08 LC 33
2194
House
Bill 1300
By:
Representatives Carter of the
175th,
Dickson of the
6th,
Coleman of the
97th,
Teilhet of the
40th,
and Lindsey of the
54th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 20-2-168 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the minimum school year and other matters, so as to provide that certain
school days which were canceled due to disaster, emergency, act of God, and
other occurrences do not have to be made up under certain circumstances; to
provide for definitions; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting
laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 20-2-168 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the
minimum school year and other matters, is amended by revising subsection (c) as
follows:
"(c)(1)
Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, public elementary and
secondary schools of this state receiving state aid under this article shall
provide each eligible student with access to no less than 180 school days of
education each fiscal year. The State Board of Education shall define a school
year, which shall be no less than 180 days of instruction in accordance with the
provisions of this subsection, shall define the length of the school day, and
shall provide that all public elementary and secondary schools may be closed for
instruction on November 11 of each year as determined by each local board of
education to enable students, teachers, and administrators to participate in
Veterans Day programs to honor veterans of the armed forces.
(2)
Any provision of this subsection or this article to the contrary
notwithstanding, when the President of the United States proclaims a national
emergency or when the Governor proclaims a state of emergency or when, because
of emergency, disaster, act of God, civil disturbance, or a shortage of vital
and critical material, supplies, or fuel, the continued operation of the public
schools according to the definitions of school year, school month, or school day
is impractical or impossible, then the state board shall have the power to
authorize local boards of education to depart from a strict interpretation of
these definitions, and such departure need not be uniform throughout the state.
(3)
In the
event that at the end of the last complete week of the school year four or fewer
days remain for completion of the regular 180 day school year,
a
A
local board of education may, without the necessity of authorization from the
state board, elect not to
continue
school into the following week if the
complete, as
make-up days, up to four additional days
otherwise needed
which
are the result of days when school was closed due to emergency, disaster, act of
God, civil disturbance, or shortage of vital or critical material, supplies, or
fuel. In any such case, the school year applicable to that local board of
education may terminate, in the discretion of the local board, at the end of the
last school day
originally
designated by the local board as the end of the school year, regardless of the
day of the week on which the school calendar was scheduled to
end
of the last
complete week of the school year otherwise provided for in this Code
section. The provisions of this paragraph
shall not limit the authority of the state board under paragraph (2) of this
subsection.
(4)
Each fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30 of the following
year.
(5)
For purposes of this subsection, the term:
(A)
'Disaster' means any happening that causes great harm or damage.
(B)
'Emergency' means a sudden generally unexpected occurrence or set of
circumstances demanding immediate
action."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.