Panel lays out plan to keep school boards on right path

If state business leaders get their way, the state could take over troubled schools, no teachers could serve on local school boards and board members would no longer be paid.

A panel of business and legislative leaders from across the state spent the past 90 days coming up with possible legislation to prevent school systems from ending up like Clayton County’s.

On Wednesday, the Commission for School Board Excellence submitted a detailed report to the state Board of Education with a host of recommendations that would affect each of the state’s 185 school systems.

Among the recommendations:

• Change state law to allow the state board of education to place troubled school districts in receivership. This would include schools not performing academically, struggling with accreditation problems, financial mismanagement or abuse of power.

• Mandate stricter qualifications for school board members, including criminal background checks and drug screens by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

• Implement a statewide code of ethics and conflict-of-interest guidelines for school board members.

• Prohibit school board members from being paid. Reimburse expenses only.

• Prohibit employees of any public or private K-12 school system in Georgia from serving on a board of education.

• Legislate the size of school boards to be 5 to 7 members.

• Change all school board elections to non-partisan during the general election in November.

• Require school boards to have a strategic plan for timely performance reviews.

• Add more board training and an orientation by the state board of education

In April, the state Department of Education asked leaders from the state and metro chambers of commerce and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to look at best practices of boards.

“I know how we elect boards has merit, but who we elect to boards is much more important,” SACS President and Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Elgart said in April. “Georgia law provides more criteria for ineligibility than for eligibility. … That statement reflects the gaps that exist in our current legislation.”

SACS revoked Clayton County’s accreditation effective Sept. 1, citing a dysfunctional board as the main problem.