DARREL EALUM: House education bill focuses on low-performance schools

With a constitutionally mandated 40-day session, we have now passed the halfway point in our 2017 Legislative Session and are quickly approaching “Crossover Day,” which is Thursday. During past legislative years, Crossover Day has been legislative day 30; however, this year, crossover was moved up to day 28 and has shortened the number of legislative days we have to get bills passed through the House and to the Senate. We have a biennial, two-year legislative system where bills are considered over a two-year period. Therefore, bills not passed this year will automatically carry over to the 2018 Legislative Session.

House Bill 338 (HB 338) will be the most far-reaching legislation we will consider this legislative year. With bipartisan support, our House Education Committee unanimously passed HB 338 under the leadership of Chairman Tanner and Committee Chairman Coleman. This bill outlines a methodology for developing a system of support and assistance for our lowest-performing schools. HB 338 would amend Title 20, Georgia law relating to education, to develop a holistic approach and a framework to improve our low-performing schools. A chief turnaround officer with turnaround coaches will consult with the state school superintendent to select the schools requiring the greatest need and then work with the local school system and local community through a deliberative concept to ensure these schools get the support they need to improve.

Our House educational goal is to figure out the best, most effective way to ensure our students attending our lowest-performing schools get the same opportunity for a quality education that our students have in our highest-performing school systems. After the Opportunity School District Amendment (OSD) failed at the ballot box last year, a House committee under the direction of Rep. Tanner immediately began accepting recommendations from across the state on how to develop a methodology to best support our lowest-performing schools. The mission has not changed: provide quality assistance to our low-performing schools so they can improve. Therefore, HB 338 addresses the unpopular/unwanted concepts of the Opportunity School District Amendment and provides a definitive alternative to OSD.

We in the General Assembly have already passed the most important piece of legislation, House Bill 44, the Fiscal Year 2018 State Budget. The General Assembly is mandated to pass a balanced budget, which will serve as our state’s spending guide from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018, and is set by a revenue estimate of $24.9 billion. This is an increase of $1.25 billion over the FY 2017 Budget and is the strongest budget in our state’s history.

Education is an initiative in our FY 2018 Budget, which allocates $162 million to provide a 2 percent merit pay increase for our invaluable teachers and 2 percent pay increase for our bus drivers and school nutrition personnel.

In addition:

— $1.6 million for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) trainers and school climate specialists to help reduce disciplinary incidents and promote school safety.

Easy access to quality healthcare is a legislative priority. We have allocated additional funding towards mental healthcare initiatives under the Department of Human Resources, including:

— $14.9 million for relative foster parents caring for and raising our state’s foster children;

— $25.8 million for a 19 percent salary increase for child welfare services caseworkers;

— $2.8 million for 80 new positions in the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to provide support for foster parents;

— $500,000 to expand the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) on behalf of our children;

— $1.5 million for a $5 hourly rate increase for special assistant attorneys general (SAAGs) who support child welfare cases;

— $6 million for the creation of a Behavioral Health Crisis Center, which would address emergency crisis for individuals struggling with mental illness;

— $2 million for Georgia Alzheimer’s Project, promoting early detection and treatment.

— $38.4 million for Medicaid growth;

— Funding for 97 new residency slots in primary care medicine, 10 additional OB/GYN residency slots and a new psychiatry residency program.

An avid supporter of our veterans and military, I am pleased with the 2018 budget allocations for our service members and families. Georgia has one of the largest military communities in the nation, and I am proud to support efforts to improving military benefits. Listed below are military funds in the 2018 FY Budget:

— $445,145 for a competitive grant program available to school systems with a large military population; intended to fund counselor positions, providing additional support to students of military families;

— $358,996 for four veteran benefits training officers with the Veterans Accountability Court, serving those who have entered the criminal justice system upon returning home from combat;

— $137,650 to fund a women veteran’s coordinator to assist our female veterans;

— $359,437 for the Georgia Military Pension Fund to continue fiscal soundness and sustainability.

These are just a few highlights of the House version of the FY 2018 budget.

State Rep. Darrel Bush Ealum, D-Albany, represents House District 153. He can be reached at [email protected] or at (404) 656-0116.