying, when that money came to them last year, that they knew they could spend it on what they felt like was most important. Other districts uh were gonna have to go back to their own coffers to find money to do this if it were to have passed. So um ultimately, and a perfect example, many of these bills that Mike just alluded to, they they got dropped into the basket together. What we call a Christmas tree bill or omnibus bill. I like Christmas tree. But but we had you know about half a dozen or more bills that were questionable uh get thrown all into one and tried to push through at the last minute. And that's the kind of stuff that you deal with in at the Capitol and with politics, and they're trying to slide some of this stuff through. With all, again, well intended. There were some things in in that bill that that were well intended, uh, with um cursive writing, digital literacy, financial literacy, career academy participation, um, again, charter school stuff, weapons detection, and even stop the bleed kits. And they're I think if they can throw enough good things in there that they'll get support to vote for it. And uh, unfortunately or or fortunately, depending on your perspective, you know, that did not pass.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

Yeah, so that's just my personal my personal favorite, Rob, was uh the bill that would have excused the absence of Girl Scouts that attended uh events at the Capitol, but the sponsor was unwilling to include Boy Scouts.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:00

Yeah, uh that uh that was uh an interesting conversation uh for sure uh to listen to and to to see that transpire. Um another one, um you know, I'm not sure that that you mentioned this one, but the the choice schools and that this, you know, with we're we're familiar with uh bottom 25 percent or quote unquote failing schools list uh that has been designated. There was a bill this year uh that would have um ensured choice schools will never be included on a an annual list like that. They're already not included on the bottom 25% performing school, although we know many of these quote-unquote choice schools are performing very badly, but they are um because they're a choice, and one of the legislators said it repeatedly during the session, they're a choice, therefore they should not have accountability. It's the most absurd mindset uh I think I've I've heard from a legislator, but he he wholeheartedly believes that if a parent has made a choice that um that that school should have no accountability uh when it comes to to the state list.

Governor Partnership And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_03 1:16:16

So well, that's a good idea for our listeners about some of the topics with some bills that didn't make it, that we'll certainly be keeping our eye out for next year. I forgot one person on our um talking about all the work we do. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Dr. Jimmy Stokes. He watches every session online. Uh he does a capital opinion report every Friday, does a fantastic job. I thought we'd wrap up with this. You know, I know there's a governor election coming up. Um we at Gale and GSSA and all of our affiliates have been extremely fortunate to have a governor and Governor Kemp that has met with us on a routine basis. Rob, why don't you just tell our listeners a little bit about why that's important, what that means, the legacy that that leaves. We certainly hope the next governor will continue that. But at a minimum of twice a year, he has met with a group of superintendents and leaders. Not to mention early on in his career, meeting with teacher leaders and groups around the state, but talk about why that's important and um why we certainly hope that continues with our next governor.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:32

You know, Ben, I and I guess um full transparency, as a superintendent and being asked to serve on the governor's superintendent round table and to sit in the room and have those conversations with the governor, uh sometimes you take it for granted. You really don't know what you have. Uh I'll tell you what we've had the last eight years is a phenomenal governor who truly cares about public education. He cares about all kids and all forms of education, but has invested of himself and his time, his resources into helping us be successful. Obviously,$9,500 in raises for our teachers is a huge impact on our capacity to to recruit and retain people into the profession. Uh, but but really it it uh it came to light to me when I started going to meetings with people around the country who do similar work in their state, and you're having conversations with them, and and they don't get to meet with their governor. Their governor doesn't give them an audience, they they don't sit down in other states with their governor to talk about issues that they're facing at the at the school level and at the district level. It is um it's an incredible benefit for our superintendents to be able to sit down at the table and have real conversations. And I'm not talking about some prescripted comments. It's very, very genuine. Uh, and Governor Kemp has been a phenomenal advocate and partner for us in public education in Georgia to be able to sit at that table and have those conversations with your governor is incredibly impactful. Um, you know, we have uh the governor has staff members, he has floor leaders, and they listen to him and his direction. And trust me, there's been um more than a few times where our words, our conversations uh with the folks in the governor's office have an influence and impact uh with legislators and what happens. So incredibly grateful. Uh you know, sometimes you you don't know uh what you miss until it's gone. I'm just gonna tell you right now, we're gonna miss Governor Kemp, phenomenal leader, phenomenal advocate for public education in Georgia, and has done more to move the needle uh for our kids across this state than any other governor that I'm um I'm familiar with at all in any state.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:59

So absolutely. Mike or Josh, you got any final words you want to leave us with today?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:07

No, sir. Just thank you. Thanks for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:11

Josh, I think you're on mute there. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:15

I just want to piggyback on what Rob said. You know, it that is it is extremely abnormal from what we do um to have that type of audience and have that type of participation with the with the governor. Um, no governor uh before Kemp has ever requested that. And and this kind of came from uh Kemp's desire to want to meet with us, uh, and to keep that going across his two terms has been extremely beneficial to uh the children of the state. Um he made it school safety a priority from the very beginning uh in providing safety grants and and making uh safety a line item in the QBC funding formula, which is a huge impact for many, many generations to come to make sure that you know the children are safe when they come uh through those doors on a day-to-day basis. And so um, you know, all that all that work and effort needs to be applauded, regardless of whether they're what where you fit on the political spectrum. Um, doing what's right by children will always get uh innovation by me.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:18

That's right. Well, thank each of you for joining. Uh thank you um listeners for joining us today. We'll we'll send this out and share, but if you ever have any questions, reach out to any of us. Rob, Mike, Josh, or myself, we'd be happy to answer any questions. But thank you, and thank you guys for joining us for this episode.