Senate Education and Youth Committee, February 17, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1165668106 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1165668106#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-17/senate-education-and-youth This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays. [0:25:33] Are both being presented by the chairman. That's why we're sitting in this, uh, this position now, and I, as vice chair, will go ahead and start this committee meeting. We will start by opening up in a word of prayer, and I- I've asked, um, our good senator if he'll please lead us in a word of prayer. Number seven? [0:25:50] Yep, number seven. Lord, thank you for bringing us together today. Grant us wisdom as we discuss and decide, clarity in our thinking and unity in our purpose. Help us to listen with respect and speak with kindness. May our work serve the good of all. Amen. [0:26:06] Amen. [0:26:07] Thanks, sir. All right. Um, S- Senator Hickman, you have... Or Chairman Hickman. [0:26:16] Yes, sir. [0:26:16] Um, would you would like to start with... We'll go ahead and start with Senate Bill 487, and then we'll come back to 472. [0:26:25] Yes, sir. [0:26:25] All right. If you'll go ahead and present. [0:26:27] Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Senate Bill 487 really is just an extension of the Senate Resolution 237 that we heard last week that, uh, Dr. Jody Barrow brought us up to date on and issued a report on. And so let me just remind you what the Senate Resolution 237 was about. 237 was about we have such a, a large teacher shortage. As y'all recall, Jody Barrow told us there was 5,358 shortages in, or teachers in shortages in Georgia. [0:27:01] And then we asked him to head up a group of people all last summer and identify what we can do to reduce or eliminate the teacher shortage, and they did a great job, as y'all well know. It was a very impressive presentation. I'm gonna... I forgot to do this, but I'm gonna ask Hannah today if she would make a copy of that whole report and give to every one of our members. I've had several members ask me about it, and I... That'd be good if we put, we put it in your hands. So, uh, if you recall on that, we asked, we asked, uh, Dr. [0:27:34] Barrow to get together the Professional Standards Board, University System of Georgia, DECAL, Te- Teacher Retirement System, Governor's Office of Student Achievement, Technical College System, Student Finance, and they got all got together, and they broke down the silos, and they all started talking, and they, and they said, "We need... We, we can come up with these. These are some of the solutions to rete- reducing the teacher shortage." So what we've done now, we've taken that, that concept with this bill, and this bill, we wanna continue that collaboration among that group. [0:28:09] But we wanna, we wanna put it in law that they continue the collaboration. So let me just tell you what's in the bill. So the bill is to establish the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee within the Office of Student Achievement to advise and assist with matters relating to collection, analysis, and use of education workforce data and educator recruitment and retention, to provide for membership of the advisory committee, to provide for meetings of the advisory committee, to provide for duties of the advisory committee, to provide for recommendations by the advisory committee, to repeal certain provisions relative to reporting on the effect of nationally certified teachers and teacher alternative prep programs. [0:28:50] So what we've done now, we've taken that concept, and we've created the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee, and that, that advisory committee will... The, the director of that advisory committee will be, uh, Ms. Fran Dunsmore, who is with GoSA. She, and she will serve as director. She'll establish the Education Workforce Data Governance Advisory Committee. And who will be on that committee is one representative from the Press- Professional Standards, one representative from Department of Education, one representative from Department of Early Care and Learning, one representative from the University System of Georgia, and one represent- and, and, and representative from Technical College System of Georgia. [0:29:32] And Mr. Chairman, I wanna, uh, um, uh, issue an amendment for number six on that line instead of number, uh, right as number five that we left out. We also want one representative from the Georgia Student Finance Commission also on that, on that advisory committee. So the, so the advisory committee will be, will be deemed to meet not less than once a quarter, and advisory committee shall advise and assist the office in establishing goals, objectives, policy, methods, and standards for collection and analysis and use of education workforce data, identifying data sources and differences in metrics used by different data sources. [0:30:09] You can see what we're doing here. We're trying to keep this group going 'cause we believe that if we can keep this group collaborating with each other, that they will continue working together and come up with these solutions for teacher shortage, um, to eliminate teacher shortage. Um- [0:30:25] If you, if you could, Mr. Chairman, would you give us that line six again? [0:30:28] Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I didn't, I didn't mean to- [0:30:30] Just to make sure that we all get it correctly. [0:30:32] Yes, sir. It's right after line 35. 35 says one representative from Technical College System of Georgia, and then the next number would be number six, and it would be one representative from the Georgia Student Finance Commission. [0:30:48] That would be, that technically would be number, line 36, and then 37, 38. And I've already talked, I've already given that information to the legislative council, so they're aware of it. [0:30:58] So that's one representative from Georgia Student Finance Commission. [0:31:01] That is correct, sir. [0:31:04] All right. Thank you, sir. [0:31:05] Okay. So, so th- th- this group is gonna meet on a quarterly basis, and they're gon- they're gonna involve mapping data and e- exploring integration of data from the Office of Professional Standards Commission, Georgia Department of Education, University System of Georgia Technical College System, and local school systems and other public schools, and they're gonna develop a public data dashboard which shall include all data collected by a office that can make available to the public regarding educator recruitment and retention There is no cost to this. [0:31:35] It's gonna be handled by the the governor's office on Tutor Achievement, and w- it would be da- the whole purpose of this is, again, is to keep these groups together, keep them talking, break down the silos, and keep the communication to help us as m- as members of this education, Education Committee to continue addressing our education or teacher shortage. And I'll be open to, uh, questions. Thank you. [0:32:00] All right. And members have any questions? [0:32:06] Who's 14? [0:32:07] I am. [0:32:07] Okay. [0:32:08] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't actually have a question. I just wanna reinforce how wonderful it's been to see all of these organizations within state government actually working together and out of their silos, and collaboratively towards helping us understand better how to, uh, solve their problems legislatively or by appropriations where we need to. So I just wanted to say I think this is a wonderful next step in that effort to continue to make sure that they're doing that work and staying together. [0:32:37] Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Senator. And if you remember when we, uh, when, when y'all in this committee voted on Senate Re- Resolution 237, we, we had said that, that those groups had never got together. They all had their own thing, but they never got together and vote. And again, if you remember, um, last week that I think, uh, Dr. Barrett told us collaboratively that group, uh, had, like, 3,400 hours- [0:33:02] Hours [0:33:02] ... of working on this report. So we wanna keep this moving. We wanna keep the open- openness of it. We want ... W- we've got to make a difference, and if we t- if we don't put teachers in a classroom, as Senator Kemp knows probably better than any of us, then our teacher- then our kids won't be able to read. [0:33:17] Yeah. [0:33:20] Who's number five? Okay, go ahead. [0:33:23] I- hi, Mr. Chairman. [0:33:25] Yes, ma'am. [0:33:25] I, I wanna understand, uh, the purpose because it seems like first you said you wanna retain teachers. Is that correct? [0:33:36] Yes, ma'am. [0:33:37] What do you do to retain them with this? I don't ... I, I mean, I know I put legislation in about trying to, uh, attract and retain, uh, members or even people in education, but, uh, it's incentives that, uh, I thought you put in it for whoever you're trying to keep, it- the teachers, the staff, whatever. You give them incentives like a raise or- [0:34:04] Mm-hmm [0:34:04] ... some grant program or something, but I ain't see that in here. [0:34:08] No, ma'am. [0:34:08] Did I miss it? [0:34:10] Yes and no. Um- [0:34:11] I did miss it [0:34:12] ... that is in the, the report on Senate Resolution 237. [0:34:16] Mm-hmm. [0:34:16] And actually, we will have some bills coming forward in the next few days to address some of that. The, um, we've got a bill that I dropped today on, um, on teacher tax credit. [0:34:27] Mm-hmm. [0:34:27] Um, and I know we got- [0:34:29] Mm [0:34:29] ... probably an absenteeism bill coming forth, uh, later on this week or the other part of next week. Um, we, we've talked about, uh, go back to what y'all... We've talked about, um, paying student teachers, uh, when they go, when, when, when students go in as student teachers, go into schools, giving them some type of remuneration for that. Uh, we talked about in Senate Resolution 237 identifying right now the s- the steps, um, go up to, uh, as far as raises go up to step 21. [0:34:59] And, and so many teachers are retiring after 25 years instead of 30. [0:35:03] Mm. [0:35:03] All that's addressed in, in Senate Resolution 237. Now, what this bill does, this bill keeps that same group that created 237 together and working together to keep, keep collaborating and trying to come up with additional ideas for t- keep, uh, keeping teachers in the classroom, but also getting people to be teachers. [0:35:24] Okay, and you're using, uh, the school system to do it, the ones who actually doing the job. Is that the... Is, or is that another bill already? [0:35:34] That would be another bill. [0:35:35] Okay. [0:35:36] Yes, ma'am. [0:35:36] Okay, and m- last thing. [0:35:38] Yes, ma'am. [0:35:39] Um, [0:35:42] when you... Do, do they get any increase in salary or whatever? Because I wondered what happened to the, uh, in the Hope Scholarship at one time. It was way back 'cause it was when, um, when, uh, governor, w- can't remember his name, anyway, Zell Miller, put in there that, uh, in order to attract and retain, he wanted to put, uh, let them sign, uh, when they come out of college or when they wanna go into a education program, that they commit then and they, uh, they, uh, their tuition, uh, would be zero. [0:36:22] But they have to commit to being there. Uh, did we ever get rid of that or, uh, they just don't do it? [0:36:28] I, I don't know the answer to that. I think that's a great idea, but I do not know the answer to that. But, but again- [0:36:32] Yeah, it was senator, it was, uh, governor at that time, Zell Miller. [0:36:36] That's right. [0:36:37] And he was getting ready to r- leave, but he did pass it. And then, uh, I did see it for one year, but I didn't see it after that. But I left. I left y'all for 10 years. [0:36:46] Right. [0:36:47] So- [0:36:47] Thank you, ma'am [0:36:47] ... maybe you did it too. [0:36:48] Thank you. [0:36:48] Thank you very much. [0:36:49] Yes, ma'am. Again, this bill, this bill, primary purpose of it is, is keep those, keep those groups- [0:36:55] Mm-hmm [0:36:55] ... uh, USG, Professional Standards, DOE, talking together. [0:36:59] Talking together. [0:37:00] And, and, and we solved that with the Senate Resolution 237. [0:37:03] Yeah. [0:37:03] And this bill is just to keep them talking. And I think a lot of what you, a lot of what you just mentioned will come out as suggestions out of this group. [0:37:11] Okay. [0:37:11] Okay? [0:37:11] Thank you very much. [0:37:13] Yes, ma'am. Thank you. [0:37:14] Senator Parent. [0:37:16] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you so much for all of your hard work, um- [0:37:21] Thank you. [0:37:22] ... Chairman Hickman. So, um, two questions. Can you tell me a little bit about the repealed language on 18 through 25? [0:37:37] Tell me which line again now? [0:37:38] So at top of page two, lines 18 through 25, it looks like- [0:37:43] The strike, the strike through. [0:37:44] Yeah. [0:37:44] The strike through. [0:37:44] It looks like we're removing a annual report addressing whether nationally certified and teacher alternative preparation program teachers have improved student performance. Um, just curious about that, uh- [0:37:58] Mm-hmm [0:37:58] ... and what the purpose is for the strike, the strike through. [0:38:04] Well, that really, I'll tell you be, be honest with you, that's a Michael Walker. Michael Walker was the one that helped to draft this bill, so that would be a Michael Walker question. [0:38:12] It could be. Uh, so actually, this kind of- [0:38:15] He- [0:38:15] ... fades into my, or- [0:38:17] Yeah, that was his question. [0:38:19] May- [0:38:19] Aha. [0:38:19] That program that, that program that- [0:38:19] Right. Okay. So- [0:38:20] Okay [0:38:20] ... that's what I was wondering- [0:38:21] Okay [0:38:21] ... is if it was something that was kind of defunct, and so therefore... So that actually does, thank you, um, audience members, that does lead to my next question, which is, would you consider putting in some kind of sunset date so we don't end up... I mean, I don't, I think we're gonna need this for quite a while. I mean, a m- you know. But the problem is when there's no sunset is then all these things are just on the code, and people are out of compliance with the law. And then every so often we're like, "Well, that thing hasn't met in a million years." But then there are gonna be some people who are in the office who are like, "We are not following the law if we don't meet." And so I kind of think it might be a good idea, just as a general matter, so that every five years, every 10 years, it either has the opportunity to just come off OCGA, so everyone's clear that it's not, you know, needed anymore, or it just gets renewed. [0:39:09] Um, thoughts on that? [0:39:10] Oh, I'd be ve- very welcome to that. And I think our, I think our GOOSF people would be very welcome to that. [0:39:15] Okay, great. I'd love to hear from them, um, at the appropriate time, what maybe an appropriate length of time might be before we, we- [0:39:22] Fran, you wanna come up here? [0:39:23] I can, I can. Um, and thank you. [0:39:28] Introduce, introduce yourself. [0:39:28] Uh, Fran Dundor, um, Governor's Office of Student Achievement. Um, and because this, this truly is a collaborative data cohort, I mean, and this data is what will fuel our information, it was powerful to fuel our information as we learned about these, um, the, the, the trends and behaviors of teachers, when they're coming in, um, how they're, how they're... What, what does it look like for them to enter into post-secondary? All of those behaviors that inform whether they come into the classroom, how long do they stay in the classroom. [0:39:59] Mm-hmm. [0:39:59] I would recommend a 10-year timeline on that- [0:40:01] Yeah [0:40:01] ... to con- for a continuation of that data, to, to watch those behavior trends over time. [0:40:06] Okay. [0:40:07] And we, we would, we would be welcome with that. [0:40:09] Okay, we can at the appropriate time make the amendment. [0:40:12] Mm-hmm. [0:40:12] Okay. [0:40:14] Thank you. [0:40:14] No worry. [0:40:15] Okay. [0:40:16] Any other questions? [0:40:21] All right. [0:40:26] Mr. Chairman. [0:40:26] Yeah. [0:40:26] Motion to pass. [0:40:26] O- okay, I have a, a motion- [0:40:29] To pass [0:40:29] ... from Se- Senator Sessler. I got a motion to pass. [0:40:36] Second. [0:40:37] Okay. S- uh, just making sure. [0:40:39] Yeah. [0:40:39] Got a second from Senator Parent. Uh, we have a- an amendment or to- [0:40:46] Yes. Um- [0:40:49] Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, as per our conversation, uh, would love, uh, you know, and I, if I word it wrong, maybe perhaps legislative counsel could, could help us, but the standard language about this section will stand repealed, um, after 10 years or... Now I, I noticed that it also, well, well, um, OPLA pointed out that it also doesn't have an effective date. So do we wanna just put in an effective date so that then- [0:41:14] Effective date [0:41:14] ... you can play the sunset off that? [0:41:16] Yeah, so without an effective date stated, the default is July 1st- [0:41:21] Right [0:41:21] ... of the year it's passed. Um, so if y'all wanted to make it a different date, we could add that, but we could keep it July thir- July 1st. [0:41:29] Well, in terms of the effective date- [0:41:30] Um- [0:41:30] ... I would certainly defer to the author. [0:41:31] Uh, yes. But I can give you language for- [0:41:33] Um- [0:41:33] ... a repeal. [0:41:34] Yeah. I mean, they're currently in, in effect, if you will. [0:41:37] Mm-hmm. [0:41:38] Um- [0:41:39] Yeah. Okay [0:41:40] ... July 1st would be fine. [0:41:41] Yeah. [0:41:41] Mm-hmm. [0:41:41] Okay. [0:41:42] So then that would be July 1st, 2026. [0:41:44] Yeah. [0:41:44] And so then we would have the sunset provision- [0:41:48] Yeah [0:41:48] ... for, um, July 1st, 2036. [0:41:51] Sure. So I would also add that to the title to provide for automatic repeal, and then after line 54, add, um, subsection F, "This code section shall stand repealed on July 1st, 2036." [0:42:10] Thank you. So those would be the, um, the amendment, amendments, I guess, that I would, I would offer. [0:42:17] Yeah. [0:42:17] Okay. So thank you. [0:42:21] Mr. Chairman, the second amendment would be- Okay, you wanna offer the s- the second amendment? Would be... Can I... Okay. Just... Okay. Um, it would be the, um, the line after line 35, uh, put one representative from the Georgia Student Finance Commission. One representative from the Georgia Student Finance Committee, and that would be added to line- [0:42:43] 35 [0:42:43] ... right after 35. [0:42:45] 35. It would be 35. [0:42:53] All right. Um, going back to the first amendment. The, um, let's go ahead and take that one up first. Okay, that's fine. Huh? That's fine. And I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the first amendment, raise your hand. [0:43:14] Was unanimous. Okay. And then now we go to the second a- the one you're, you're offering. And just to speak, uh, this we're operating off of LC 610375. That is correct. That is correct. Um, and the second amendment would be after line 35, number 6, would be one representative from the Georgia Student Finance Commission. [0:43:44] That ties in with what's in 237. So we've tried to take the same people, for the most part, that was involved in 237, just roll them into this bill. [0:43:53] Okay. [0:43:53] Okay. And- [0:43:55] All right. Does everybody have that language? [0:44:01] Can somebody say it again? [0:44:03] It's on line 35. [0:44:08] Mm-hmm. [0:44:08] Adding a number six. [0:44:10] Correct. [0:44:11] Okay. [0:44:12] And then add one representative from the Georgia Student Finance Commission. And then from there, you would go on to the s- line that has a C. [0:44:24] Line, the current line 36, the new, the, line 36 would become line 37. [0:44:31] I do, I do have one other question. May I, Chair? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Mr., uh, my chairman. [0:44:38] Yes, ma'am. [0:44:39] Can you, um, tell me why no, uh, layperson is on here, like a, [0:44:48] a student- [0:44:49] Well, but, uh- [0:44:49] ... or a person that- [0:44:50] Um, the only entities represented are entities that collect data on, on, on somehow teacher or that would inform teacher workforce. [0:45:00] Okay, so they, they, and no layperson would be on there. [0:45:03] No, ma'am. [0:45:03] No, ma'am. [0:45:04] No, ma'am. No, ma'am, that's correct. [0:45:07] All right. [0:45:07] Yeah, yeah. [0:45:09] We, okay, we have a motion for that. Any second? [0:45:14] Second. [0:45:15] I have a second. So this is amending one representative from Georgia Student Finance Commission, mission on line 30, as the new line 36, and then line 36 will become line 37. A motion and a second. [0:45:33] Yes, Chair. [0:45:34] Any further discussion? [0:45:37] All right, can I have permission from the committee to adjust punctuation and things as necessary? [0:45:43] I'm sorry? [0:45:45] Okay. I just want to make sure I can, I can move that "and"- [0:45:49] As long as you keep it correct [0:45:50] ... and change the punctuation. [0:45:50] Ri- oh, yes. Yes, absolutely. [0:45:52] And Ron. [0:45:53] It's in the bullets. [0:45:54] Yes, absolutely. [0:45:55] Okay. [0:45:56] More cynical. [0:45:57] Any further discussion? All those signify by raising your hand. All those in opposition, likewise. And it passes. [0:46:09] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, committee. [0:46:11] Wait, that was- [0:46:12] Now, now we have a vote, a vote on the, on, on the bill as amended. [0:46:15] Yeah. Thank you. [0:46:17] Okay, so now we're voting on the new SB 487 as amended. [0:46:27] Well, I thought you said By Committee Substitute. [0:46:29] Yeah. [0:46:29] Oh, By Committee Substitute. [0:46:30] My mouth is- [0:46:31] Yes. Well, thank you. [0:46:32] Well, you are in charge. [0:46:37] All those in favor re- signify by raising your hand. All those opposed, like sign. And your bill passes. Thank you. [0:46:45] Thank y'all. Thank you so much, committee. That's a big deal. That just keeps what we're trying to do moving forward. And as we well know, literacy become one of the prime, prime things above, uh, this session. Yes, sir. [0:46:59] All right, Senator Hickman, you go ahead and present, uh, your SB 472. [0:47:06] Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. [0:47:10] SB 472, um, is gonna take a little bit longer. Um, SB 472, LC 492646S, 2646S. Um, this... You ready? [0:47:35] Yes. [0:47:36] Okay. Um, [0:47:39] this bill is kind of, kind of a little bit, w- we have worked very closely with, um, the House, and I just saw that, uh, uh, Chairman, uh, Will Wade's in the room, and, w- um, he presented a bill in the House a few minutes ago. Um, uh, I don't know how to say this without saying that, um, but we had a school system that really got in a lot of financial trouble, and it really became an embarrassment not only to the, to the people that represented the legislature and the, uh, the representative and senator that represented the, the school system. [0:48:12] It also became a mu- very much an embarrassment to the rest of us that were involved with it. Um, I will not name the school system. I will not name the school system, but I think y'all know who I'm talking about, and, uh, and, uh, so our bill, I'm gonna ju- um, I'm gonna jump ahead, and I got... Our, our bill takes, uh, is, is primarily focused on responsibilities of the, of the board of directors. Um, Mr. Floor Leader Will Wade had a bill a few minutes ago that primarily focused on the responsibility of the superintendent down to that point. [0:48:46] Um, and so we're trying to do them at the same time, and thi- this is a very, you know, it's one of these things that what happened is one, you know the saying, "One bad apple spoils the whole barrel," and that's kind of what's happened here. It's cau- it's caused us to look at this thing, situation, and say, "What's going on?" A lot of the financial issues of, of any business or organization really comes to light when, when they have audits, you know? Uh, and, and an audit in this case is a financial audit, but it also is a compliance audit. [0:49:16] What's the difference? Financial audit is when you l- look at the numbers. A, a compliance audit is when you look at a process. Are, are, are, are invoices being approved properly? Are, um, uh, are che- are checks signed, dual signatures, or, you know, those type of things. Well, this particular school system that created the majority of the work on this bill had not had an audit done for 630-23, 630-24, or 630-25. They were three years behind on audits. [0:49:46] We all thought getting into this thing that all the audits were, were, all the school system's audits were done by, were p- were, were prepared by the, uh, um, Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. That's not true, uh, in this case. They had the, um, some schools had the, uh- Had the ability to go outside and hire an independent accounting firm to do that. Well, this particular school system agreed to do that because they disagreed with the, with some of the audit findings of Greg Griffin's crowd, Georgia Department of Audits. [0:50:21] Um, but they had to pay for it out of, out of the dollars, whereas a school system that uses the state department audits, it gets paid for out of, out of state. So in using that, that, that department of audits, uh, using that, uh, particular accounting firm to do it, um, they were way behind on it because they did not furnish the records and all for the accounting firm to do it. So, so by not having the audits done, the State Department of Education did not list this particular school system on a, on a list that they had of moderate risk or high risk. [0:50:52] Because they just, they just got the whole thing just got kind of forgot about. Well, it got forgot about until they missed at least 14 payments of insurance back to the State Health Benefit Plan. Um, [0:51:11] I talked to the person at State Health Benefit Plan when all this happened. We got involved back, I think, in August of this year, and, um, that time they'd missed 14 and they, and they were probably gonna miss July and August, which would've been a total of 16 payments. The money came from the QB formula to the school system to make this, to make the insurance payment. They were supposed to then take that money and send it to State Health Benefit Plan, the particular school system is supposed to, and they didn't do it. They kept it for operations. And I really think what happened was, Senator Kemp, I think that they got so, um, used to having the COVID money that when the COVID money went away, they didn't make the appro-appropriate adjustments in operations. [0:51:55] And I'll share some of that with you in a few minutes. So, so what happened was w- w- whenever a, a group of us started, uh, DOE started calling weekly, we actually have weekly meetings with this, uh, on this project, and DOE sent people in to kind of take over running the operations of the school system. Um, they were behind s- they were behind $6.1 million in State Health Benefit Plan payments back to the, back to the State Health Benefit Plan. So we started having Zoom calls. It was projected that time that at the end of, of June 30th '26, they'd be somewhere, somewhere have a deficit of $10 to $13 million, um, in, in, in their school operations. [0:52:37] Chairman Hatchett, which this was his district, and, and Pro Tem Walker district, Chairman Hatchett, um, called for a special examination by the, by the Georgia Department of Audits. And that report was, was, uh, issued on January 5th of 2026. And I'll just read some stuff out of that report so you understand the gist of why this bill actually happened and why Pro Tem Wade's bill happened. Specific examples of concerning expenditure, this is out of, out of the report. [0:53:10] These include, uh, incurring calls for out-of-town leadership retreats that include activities unrelated to educational objectives that permitted family member participation at the school district's expenses. Payment to a local florist with no supporting documentation. Later s- insufficient IRS payroll tax payments. Travel expenditures that lacked sufficient evidence of alignment to instructional goals. The volume and frequency of credit card use by the school district leadership was abnormally high, high compared to similar school districts. [0:53:42] From 2021 to 2025, the school district employed roughly twice as many staff members, which means they didn't make the adjustment. Staff members funded through the local, local and federal funds when compared to their peers, peer systems. Over this period, the school district averaged 16% or 35 staff members funded from non-QB sources, while comparable school systems averaged 7% or 15 members. I think you can see where I'm going to. [0:54:12] As an example, the school district expended an average of approximately $3.5 million more on salaries than its peers across multiple key categories and employee types in, in fiscal year '24. [0:54:30] Um, in addition, in, in the initial fiscal year '24 budget projected a $849,000 deficit, while actual expenditures exceeded budget amount by, by nearly $5 million. So that then said, "We gotta take, we gotta find out how this happened. We gotta find out how we will correct it going down the road and so it doesn't, does not happen again." And that's what created these, these two bills. So let me go through Senate, uh, Senate Bill 472. Senate, Senate Bill 472 protects students and families by holding local school districts accountable for financial mismanagement. [0:55:08] This legislation strengthens the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts count to- tools to support local school systems by identifying issues early and creating a statewide fiscal monitoring and intervention system by July of '26. Senate Bill 476 authorizes the governor to suspend local school board members upon recommendation of the State Board of Education if the local board of education, a member thereof, a local school system, or local school superintendent is subject of a finding by the state auditor of financial mismanagement or misconduct, misconduct following an investigation. [0:55:46] Actually, at one of our meetings, um, Christy Todd with the Department of Education actually made a comment that when they went into this particular school system, they could not locate the personnel records. Couldn't tell you anything about the, about any time off or anything to do with personnel. So you can see the precipita- precipitation of this bill. So let's look at section one. Section one talks about local school board suspension authority expansion Code of Georgia 20-2-73 allows local school board members to be suspended if the district nearly lost its accreditation or one half or more of the schools in the local school system are turnaround eligible schools for the fifth or more consecutive year. [0:56:31] What is, what is turnaround eligible? Turnaround eligible is schools identified as low performing and qualifies for intensive improvement interventions. Senate Bill 472 adds two new triggers that are tied to state audit results. High-risk fiscal designation. If the state auditor designates a district as needing the highest level of monitoring intervention, suspension proceedings may begin. As you will see, where I'm talking more and more in this bill, the state auditor really comes into more and more responsibility, uh, not only for, for, for, uh, this school system, for all school system. [0:57:11] Now, what they do, what they will do, the state auditor, Greg Griffin... I don't know if Greg is... Is he, is he here? Well, he must've been. Where is he? He's hiding. He's back there. Um, but, but, but, but it really puts a huge responsibility on, on Greg Griffin's office and, and they can, under, under this bill, they can allow other, other accounting firms to audit school system, but those accounting firms have to adhere to standards that are set by Greg's office for, for accounting and for compliance, which is, which I- I'm a CPA. [0:57:47] I totally agree with it. A lot of this bill, I understand. I hope I understand all of it, but I, but I, but, but I do understand the accounting side of it, very much so. Um, so, so, so high risk fi- fiscal designation. If a state auditor designates a district as needing the highest level of monitoring intervention, suspension proceedings may begin. Then number two is financial mis- mismanagement or misconduct proceedings. If the state auditor finds financial wrongdoing after an investigation, suspension proceedings may begin. [0:58:18] When either of the triggers above occur, the local superintendent must notify the state education leadership within three business days. The state board must then hold a, State Board of Education must then hold a hearing within 10 days to 90 days and make a recommendation to the governor, who ultimately decides whether to suspend board members and a- and appoint temporary replacements. The key shift in this situation is previously audit findings primarily triggered corrective actions, and now they can trigger removal of board members, and I think we all would agree with that. [0:58:56] Reinstatement standards. Suspended members must show their return would h- would likely help improve accreditation or school performance metrics and remove fiscal monitoring designation or correct or mitigate audit findings. So that's section one. [0:59:14] Section, section two of the bill is limits on advanced distribution of state education funds. In this Dev- Dublin City School system, they was, their financial situation, um, the DOE approved advanced funding of the QB. Every month we w- we met from, I know from like August through December, I, I, I was on a, a Zoom with the DOE and other m- other members of, um, the Senate and House, and they were, they were forward, forward funding because the school system didn't have the money to pay the teachers. [0:59:46] Okay? So limits on advanced distribution of state education fund. School systems can request early distribution of state funds to manage cash flow before local tax collection will arrive. Well, we all understand that. We understand that most tax money comes in in December, but sometime because of reevaluations, that type of thing, the tax money may not come in until, you know, February or so. So there's a provision there for that. This legislation places a cap on these advanced payments at 50% of a district's total funding from prior year. [1:00:21] School districts can exceed this cap, but only under the following narrow conditions. The state auditor, like I told you, Mr. Greg Griffin in this case, must formally say the extra advance is necessary, and it will improve financial conditions. The state auditor must create a formal monitoring and intervention plan. The local board must pass a resolution committing to strict compliance with the plan, and also the state auditor maintains final authority over the contents of the plan, any modifications, and when the, when the plan is considered complete. [1:00:55] So that's section two. Let's look at section three. Section three is creation of standard, ex- excuse me, creation of statewide fiscal monitoring intervention system. Department of Audits and Accounts must implement this program July 1, 26. In general, the audit department must create a system to monitor fiscal health of every school system and state charter school, applying escalating interventions, report fiscal condition regularly. [1:01:27] This monitoring system escalates from technical assistance, routine monitoring up to more intensive interventions that may include strict compliance requirements or direct oversight measures. The department must also produce regular financial condition. The department in this case is a local school system, must produce regular fi- fiscal condition report. Districts must maintain audit-ready financial records. The state auditors can authorize CPA firm, firms to perform required audits, but only with state-approved standards, and that's what I said. [1:02:01] That's, that's what I told you a few minutes ago. So it really puts a lot of responsi- it puts all responsibility on the state department of audits to monitor these school systems. Even if they decide, even if Mr. Griffin and his department decide to hire some outside firm to do, do an audit They still gotta be responsible to Mr. Griffin and his staff that they do exactly what they ask them to do. Okay? That's, that's highly, highly important 'cause in, in, in the case for the school system we're working on, that did not happen. [1:02:34] Expanded investig- investig- investigation authority. Senate Bill 472, the state auditor may initiate full investigations when warning signs appear, such as financial irregularities, government's concerns, and evidence of misconduct. This legislation authorizes the state to make an investigation of any local school system or state charter school. This legislation takes effect immediately upon the signature of the governor. So what we've done, we, we've taken a, we've taken a situation that was very, um, embarrassing. [1:03:09] It w- it happened, and, uh, we have taken that and, and, and, and made that, uh, Senate Bill 472, and then along with House, House Bill that, uh, that I mentioned earlier. So Mr. Chairman, I would entertain any questions, but I really would, um, like Mr. Griffin to come up here and sit next to me because he's, he's been inter- integrally involved in this, uh, this equation. [1:03:42] And Miss Hayley Corbett has also been heavily involved, heavily involved, right here. [1:03:48] I'm not sure I can be. [1:03:52] If you would just introduce yourself, sir. [1:03:55] Thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Greg Griffin, state auditor. [1:03:59] I know that, but I just wanna make sure for the record it was- [1:04:03] Need to check. Yeah, that's me. [1:04:05] All right. Um, any questions from the committee? Number four, who is that? [1:04:11] Mr. Chairman. [1:04:12] Senator Setzler. [1:04:13] Uh, th- thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, to the, uh, Mr. Griffin, um, we hear again and again and again and again and again that s- school boards are, you know, providing oversight and or to not micromanage and all these things. That's, that's drilled into their heads again and again and again in their training. And I hear a lot of school board members, you know, kind of concerned of their inability with... F- first of all, school board members only have power, uh, vested in the board. They're, they don't have individual powers. [1:04:44] So they have, once the board is convened as a body with a quorum, they then have powers vested as indivi- in- individual members. Why is it that we... I'm just gonna ask some just very plain-spoken questions. Why is it we think removing school board members, individual members perhaps, is the way to solve problems that, of a failed audit in the school system? Uh, and I ask that in the context of, yes, there might have been examples, you know, of, of school systems where there was poor management. You know, sometimes bad facts make bad law or extreme circumstances. [1:05:15] It seems to me that school board members individually don't have power to manage anything, um, with respect to dollars or, or, or process and procedures. They're simply providing oversight. Um, first question is why school board, why are school board members the, the proximate cause of this, and why shouldn't we be also adding superintendents that someone that could be removed? [1:05:35] Uh, I, I think, uh, in the, in the case of this, this school w- uh, Chairman Hickman, uh, referenced, that, that was a combination of things. It was a lack of governance by the board in its entirety, uh, and the, and the management of the fiscal office. Uh, and in combination of weaknesses in internal controls and oversight, uh, that, that sort of precipitated the, the issue o- of the school that we're talking about. [1:06:06] I, and I ask the question because, again, we're, we're, we're, there's one specific example we could point to that happened that we felt like there was, was issues with. I don't know wh- whether the, whether an individual school board member was the proximate cause of mismanagement or whether it was a superintendent, CFO, and others. I'm, I'm not clear about those facts. Um, I just don't under- it doesn't follow to me why, you know, you've got school board members who are constitutionally provided for, um, duly elected, uh, and maybe as a board there may be a lack of collective working together or management or dysfunction. [1:06:39] But it does seem to me that these kinds of issues in particular tie back to professional staff, not at the school board members. Why is it that a partic- why is it that one school board member could be removed as, as the cause of this when there is a whole host of professionalized staff underneath them that are really managing the dollars and, and monitoring day-to-day activities? [1:06:58] Well, again, I think, I think there's accountability to be spread amongst board members and, again, the fiscal management office. Uh, again, it, it is, with the board, it, it is a, it's a governance issue. Uh, it's, it, in this particular case, it's asking the right questions of the information that's presented to you or to them. Uh, uh, again, we have an example. I think that, uh, uh, there may be... We, we see some, uh, trends being set where there may be one or two, uh, more school boards that are sort of trending in this direction, uh, in terms of, uh, fiscal, uh, instability. [1:07:39] Uh, g- but, and that's why we're... Again, I think as part of this bill, we're setting up a, a fiscal monitoring system in order to identify these things and these situations, uh, as early as we can to prevent them from happening. I, again, I hope we never have another situation, uh, like the one we've experienced. [1:07:58] Senator, I think every board member takes responsibility when they sh- when they raise their right hand and they're sworn in. They, they take a responsibility to stay in tune with what's going on. And what we saw in this situation was that without, without an audit being done and all that kind of... That's basically the, that's what it boiled down to. If, if, I think if, if the audit had, if the audits had have been done on time, then they would have forced, forced... And, and the board members, I'm sure the board members would have known when the audit was done or not prepared. Then that would have forced the issue to notify different organizations, like the State Board of, the State Board of Education, to put them on a, on a moderate risk or high risk, and that would have been identified, uh, moving forward. [1:08:39] It just, it seems to me, Mr. Chairman, again, uh, for whom I have great affection and respect- I just feel like the issue here is one of management. This is, you know, you've got, if, if your audits aren't being scheduled and done, you don't have maybe the, the agencies or the entities within the school system that are providing the, the data that's needed for an audit, 'cause, you know, that's, it, it takes very strong participation with, uh, of the school district staff with the auditors so the audit can be meaningful, as, as you well know. I just, to me, this seems like a, a, it, I don't understand why we would move, remove individual school board members and we're not contemplating the po- at least the power to remove a superintendent. [1:09:15] Well, they don't have to be moved. I mean, that, that, that, that's the ge- they, they only have to be, they're only gonna be moved if they're aware of wrongdoings going on and they don't, don't react to it. Correct? [1:09:24] But how can individual school board me- board members be involved in wrongdoings if they have no formal power but that which is vested in them as a collective board? I mean, individual members can't give orders to staff. It's only as a board voting a- a- as, uh, as, a- and as that board, that, that official board action is conveyed to the superintendent to staff. Is that, I mean, that, that, that's how it works. [1:09:47] Well, yeah. But, but they can still, they can resign if they don't wanna be a part. I mean, they, if they see wrongdoings and, you know, if they see wrongdoings going on, then they, they, they're as much the problem as, as, as if they, they're a part of the wrongdoing. [1:10:01] If, if I can add. [1:10:02] Yes. [1:10:02] Uh, again, when it come, when it comes to audits, the board, uh, in terms of, uh, our standards, uh, those are, we typically refer to them as those charged with governance. And they, they need to have, uh, the ability and the knowledge and the wherewithal of what's going on in, in their school district, but particularly when it comes to finances. [1:10:26] My, my concern though is, Mr. Chairman, if I could, I mean, frequently across districts, I hear school board members, um, complain they don't have the ability to probe in and get information. They- they're fed information as the superintendent decides to give it to them, on the timeline the superintendent and their staff gives it to them. Um, and their ability s- to ask follow-up questions, "Well, I know you gave me this, but this doesn't really break it down. I want to understand this." "Well, we don't really do the information that way. You, you can vote as a board to demand that we do it, but individual members-" [1:10:54] Right [1:10:54] ... can't give instruction to the superintendent and to the boards to get information that's probative in the ways they want to, uh, get into things. I just, I don't understand why we would ever do this when we have so emasculated individual school board members. This seems to be a superintendent issue to me. [1:11:10] Well, it is. [1:11:11] Uh- [1:11:11] It is, but it also, you know, and I mean to write, it is, but it's also, anytime you raise your hand, as, as, as Mr. Williams said, anytime you raise your hand, you swear in, you're taking responsibility for that position. And, and, and if they're, the, as you stated, the governance in this thing goes right on down through the school board members. Now, I tell you, if they're not, if they're not a part of the problem, there's no issue here, if they're not a part of the problem. [1:11:37] But I mean, the, the, Mr. Chairman, the deeming of the problem, if you've got a school board member that's, that's, that's not playing ball, so say it's a seven-member school board, and there's two, two school board members that are saying, "We want it this way. We think we should, we don't have to raise taxes, we don't have to raise revenue. We wanna, we think this fiscal approach is the proper approach," they're creating what, what, what, what, by the bill one could deem, well, that's, it's, it's, it's fiscally irresponsible not to, not to take a full rollback of property tax, or, or, or, or a full rollback of property tax would be, would be fiscally irresponsible. [1:12:07] We should accept the, the, the rising increase in the digest. Um, and I can imagine what we're empowering here. It's, it's not the circumstance that happened, but what we're empowering here is two b- school board members who are not going along with the program to be sort of forced to, "Well, we, we can now force you out because you're not with what the," a- again, the, the, the trigger here is the State Board of Education and, um, and, and accrediting agencies think proper behavior is. [1:12:39] I mean, to me, this, this is, this is undermining the independence of school board members who themselves have no individual power to do anything, only except what they're given by the superintendent. So to me, I, I don't get this is, is solving the problem. This looks, this seems like a bill to knock out obstin- the school board members who aren't sufficiently compliant with what the team wants. And I, I think that's a dan- I mean, I, I just, I, I know that's not the, I know that's not the author's intention, but I don't understand why targeting individual school board members solves this problem. [1:13:09] I, I just- [1:13:10] But we're talking about, we're talking about, hit me, we're talking about more of an accounting-type situation than we are talking about if somebody votes no on a, on a, on a, on a motion. And I think that's what that, that s- seems to be that's what you're, Senator- [1:13:25] Well- [1:13:25] That's what you're talking about. We're talking about more of a, of governance accounting, accounting-type situation than we are talking about if somebody votes no to raise property taxes. [1:13:35] Well, I, I understand. I mean, that, that's, that's, and that's, that's what's started the, the bill process. We're not, I don't, I don't, I'm not saying there's not a problem. What, what I'm saying, though, is the solution we've got here, I mean, the current statute says, "Present preceding a loss of accreditation for any reason." I mean, so there, there, if there's a... I mean, I'll, I'll, I'll cede to others that want to ask questions. I just, when, when you, when I unpack this, my concern is if the auditor says this school district is in trouble for financial reasons and management, it seems like in the whole ecosystem of superintendent, CFO, and school board, individual school board members have less power over those specific things than anybody in that, around the table. [1:14:16] Mm-hmm. [1:14:16] Um, it seems like these are specifically superintendent and CFO things. That's, that's, that's my con- I j- don't, don't feel like the, the, the problem presented and the solution that's presented match. They, they seem, s- they just seem disconnected. [1:14:31] Okay. [1:14:31] Um, it's, it, it's, we, it's on the hour now of 3:30, and I know members have other committee, and we've already lost a quorum. [1:14:41] I thought we had to have seven. [1:14:42] We do have to have seven, but we got one, two, three, four Yeah, we do have seven. [1:14:49] Five, six, seven. [1:14:51] Yeah, we still have seven. Okay. I just, I was counting up here. Sorry, Chairman. Um, [1:14:59] any other questions from the committee? [1:15:01] I have one. Oh, yeah. [1:15:03] Seven. How many circumstances, uh... Was that me? I'm sorry. [1:15:08] Yes. [1:15:08] Okay. Mr. Chairman, how many circumstances like this have we've had throughout the recent memory or history of the state where a school board or a school's got- [1:15:17] I'm not sure I can hear. [1:15:18] How often in the state, in the past have we've had this issue with a school to get i- into this type of financial trouble that you can think of in the past? [1:15:27] I think Greg would be more- [1:15:29] That's rare. Uh, in this particular case, this particular school board, uh, was on, uh, our watch, uh, back e- before COVID. Uh, we issued two audit reports, uh, back to back where we had noted the, uh, solvency concerns, insolvency concerns. Uh, and then, uh, lots of problems went away when COVID came, and, uh, federal funds started flowing into all the school boards. Everybody became flush, reserves grew, and, uh, things were, were pretty well. [1:16:05] I think you're gonna see, I don't know what the number is, but I think you're gonna see a number of school boards, uh, uh, get to some point of instability and maybe cash flow in, in the, you know, next couple of years as the COVID money runs out and reserves run down. Uh, again, a- again, I'm not, I don't have a crystal ball, but I, I do know there were a couple other, uh, school boards that were behind in making their payments to, uh, the State Health Benefit Plan. [1:16:37] So those are indicators, risk indicators. Uh, we're also would be looking at the fund balance declines, uh, as, as well. And so, um, I'm not sure I answered your question directly. [1:16:50] You, you did. I was just trying to think of something the chairman raised earlier, like when reassessments go out, sometimes it takes a while to get millage rates set, and it could be going into February or maybe even March- [1:17:02] Mm-hmm [1:17:03] ... before the school can get the money they need, and they gotta find ways to make sure they make teacher payments for the payroll and that type of stuff. So I just wanna kinda check on the history to what we're looking at trying to solve here. [1:17:16] Sure. [1:17:16] So I appreciate it. [1:17:21] All right. Senator Parent. [1:17:23] Thank you. It's just a real quick comment, kind of, um, similar to what, um, Senator Setzler was raising. I, I had an issue in one of my school districts where a board member felt like the, uh, financial reporting on EAST/BLAST was not correct, and that it was getting sort of like different departments were saying different things, and, and none of it would reconcile, and it was getting hidden. And, um, I asked, "Well, what are your audits showing? What are," you know. [1:17:53] And my board member was like, "The audits don't get into this sort of thing." And then the board member had even tried to escalate through one of the professional agencies, I don't know if it was your office, Mr. Griffin, or, or something else, to, and got the same response. And I was pretty shocked by that, 'cause I guess I thought, it's sort of like if we're talking about catching financial mismanagement, but there are these huge things that just are surface level and not really reviewed, is it a capacity thing? [1:18:21] May I speak to that? [1:18:22] Yes, please. [1:18:23] So, so financial audits are, are, are risk-based, and, uh, the audit firms use a level of materiality. So there are things that if it is below materiality, uh, they are not gonna be looked at. Uh, I think, uh, you, there's also the financial audit, uh, financial statement audits that are going on, but also, as, as Senator Hickman mentioned, uh, their, their auditors are supposed to be looking at state compliance and compliance with, uh, state laws and regulations. [1:18:55] Mm-hmm. [1:18:55] Those tend to be, uh, looked over, and that is, as part of this bill, I, I, I'd have to see the substitute, but as part of Chairman Wade's bill, they're, uh, they're, it allows us to specify state compliance requirements, which would actually dive, uh, into a little deeper and require anybody that does an audit, if you will, to look at certain things. It might catch some of those issues that you're talking about. [1:19:22] Okay. That's great. That's helpful to hear. Can you, um, do you know the, the bill number for, uh, Chairman Wade's bill? [1:19:27] It'll- [1:19:28] HB1164. [1:19:30] Yeah. [1:19:31] Thank you. [1:19:32] And I'm sure it, did it pass out of committee? [1:19:34] It did. [1:19:35] Yeah. [1:19:36] Uh, there was a substitute to it, but yes. [1:19:37] Yeah. [1:19:38] It did pass. [1:19:41] All right. There's no one signed up to speak to this bill, so, um, and we are operating from LC492646S. And so what is the will of the committee? Do I have a motion? [1:20:04] Um, I'll move to approve. [1:20:06] Okay. I've got a motion. [1:20:07] Second. [1:20:09] Who second? [1:20:09] Second. [1:20:10] Have we got a second? Any further discussion? [1:20:15] Yes, sir. [1:20:17] Mr. Chairman, um, I'd like to, um, be prepared to offer an amendment. I, I think it's essential that if, if you're gonna have a... What this sets up is if a superintendent goes to the state board and says, "I've got a school board member that's somehow so dysfunctional as a school board member that we can't do audits and, and, and manage our dollars." Now, I ca- I've never seen a circumstance where an individual school board member is empowered in such a way that they can't, that the school can't, can't manage its dollars. [1:20:50] I, I can't imagine that, sir. But if that were a circumstance, that's what we're contemplating 'cause this, this says right it is th- the, the superintendent of a local school who's been this, this is, um, I'm looking at the, uh, line 49. Local school superintendent is designated by the auditor as requiring highest level of monitoring, um, by 56-6. The local superintendent shall notify the Board of Education in writing within three business days, and the State Board shall, upon a recommendation by the Audit Committee, followed by majority vote of State Board, conduct a hearing. [1:21:20] And there's, there's the hearings. Um, and then whether or not to suspend a board member. So this, this is precipi- This is started by a superintendent, State Board looks at it, and it's like, "Are we gonna suspend a member?" If we're gonna allow a superintendent to start a process where the State Board can suspend a school board member, I'd like to have, and I'd offer the committee, I'd like the ability for an individual school board member to go to the State Board and make a recommendation the superintendent be suspended. If the s- individual school board member or two of them are outvoted by five others that think things are fine, but they have an issue with this, and the su- they think the proximate cause is the superintendent's the problem, I think this exact same process, um, which I'm not wholly against, I can imagine a circumstance where an individual board member may be an issue. [1:22:06] I think a board member, individual board member ought to be able to make the same motion to State Board and have the superintendent removed, 'cause the real proximate cause of this may be the superintendent and staff may not be, be on their job. So if we're gonna... I- i- if the superintendent can go to the State Board to have individual board members voted off the island, I think school board members ought to be able to go to the State Board and have the superintendent voted off the island if that's the proximate cause of the problem. [1:22:30] Okay. What, what is your motion? What are you- [1:22:32] So I'm, I'm say- I'm saying that to the, to the members. I c- I can offer an amendment, but I want to understand the members to understand the issue, is I've got three, sorry, four locations where we would offer in- inter words or superintendent, the superintendent or, and so forth. Um, that's gonna be on lines, and I'll share this before we offer it, on lines 33, 42, 49. [1:22:57] Uh, so w- w- w- [1:22:58] Again, Mr., Mr. Chairman. [1:22:59] Let's make sure we're getting these. 33, 42. [1:23:03] And Mr. Chairman, right... Before we start getting into filing amendments, I just wanted to share that with the committee 'cause the substance of this issue, the chair may want us to talk about before we offer any amendments. I mean, it's just, w- what, fundamentally what I think ought to happen is if a superintendent says, "I've got an intransigent board member that somehow is keeping us from running our, counting our books," I think a board member ought to be able to do the same thing the superintendent could. [1:23:25] Okay. Well, what is the amendment you're, verbiage of the amendment you're offering? [1:23:29] If the chair's ready for me to offer it, I can offer it. [1:23:31] Mr. Chairman. [1:23:32] I'm ready. [1:23:33] Because of time, would it, would it be amenable if I said, let's treat this as a hearing, and let's work with Mr. Settler, uh, Chairman, I mean Senator Settler on this- [1:23:43] Yes. W- [1:23:44] ... and come back early part of next week? [1:23:45] Okay. We will- [1:23:46] And see- [1:23:46] We will just hold off taking action on this bill. [1:23:49] That'd be okay. [1:23:49] If y'all want to get together and work this off in- [1:23:51] That'd be okay with y'all? [1:23:51] ... in the interim. [1:23:52] Okay. [1:23:52] Then we can- [1:23:53] Because, Mr. Chair, I'm not hostile to the, to the, to the senator's bill. I just think- [1:23:56] No, no, no [1:23:57] ... because the proximate cause could be a superintendent. I've had a lot of school members, board members come to me and say, "I've, I've got real issues with what's going on. I have no power to do anything." [1:24:05] Well, I think that this would get us to the nuts and bolts of it quicker- [1:24:09] That's fine [1:24:09] ... just to sit down. So we're bringing it back at, at another meeting. [1:24:11] Mr. Chairman, why, why don't we plan, um, probably not this Thursday meeting, but the following Tuesday meeting? [1:24:17] Uh, that's your call, Mr. Chairman. [1:24:21] Well, I know, but we're all working this thing together. So, so we, we, we'll, we'll, we'll, we will work with Senator Settler on this, and then we'll either meet back on this bill on Thursday or- [1:24:31] Okay. We will take no action right now on this is- [1:24:33] Do we have to take a motion? We have to motion to table. [1:24:36] What? [1:24:38] Motion to table. [1:24:39] Motion? [1:24:39] Yeah. [1:24:39] Okay. Would- [1:24:42] The question is suspended until such time. [1:24:47] Do what now? [1:24:47] Make a motion to table. [1:24:50] I have a question. [1:24:51] Oh, of course. [1:24:52] Okay. [1:24:52] Oh, I can withdraw the motion. I can, um- [1:24:54] She- [1:24:54] It has to be a motion to table, and second, and then a vote on whether to table the motion. [1:24:58] Oh, I see. [1:24:58] Yeah, you have to do it in parts. [1:24:59] Okay. [1:25:01] Can we? [1:25:03] I just need a motion and a second to, to table. [1:25:05] Yes, we have. Yes. [1:25:05] Motion. [1:25:07] I have a motion to table the, the- [1:25:09] I withdraw the motion. [1:25:09] Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. You don't have to table it. You can just put the vote to take consideration today. [1:25:13] Well, that's 'cause we have a motion on the table. [1:25:14] No, we have, we already had a motion and a second. [1:25:17] Okay. [1:25:17] Do you want a motion? Yeah, I could withdraw the motion. That's all I was- [1:25:20] She's withdrawn her motion. [1:25:22] I withdraw the mo- the motion to table. [1:25:23] And so I have a motion, and so the motion and a second to table. [1:25:30] If, if, I mean, if it's the chair's desire to do that, one can do that. I'm just saying there's no duty to lay it on the table to postpone consideration. It's- [1:25:37] Well, I think it's better for there be conversation- [1:25:39] I think- [1:25:39] ... before we move forward. [1:25:40] I, I, I think you got some concerns. I want to make sure your concerns are heard. [1:25:44] Okay. That's fine. [1:25:44] And so, so- [1:25:45] Second. [1:25:46] Yeah. [1:25:46] All right. All those in favor of tabling, please raise your hand. [1:25:54] And all, there's no, none in opposition. It, it's been tabled. And we have no other business before this committee today, so we will call this meeting adjourned. [1:26:04] Thank you. [1:26:04] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.