At any point in the session, legislators can try to muster a two-thirds vote to suspend legislative rules and introduce a bill after deadlines have passed. A teacher visiting the Capitol Wednesday said she hopes educators don't get lost in the shuffle. If you expect to attract teachers, you've got to put some money out there. Patton, who has spent 16 years as a teacher and 14 years before that as an assistant teacher, said educators have more duties today than ever before. A lot of times, children come to school without homework.
Teachers have to enforce that, make sure they get the work done.
Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who took office in January, campaigned last year on a pledge of raising teacher pay. In his State of the State address last month, Musgrove challenged legislators to hit the Southeastern average in four years. Musgrove says he hasn't given up on teacher raises or other items on his legislative agenda. There's time to deal with a whole host of issues. One of the hundreds of bills that survived Tuesday's deadline was House Bill 49, to ban same-sex couples from adopting children.