Some Movement on an Education Policy Bill. As I write, there are several possible vehicles moving between the House and Senate that could serve as possible vehicles for an omnibus E-12 education policy bill. The House passed HFs 3329 and 2702 and the Senate then passed HF 2072 with a seemingly non-controversial amendment.

Whether or not these bills will serve as vehicles remains to be seen. Vehicles start in the body of origination (Senate for SFs and House for HFs) and then are passed to the other body, where they can be amended with other provisions. If the provisions are agreed upon in the other body prior to the amendment, the body in which the bill originated can simply move to concur with the amendments and you have, in effect, a conference committee without conference committee meetings.

It remains to be seen what will be included in any agreed-upon amendment that can pass both houses. As many of you know, the bodies are far apart on the reform initiatives advocated by the Governor as part of his Race to the Top recommendations. The House has the language that would allow board approval of an expiring referendum levy. Given these differences, there may either be synergy that would fit the bills together or (hopefully not) a gap that is too wide to be traversed successfully in the truncated time frame under which we now operate.

Stay tuned.