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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 20
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Critics contend vouchers could be abused
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposal to give disabled children state-funded scholarships to attend private or public schools of their choice is vulnerable to abuse, according to testimony today at a packed subcommittee hearing.
Senate Bill 10, which passed the Senate and is now in the House Education Committee, doesn’t require regular evaluations of students to determine if they still have the learning disability that made them eligible for the voucher.
The bill says a special needs scholarship will remain in force until the youngster graduates, returns to the resident school, or turns 21. Conceivably, a student who no longer has a disability could continue to use tax dollars to attend a private school.
“Kids with disabilities need to have their progress regularly monitored,” Ann Abramowitz, a psychology professor at Emory University, told the School Choice Subcommittee. “With this bill there’s no meaningful monitoring.”
Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the bill’s sponsor, said public schools, with their larger staffs, could do the evaluations for the private schools.
But critics of the bill said private schools should shoulder that responsibility.
“If public funding is to follow the student, then public accountability also should follow,” said Angela Palm, director of policy for the Georgia School Boards Association.
Not everyone who signed up to speak got a chance before the two-hour hearing concluded. It will continue Wednesday afternoon and could go into a third day.
Johnson estimates 9,300 students would use the vouchers, based on numbers from a similar voucher law in Florida. The size of the voucher would vary depending on the severity of the student’s disability, but the average amount would be about $9,000, Johnson said. Vouchers would be funded with money deducted from a school system’s state allotment.
Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn) is sponsoring similar legislation, House Bill 199, and said he’s working with Johnson. “This is good legislation,” Casas told the subcommittee.
Abramowitz said neither bill seems to understand the nature of disabilities. “It assumes disability is permanent. That’s far from the truth,” she said.
Rep. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) asked, where is the data that shows disabled students, separated from the general population, do better in school?
“I’m concerned at the end of the day why we’re doing this,” Millar said.
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said instead of deducting state money from public schools, the Legislature should add money.
“We need the tools and resources from the Georgia General Assembly for schools to succeed,” Hubbard said.
But Jamie Self, vice president of public policy for the Georgia Family Council, a conservative advocacy group that favors the voucher legislation, said public schools can’t meet every child’s needs.
“There are cases where these children are not being very well served in the current system,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Education
Committee approves portraits of civil rights leaders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A legislative committee has endorsed a proposal to hang portraits of Rosa Parks and four other civil rights leaders in the State Capitol.
The House Special Rules Committee voted unanimously in favor of a substitute to House Resolution 121 this morning.
Sponsored by Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), the resolution urges the state’s Capitol Arts Standards Commission to authorize the placement of the portraits on the second floor of the Capitol.
“I think this is worthy of further discussion and at least getting it to a place where we might have a chance to vote on it,” Rep. Mike Keown (R-Coolidge) said before he urged fellow committee members to recommend the House pass the resolution.
The measure now goes to the House Rules Committee, which sets the agenda for the House floor votes.
The committee angered African-American lawmakers last week when it suggested they redraft the resolution, declaring the Legislature no long has the authority to hang portraits in the Capitol. That power now rests with the arts commission, which the Legislature created last year to oversee artwork in the building.
In response, Brooks submitted a substitute of his resolution to the committee this morning, urging the arts commission to hang the pictures of Parks and four other civil rights leaders: Ralph David Abernathy Sr., Hosea Williams, Joseph Lowery and Joseph Boone.
Brooks modeled his resolution on one that urges the arts commission to authorize the placement of a statue of former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller on the Capitol grounds. The House approved that resolution honoring Miller last month. Meanwhile, Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam (D-Riverdale) said she is preparing to redraft a bill honoring Coretta Scott King and submit it as a resolution to the committee in the Special Rules Committee in the coming days. She also plans to model her proposal on the successful Zell Miller resolution.
As written now, House Bill 88 calls for hanging a portrait to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s late wife in the Capitol. Abdul-Salaam said she would break out another provision in the bill — designating April 27 as Coretta Scott King Day - as a separate resolution to be introduced in the coming days.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: politics
Bill to allow wine shipments to homes clears committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia consumers could have wine shipped to them directly from wineries under a bill approved by a key House committee this morning.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Garden City), is the first of several bills aimed at making it easier for consumers to buy wine, beer or liquor to move in the 2007 legislative session. A similar proposal, along with legislation letting voters decide on the Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages at stores, are stalled in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.
Stephens’ bill, which won unanimous approval this morning from the House Regulated Industries Committee, would let consumers have up to 20 cases of wine a year shipped to them directly from farm wineries. To be eligible to buy the wine over the phone or Internet, consumers would have to appear at the winery to show identification proving they are at least 21 years old. Then they would be able to buy wine over the phone or Internet in the future from that winery.
When the wine is delivered in Georgia, an adult would have to sign for it, according to the legislation.
The liquor industry has traditionally opposed opening up sales laws, but Fred Kitchens, executive director of the Wine & Spirits Wholesales of Georgia, worked with Stephens on his measure. “Everyone is in agreement on this. There is no opposition,” Stephens said.
Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Dalton), praised the measure.
“This is something that has been asked for for a long time,” he said. “I think what we’ve got here is a bill Georgia needs. I think it’s a good marketing tool for a product we’ve got.”
Georgia has almost two-dozen small wineries, and their owners back the change, saying it would boost their business to be able to ship their products directly to consumers. It would also allow Georgians to place phone or e-mail orders with out-of-state wineries in places like California’s Napa Valley.
Williams has also filed a bill allowing voters to decide if they want stores to be able to sell beer, wine and alcohol on Sundays. The House has been waiting to see if the Senate moved on similar legislation.
However, Senate Regulated Industries Chairman David Shafer (R-Duluth), has been reluctant to even hold hearings on the issues.
Any alcohol bills that pass the General Assembly will also face a tough time winning the signature of Gov. Sonny Perdue. Perdue is a Christian conservative who doesn’t drink and he has vetoed wine bills in the past. He usually declines to express an opinion on pending legislation, but he has already come out against the Sunday sales bill.
Permalink | Comments (28) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Bill banning red light cameras gets hearing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate convenes at 10 a..m.; House starts at 1.
9 a.m.: House Special Rules Committee meets to reconsider a bill and a resolution to honor Coretta Scott King and other civil rights leaders with portraits in the state Capitol.
9:30 a.m.: Georgia’s House Judiciary Subcommittee will hear testimony tomorrow on a bill that would require all law enforcement agencies in Georgia to institute new procedures for conducting live and photographic line-ups of criminal suspects.
2:30 p.m. or 30 minutes after adjournment of House: House Motor Vehicles Committee meets to discuss proposal to ban red light cameras.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Today's Agenda
Red light cameras and civil rights portraits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
9 a.m. — House Special Rules Committee reconsiders a bill and a resolution to honor Coretta Scott King and other civil rights leaders with portraits in the state Capitol.
10 a.m. — Senate convenes.
1 p.m. — House convenes.
2:30 p.m — (approximate time; meeting follows House adjournment) House Motor Vehicles Committee discusses proposal to ban red light cameras.
Permalink | | Categories: Today's Agenda
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