Updated February 1, 2002

The Schedule

Members of the House and Senate face a flurry of activity in the next week-and-a-half, as they race to meet the February 12 deadline for acting on legislation introduced in each chamber. While many bills are winding their way through the process, numerous education bills remain to be discussed. Attention on the budget also will intensify, as a February 17 deadline looms for the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees to release their respective versions of the budget.

The House Education Committee meets Mondays at 8:30 a.m. in House Room C and Wednesdays at 8 a.m.in the Appropriations Room.The Senate Education and Health Committee will meet on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. in Senate Room B.Please click for a schedule of weekly meetings.

The Issues

Several bills that would implement recommendations proposed by the recent study of education funding by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) are on the docket for the House Education Committee. HB 1047 (Darner) proposes amending the Standards of Quality (SOQ) to provide state funding for a 21:1 student/teacher ratio at the secondary level, for elementary school resource teachers and for providing funds to all localities for preschool programs for at-risk children. It also calls for the state to pay 55% of total actual costs of public education, as does HB 758 (Amundson). HB 1038 (Crittenden) addresses SOQ funding for elementary resource teachers. Also up for consideration next week is HB 460, which would require students to be transported in vehicles meeting federal school bus safety standards. This could have the effect of eliminating, by 2007, the use of passenger vans by schools.

This past week in the House, the following bills were approved:

Defeated bills include HB 461, which would have required the Board of Education to select a nationally normed reading assessment for administration in grades 1-3. Bills to establish Gun Free School Zones (HB 132) and that would alter the Gun Free Schools Act (HB 512) by prohibiting disciplinary action for certain offenses, were defeated (In addition, still to be considered is HB 971, which would require school boards to promulgate guidelines for determining what constitutes special circumstances in expulsion cases involving weapons or drugs). Finally, The House Education Committee defeated HB 1110, which would have required certification by an independent assessment expert of the validity, reliability and fairness of SOL tests, and that SOL tests could not constitute the primary basis for student promotion or retention.

On the budget front, education groups are being urged by administration officials to stress the importance of restoring school construction funding to the budget. The $110 million School Construction Grants Program was targeted for elimination in the introduced budget.If at least some of this funding is not restored during the 2002 session, it will be extremely difficult in future years to have state dollars once-again directed to local school facility needs. Localities lobbied long and hard for the state to share in the costs of building schools, and in 1998, the General Assembly established the $55 million/year school construction program. Governor Warner has proposed restoring $27.5 million to the program in each year of the next biennium.

Please click for access to all bills assigned to the House Education and Senate Education and Health Committees.

CEPI legislation to establish a legislative study committee to review, study and reform educational leadership will likely be considered next week. HJR 20, patroned by Delegate Phil Hamilton, will be heard in a House Rules subcommittee Monday morning, while SJR 58 patroned by Senator Emmett Hanger, is in the Senate Rules Committee and could be heard on February 5.

E-mail Response

Questions or More Information? Please contact CEPI if you have any questions or need additional information about the 2002 General Assembly. A final summary of legislative action from the 2002 General Assembly is posted on this Web site.

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