Teacher evaluations, student testing, budget transparency and student athletes’ religious expression are among the topics of school-related legislation still alive in the General Assembly.
• A bill to decreases the state's emphasis on annual testing in schools, Senate Bill 364, got a hearing in the House of Representatives Wednesday, after passing the Senate by a unanimous vote last week. It would reduce the weight of student "growth" in teacher evaluations to 30 percent from the more than 50 percent required under current law. The measure also reduces the number of state-mandated tests. It also sharpens the focus on younger students, introducing tests in reading and math in first and second grades.
• Another measure would require schools to publish their budgets and expenditures online. House Bill 659 by Rep. Dave Belton, R-Atlanta, presents a list of operating and facility costs that would have to be disclosed on a school system or charter school website. Districts already have to present this information at the system level, but the legislation requires transparency at the school level.
• Legislation that allows high school athletes to put religious expressions on their uniforms in certain circumstances won approval in a House committee Wednesday. Senate Bill 309 passed out of the House Education committee and must get through House Rules before it reaches the floor for a vote. The Senate already approved it 39-16 last month, and a bill with nearly identical language, House Bill 870, has already passed the House and is awaiting a hearing in the Senate.
• Special education students could have video cameras monitoring their classrooms under House Bill 614, which the House has already passed. There was no vote during a hearing Wednesday in the Senate Education and Youth committee.
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