House to debate bills on school intervention, campus assault

The struggling-schools bill is considered an alternative to Gov. Nathan Deal's proposed constitutional amendment seeking to let the state take over schools dubbed "chronically failing."

Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville, sponsored this year's bill creating a "chief turnaround officer" to work with struggling schools and has said he wanted to create a partnership rather than a takeover.

The bill still lays out dramatic consequences for schools that don't improve within two years of state intervention or that refuse a "turnaround" contract with the state.

Advocates, though, say the approach clashes with existing federal guidance to campuses on how to follow federal civil rights law barring sex discrimination in education.

The House also plans to vote on a bill legalizing daily fantasy sports, including the well-known DraftKings or FanDuel sites, and a proposal changing Georgia's varied income tax levels to a flat 5.4 percent regardless of income.

A Fulton County judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that the program was unconstitutionally helping religious schools; the state Supreme Court heard appeal arguments in January but hasn't ruled.

The House Public Safety committee plans to take up a bill on Wednesday requiring the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to publish the names of people without permission to be in the U.S. and who are being released from federal prisons.