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Friday, December 5, 2008
“Local” school board control
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As expected, most school board members oppose a proposal that would allow the state to take over troubled school districts and strip away other elements of local control.
These opinions are from a survey conducted the Georgia School Boards Association and will be discussed during the group’s winter conference today.
The survey was sent to board members from all 180 districts to get their thoughts on the proposal by the Commission for School Board Excellence, a panel of business, civic and education leaders asked to weigh in on what makes a good school board in the wake of the accreditation mess for Clayton County schools.
The comission suggested many changes, including no longer paying local board members, reducing large school boards to five or seven members, prohibiting educators from serving on school boards and allowing the state to take over poorly performing districts/remove board members.
None of these recommendations can be implemented without action by the Legislature.
The general consensus among local school boards is that many of the recommendations usurp local power. Many wondered whether similar rules would be recommended for city councils and county commissions.
What do you think of the commission’s recommendations and the school boards’ reactions? Is this an issue the state needs to deal with or was Clayton an isolated incident?
