Senate Education and Youth Committee, March 17, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1174173840 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1174173840#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-17/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. [0:19:07] Take over, be chairing the committee until our good chairman gets here. He's presenting a bill in another committee right now, but we will, soon as he gets here, he can take over the reins. Um, we have three bills on our agenda today. House Bill 971 by Representative Townsend, House Bill 907 by R- Representative Jones, and House Bill 1220 by Representative Bauer. And so we will go ahead and ... [0:19:38] Representative Townsend, if you would like to come forward, we'll let you present your bill. [0:19:42] I feel kind of guilty. It's usually ladies first. [0:19:45] Well, you know, it should be. If you'd like to be a gentleman, you can rescind it, and then we can went and [0:19:52] Just don't tell my wife. [0:19:54] Oh, she's going to know. Go- [0:19:58] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, committee. I am, uh, talking about LC492473. [0:20:05] Yes, sir. [0:20:06] Just wanna make sure. Okay. Uh, this is the, uh, what I refer to as a c- a Career Academy Bill. This actually, uh, enhances the current law that we have now for College of Career Academies regarding homeschool kids and private school kids. Basically, the current law allows for k- those kids, private school, homeschool kids, that attend a College of Career Academy, if the school system opts ye- opts in, there'll be, uh, no charges for the students, and the school system gets to keep the QBE FTE funding per se for those kids. [0:20:39] So it's a win-win for public schools, and this, and it's a win for the, uh, private school, homeschool kids, or the parents, 'cause they already pay taxes. Plus, it's a win for the workforce as well. I know back home, we have over 30 kids at our College Career Academy taking advantage of this at our homeschool, private school that are taking construction, machining, automotive, engineering. Some pretty good fields to be in when you get a little bit older. And so this will definitely incentivize graduation too. So what this does, I got a call from the school system, and they said, "Hey, can you help us? [0:21:11] We've got kids from McIntosh, Camden, and Brantley who wanna come." Reached out to some other folks, and there's some other people within the state that are interested in this as well, to allow those kids from out of county to come as well as private and homeschool kids, or if they're in a different RESA. Like in our area, reason we included that, we have Camden County in a different, uh, they're joining us, but they're in different RESAs, so we put the joining or RESA district. So this really expands the College Career Academy concept, uh, for especially for those kids who don't have access to it to learn those important 21st century skills. [0:21:45] And this is for CTAE courses only. It's not for academics. This is, they are also able to do the co-curricular activities. So if, if they have their FBLA or FFA established there or HOSA or any of those, uh, SkillsUSA, those, those kids are allowed to participate in those activities as well. And they're not charged any different fees. If there's a fee for the public school kid, there'll be a fee for that kid too. Otherwise, there's no fees in, in, uh, inferred as either. So I'll be glad to, that's kind of the basics of the bill. [0:22:17] It's, uh, the key when I, we talked about it in the House was it was opt-in for the school system. And a couple of the opponents at first kind of said, "You know what? It's kind of nice having some homeschool and private school kids at a public school hanging out half a day." Well, they're not hanging out, they're working. If you know anything about machining or automotive and those kind of programs, you don't hang out. You're working and developing a skill for the 21st century workforce and following their passion. So I'll be glad to take any questions, Mr. Chair. [0:22:45] All right. Thank you. Any questions from the committee? [0:22:52] Is there any mission? [0:22:56] Here's a sign-up sheet. I don't see anyone signed up. [0:22:58] Okay. [0:22:59] I did have support in the past from other groups, Mrs. Page and every, uh, I haven't s- received any negativity toward this bill yet. [0:23:07] Well, I, I like the, what it's doing, especially because there's limited abilities to have access to the places where you need to take those kids to do to do those kind of things. So I mean, so to bring it all in, to put it all in one basket so they can all go together I think is a really good thing. [0:23:22] Yes, sir. I, I agree. [0:23:28] Yes, ma'am. [0:23:29] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question about, um, accessibility for those students that are homeschooled or, um, what else? In private schools. How do we transport them? How will they be transported? Will there, are we going to arrange for classes at their schools, or will they, or will the system, uh- [0:23:58] No, the, the- [0:23:59] ... arrange the classes? [0:24:00] The parents would be responsible for transportation, and the s- the students, if they're of age driving, they could drive to school like other students can. So there's no, uh, system transportation involved, uh, only, uh, it's on the parents since, uh, to do the transportation. [0:24:18] Okay. [0:24:20] And, and t- thus far we haven't had any concerns about that, uh, 'cause most, a lot of your private schools don't have transportation. Your homeschool students, of course, are doing their own thing, and they're continuing that concept with this. It's a good question, though. [0:24:35] One, to add additional, uh, comments to that or questions, if they decide, if they, meaning the, um, um, private schools or the homeschoolers decide that transportation is needed, where do we go from there? What happens next? Are they going to ask, come and, uh, come back and ask the state for transportation needs? [0:25:07] Not according to this bill, no, ma'am [0:25:09] Mm. [0:25:09] And that's, they're on their own for that. And like I said, this has been working internally with inside the system since 2020, and there hasn't been one issue regarding that yet. [0:25:22] Thank you, Mr. Chair. [0:25:23] Thank you. [0:25:26] Any other questions? [0:25:27] Is there a perfect time, Mr. Chair, to make a motion to pass? [0:25:31] Well, it looks like now would be the perfect time. What number are you? [0:25:35] Uh, four. I'll make a motion to pass on LC492473 of House Bill 971. [0:25:45] Who was the second? I have a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. [0:25:54] Aye. [0:25:54] All those opposed, like sign. [0:25:58] I raise my hand. [0:25:58] Okay. All those in favor, signify by raising your hand. [0:26:05] All those opposed, same sign. [0:26:10] Your bill passes. [0:26:11] Hey, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Committee, and I'll be glad to talk offline, too, if you want to talk, sir. [0:26:15] And, and, and who's going to carry your bill? [0:26:17] Uh, Senator Hodges. [0:26:19] Senator Hodges. All right. Thank you. [0:26:22] Thank you. [0:26:29] Now, uh, Senator Waiter, if you'd, uh, come forward and you can present your bill. What... This is House Bill 907. [0:26:40] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Um, this is, uh, another bill that is oriented to students at risk of dropping out or who have dropped out. And so y'all, many of you who've been on the committee for a while know we've had three, four, or five bills regarding completion schools. They used to be called alternative schools. And, um, the state is divided up into seven regions, and, um, we originally started out with Foothills, Mountain Ed, and then Coastal Plains was added. [0:27:13] Last year, uh, Alb- the Albany region came together, and they now have what's called a completion school with multiple sites, uh, to assist students to get over the finish line between the ages of 16 and 22. Um, this fall, the Columbus region will open, and next year in '27, '28, I'm s- we, or in '27, we expect the Macon region. So every area of the state will be served by multiple sites. [0:27:45] I think right now there's about 60 locations of these schools. Uh, but by the end of '27, '28 school year, everywhere except the core Metro Atlanta area will be served by a completion school. We continue to see some issues, and I'm attempting to, to close up some of the, um, the loopholes and create more transparency for parents and students to make sure that they're aware that every student has the right to attend one of these schools if the parent thinks it's, would best fit them. [0:28:19] So, um, in section one, um, I make it clear that every school that has, uh, access, their students have access to a completion school, will notify parents twice a year of the programs that are available to them. They'll make them, they'll notify them both electronically, and it will physically be, uh, located in every school so that students know that they can transfer over and take classes at a completion school if, um, night classes would work better for them or, uh, online classes so that they can, uh, complete their high school degree. [0:29:04] And the s- the, um, bill on line 74 also makes it clear that every student has the right to attend one of these public schools if they want to. Uh, there's no gatekeeping here. We have seen that in a few areas of the state, where because these students stay in their graduation rate, they might be tempted to encourage them to, um, leave the school system. And we want students and parents to know that they have good options, uh, available to them. [0:29:35] In section two, this was brought, um, this particularly pertains to Gwinnett, but really to that metro core region, which I don't know if, if and when those core school systems will ever choose to go together and create a, a, a completion school consortium. So it makes it clear that if you do not have access to one of them, you might participate in an adjoining region. And, um, so that, that was important to, to make that clear. [0:30:10] In section three, this was really a, it was, when we ha- when we called them alternative schools, um, the schools would by and large notify what used to be called alternative schools of students who were chronically absent or who had quit or, or dropped out. Um, that's not happening as frequently as it used to, so this makes it clear that every school that has, uh, will, will provide what I call sales leads to these public completion schools of students that are chronically absent or have quit, so that they can follow up with these students. [0:30:53] 'Cause you know, students who drop out, sometimes a couple months later, they realize it's not as fun as they thought it was, but they don't wanna go back to the school that didn't work for them. So they may, um, directly contact them and, this is important, work out their enrollment back at their original school. They would attend classes at the completion school without ever having to step foot in their, the school from which they came from, the original school. In the age of, uh, electronic communication, there's no reason for a student to have to go back to the original school. [0:31:27] So that's the bill, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. [0:31:31] Any questions of the committee? [0:31:39] I'm seeing none. [0:31:40] I have a question, Mr. Chairman. Is that okay? [0:31:44] What number are you? [0:31:45] Yeah, uh, four. I think I'm on, actually. [0:31:47] Okay. [0:31:48] Madam Pro Tem, is this your last bill? [0:31:51] Oh, I think this is my last bill. [0:31:55] Well, I just wanna say, on, I think on behalf of my colleagues, you've done incredible work in the education space. Certainly this completion school, uh, is just one area of state education policy where you'll be leaving your mark. Um, and you and I have worked closely on some bills, and I've watched you work on other bills, and your service to the state is greatly appreciated, so thank you for all that you've done- [0:32:13] Thanks [0:32:13] ... especially in the education space. [0:32:14] It's been a pleasure working with the Senate, and I enjoy the partnership that we have with you. Thank you. [0:32:22] Any other questions? I'll entertain a motion. [0:32:27] At the appropriate time, Mr. Chairman, I would move due pass on House Bill 907. And I believe we're working off of LC492636S. [0:32:38] Yes. [0:32:38] Second. [0:32:39] And I have a second. Second. Senator James. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify it by raising your right hand. I figure you're gonna mo- make a motion with people when you video us. That's right. And your bill passes unanimous. [0:32:58] Thank you. [0:33:02] Thank you. [0:33:03] And who's carrying your bill? [0:33:04] Uh, I believe it's, uh, Senator. [0:33:07] Okay. [0:33:10] I, I guess [0:33:10] I'll make sure we remind him. [0:33:17] All right. And lastly, certainly not least. Senator Still. Happy to do it. [0:33:24] Is that right? [0:33:25] Yes, ma'am. How are you doing, Representative Ballard? [0:33:29] I'm doing fine. How are you? Thank you- [0:33:31] Very well [0:33:31] ... Mr. Chairman. [0:33:32] Go ahead and present your bill. [0:33:33] Okay. I have, um, House Bill 1220, LC492693S. [0:33:41] Correct. [0:33:42] Um, House Bill 1220 just seeks to make some improvements on, uh, the Georgia Student Scholarship Organization statute, um, by granting schools some additional flexibility, uh, to better serve students with disabilities, uh, while preserving the overall structure of the e- existing program. Um, so what it will do, it will waive the six-week, uh, public school require- attendance requirement for students with an IEP, 504 plan, our dyslexic and autistic students, as well as children, um, of active duty military. [0:34:21] It also allows for some flexibility in how the scholarship funds can be used. It does not raise the overall cap, um, in this bill. But it just gives them some flexibility, 'cause as we know, some of our kids, um, with special needs need a little extra money. Um, so it gives them the flexibility to use that money within the program. Um, that is the bill, and I'll be happy to take questions. [0:34:48] Any questions of the committee? [0:34:53] Oh. Who is 14? [0:35:00] Thank you, Representative Ballard. How are you? [0:35:01] Good. How are you? [0:35:02] Good. Um, I have a question of how this differ- differs from the special needs scholarship that already exists. [0:35:10] Um, well, this, this, uh, was the, um, the statute that was created in 2008. That's the tax credit- [0:35:17] Mm-hmm [0:35:18] ... scholarship. So it's not state-funded. It's funded through donations through that tax credit program. [0:35:22] All right. So now we're essentially... Could folks double-dip? Could they get a special needs scholarship- [0:35:28] No [0:35:28] ... and this? [0:35:28] They, they, no. [0:35:28] Okay. All right. [0:35:29] They can't stack those. [0:35:29] Got it. Okay. Thanks. [0:35:32] Thank you for that question. [0:35:33] Senator Parent. [0:35:34] Thank you, um, Mr. Chairman. Hey, Rep Ballard. [0:35:37] Hey. [0:35:38] Good to see you. Um, can you explain to me the language in section two, um, line 76 through 80? It looks like it does change, the legislation does change something about the amount of the award. [0:35:55] Um, so it doesn't, it doesn't change the overall tax credit cap. Um, what it does do is just allow some flexibility, um, with how, how bad... It, it, it can be rolled over, uh, differently for our kids with special needs. So they can go beyond that 15,000, it's about $15,000 a year, um, that the per student cap. But it can't go over the, the tax credit, the overall tax credit cap. [0:36:27] I'm probably not explaining that very well. [0:36:29] No, I understand what you mean. [0:36:29] Um- [0:36:30] This doesn't raise the total limit of general funds- [0:36:32] Yes [0:36:32] ... committed to the SSOs. [0:36:34] Yes. [0:36:34] But it would allow certain kids to get more money than others. [0:36:39] Um, if, if that school decided to do that. Um, you know, sometimes we know our, our special need kids just, they need a little bit more, um, to be successful. [0:36:55] Go ahead. Uh, 10. [0:37:01] Me. [0:37:02] Oh, I'm sorry. [0:37:09] Um, so I'm gonna bring up a bill from yesterday in a totally different committee, but there is a different bill that's moving that also identifies these same, um, kinds of students, IEPs, 40- 504 plans, autism, speech delay, that will also separately get special consideration, and we would be raising that tax credit cap substantially. [0:37:38] Like nearly doubling it from the 120 million to the 225 to 225 million as written that literally just passed yesterday out of a different committee. And so I'm struggling a little bit because part of the ... If we're raising, 'cause if both of these things happen simultaneously, then we are raising the cap, but we are to some extent saying that we want this designated student to in fact get more money, which we're saying anyway in this bill. [0:38:15] But on the other hand, we're saying that the SSO organization and the scholarships, you know, are doing so well and there's such great demand for them that we want more students actually to be able to participate, and it feels like both of those things kind of can compete, maybe not in every case, but can compete with each other. [0:38:37] Well, I have not read that other bill that went through- [0:38:40] Yeah [0:38:40] ... um, that other committee, so I don't feel like I- [0:38:43] Yes [0:38:43] ... can talk about that. [0:38:44] Speak to that. [0:38:44] I can just talk, speak to mine. [0:38:46] Yes. [0:38:46] Um, and my intention was to not raise that cap- [0:38:50] Understood [0:38:50] ... just to provide some flexibility and some relief for our students. [0:38:55] Senator Sims. [0:38:57] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, [0:39:02] my question is who will make the determination as to how much money or who will receive additional monies for the IEP designations or the 504 designations? What I find, and let me, let me... I should have prefaced it, the statements by saying what I find in education is we are the largest piece of the pie in the state. [0:39:33] We have monies going here, there, yonder, everywhere, but very little accountability. That's what's disturbing to me. I don't mind, um, helping and I, I don't think anybody does, but we can't trace half of the monies that are going here, there, and everywhere, and it's disturbing in that, um, [0:39:59] our students are still not performing well. So who would make the determination as to how much money, extra monies these students would receive? [0:40:15] Um, that w- the, the school, the individual school that, that the children, um, would be going to, um, would make that determination on their own because they would be getting that, that per pupil- [0:40:27] Mm-hmm [0:40:27] ... um, expenditure. And I agree with you. We do need, um, you know, better accountability within our education system, and I think that, you know, our, our two education committees over the last four years w- I think that we have worked on that together to make sure that, um, we're getting where we need to get in literacy, and we're starting on math now. Um, you know, I, I think that this is ... It's just an ongoing struggle, and we didn't get to this point in a minute, and it's going to take us a minute, more than a minute to get out of, of where we are. [0:41:04] Um, but I, I think that this is the right thing to do for our, our kids. Um, you know, I, I don't like the fact that s- we have, you know, schools that are available for our kids, especially with autism and dyslexia, and we're saying you have to be trapped in a public school that's not gonna meet your needs for six weeks before you can go somewhere that meets your needs. [0:41:28] Mr. Chairman, uh, may I give a follow-up statement? [0:41:32] Yes. [0:41:32] And you're absolutely correct, but you could be trapped in a private school, home school, any of those places. So it's not the school itself that's trapping the students as much as it would be the leadership in those schools. So many things that we have not addressed. The school has not failed the children. It's the people, us, the legislators. We've not done our due diligence by allowing folks to come in and say, "Oh, you need this. [0:42:07] That doesn't work. You need to buy this program. You need to buy that program." That's the problem that we're having that we're not addressing and don't want to address. We want to say it's the public schools. It could be any school. We don't know if the private schools are doing a good job because they're not required ... Okay, y'all want me to ... They told me to be quiet. They said, "Wrap it up," because they're not required to bring their scores or to air their whatever. [0:42:42] And I understand that, but I, I think, um, and, and I can just speak for, uh, the parents in my district who use this program and others like it, they wouldn't, they, they didn't wanna take their child out of the public school system and put them in a specialized school. They felt they had to. And they would not keep them in that specialized or private school, um, if it was not meeting their child's needs. [0:43:08] Sure. [0:43:08] Um, so I think, you know, our parents are the best judge of what is, is right for their children. [0:43:14] Sometimes. [0:43:16] Senator Parent. [0:43:17] Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, following the comments by the senator from the 12th, you know, I'm in agreement, and I'd like to make a motion do not pass. [0:43:29] Second. [0:43:36] Do what? [0:43:39] So we have to vote. [0:43:47] I was just gonna ... Are we gonna have a vote? [0:43:52] I think we have to have a vote. [0:43:53] Well, I don't know if you recognize for a motion, but if we ... I was just gonna remind the chair the chairman, um, can vote to make a tie, and if i- in the case of a tie, um, that motion would not- [0:44:02] Would not pass [0:44:03] ... would not pass, and you could recognize someone for another motion. [0:44:08] Okay. Um, [0:44:12] I have a motion do not pass. And I have a second. All those in favor signify by raising your right hand. One, two, three, four, five. All those opposed, light sign. One, two, three, four, and five. [0:44:35] Uh, Mr. Chairman, I would make a ... We're gonna do the same thing here, but Bob. [0:44:41] Yeah. [0:44:42] We should probably save our time and maybe make a motion to, uh, table this until our next meeting. [0:44:47] We should vote not to table it. We should vote now to table. [0:44:58] State that again. I'm sorry. [0:44:59] Well, I, I, if we're able to, Mr. Cha- I think if I make a motion do pass, we're gonna have the same vote that we just did. So to save us, the committee some time, I, I, what are my options to ... We probably just don't need to take action on this, and then can we add it to the agenda for future meetings as opposed to me making a motion to table? [0:45:14] Um, we could just, uh, not take action. Be the preferred way, and that way leave it for s- the chairman of the committee to decide what he needs to do, as I'm sitting in, in his absence. [0:45:26] Fair enough. [0:45:28] So we will just not take action on this bill today. [0:45:31] Nope. [0:45:32] And, um, I'm sure Senator Hickman will decide what he wants to do with this. [0:45:37] Okay. [0:45:37] And we will h- hopefully have another meeting befor- between now and the time we get it. So having no other business before this committee, I will call this meeting adjourned. [0:45:47] Okay, thank you. [0:45:47] Thank you.