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Submitted by David Montané:
By banding together with Republicans, one of the DeKalb Delegation, Democrat Senator Jason Carter, may succeed where other Democrat Senators failed. Last year, he and five Republican Senators sponsored Senate Bill 49, which if passed into law would raise the age for mandatory education from 16 to 16-1/2.
Last year, Senate Bills 14 and 208 sought to raise the mandatory education age from 16 to 17, and Senate Bill 43 sought to increase the range of mandatory education from ages 6-16, to ages 5-17. All sponsors of these three bills were Democrats, including several from the DeKalb Delegation. SB 49 was the only one of the four bills to make it out of the Education and Youth committee, and to be re-activated in the current legislative session. Republican Senator Fran Millar, also part of the DeKalb Delegation, is the committee Chairman.
Unfortunately, this mandate would: further expand the state's power over the people, is estimated to add $8 Million to the state budget, and may give school boards (including DCSS) yet another excuse to increase local taxes instead of tightening their belts. Forcing would-be high school dropouts to remain an extra semester will not have the desired effect (more jobs or higher pay), instead leading to even more teenage angst, more truancy, more security risks. More disgruntled students distracting the attention of teachers from your motivated child.
The bill can be found at http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/display/32420.
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9 comments:
Oh my. Mr. Montane hits the nail right on the head. The absolute last thing we need to do is empower the school board with more money more oversight etc. Look if the kiddies (parents) have decided to bail when they turn 16, then holding them another 6 months is not gonna sway them. I'm taxed to death as is, no more, it has to stop somewhere. Smaller government, please.
LaLaMeeka, you are so right. Why don't we give back to the schools what has been taken away in the past few years. Also, what about better educating the ones we have now and with some success there would be no need to drop out.
http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20112012/HR/738
The proposal of HR 738 is of even more concern to me as a parent. I don't want anyone interfering with my rights as a parent, and I hope that people will take the time to support this bill!
From Mary Margaret Oliver's newsletter:
HB 671, which was pre-filed by MMO, has been re-introduced as required, and MMO is serving on a specially appointed committee of the DeKalb delegation to redraw election district lines for the County Commission and the DeKalb School Board.
There will be a public hearing on how these lines should be drawn, and how the School Board will be reduced from nine to seven members as required by SB 79.
We will certainly be 'watching' for that information!
Every decade, after the U.S. Census is completed, state governments, or an independent body, make changes to district lines at all levels of government.
This means, a citizen who lived in one county commission or school board district last year may live in another district after the boundaries have been redrawn and approved.
Oliver’s HB671 “addresses the issue of just how we go about reducing the school board’s size,” she said. “We can’t just decide to suddenly shorten the term of office of someone who has been duly elected by DeKalb citizens without taking the proper steps. So this bill is designed to work out all of those questions.”
For more read here:
Oliver Playing Major Role In DeKalb Redistricting
This is SUPER important everyone... please pay attention!
East Atlanta Lawmaker Heading DeKalb Redistricting
JANUARY 21, 2012
State Rep. Simone Bell, D-Atlanta, is chair of two House DeKalb caucus committees that will be determining the new boundaries. The redistricting is mandated by the federal government every 10 years when a new Census is completed and released.
Bell said public hearings may begin as soon as the next one to two weeks.
“We’ll be working with representatives from both the county commission and the school board to determine the new lines, and then bring those maps back to the full delegation,” she said. “These committees will be doing the legwork.
“Our timetable is to have everything reported out of the legislature by Feb. 14,” she added.
THE MAIN POINT:
Every decade, after the U.S. Census is completed, state governments, or an independent body, make changes to district lines at all levels of government.
This means, a citizen who lived in one county commission or school board district last year may live in another district after the boundaries have been redrawn and approved.
Bill would expand tracking of SPLOST money
County residents could get more insight into how Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes are spent under a proposed law.
Voters approve the taxes, which are spent on infrastructure such as roads, public safety and libraries.
House Bill 814 would make local governments disclose any surplus money not spent for an approved project, the estimated date of completion for projects funded and the actual cost of projects once finished. Local governments already publish yearly a report showing money spent, costs changes in approved projects and how much is spent yearly.
“SPLOSTs allow voters to decide whether they want to be taxed to support a very specific project, but once their approval is given, voters have very little oversight in assuring that their hard-earned money is used appropriately," said the bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Alex Atwood, R-St. Simons. "HB 814 would rectify this by allowing voters to see exactly how much money their tax generates and how that money is used."
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