GWINNETT COUNTY SCHOOLS: District eager to gain flexibility by hiking standards

Gwinnett County Schools plans to be first in line to contract with the state for greater flexibility in education spending.

A proposed rule coming before the state Board of Education could soon give school districts more freedom to educate students without also having to follow mandates on curriculum decisions, class sizes, teacher certification and salaries. Districts could apply to the state for a five-year contract for greater flexibility in operations, in exchange for promising greater accountability for student success.

“The contract will lay out what flexibilities the district is seeking,” explained Dana Tofig, a spokesman with the state Department of Education. “Under the law, the more flexibility a school system gets, the more they have to offer evidence that it will improve student achievement.”

Linda Mitchell, Gwinnett County Schools’ executive director of student accountability, told school board members last week that the district collaborated with the state to help craft the proposed rule. Gwinnett also let the state know Gwinnett is interested in applying for the opportunity.

“This, we believe, would allow us to do something heretofore we have not been able to do,” Gwinnett Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks told the school board. “It would certainly improve our ability to educate children. … We see some advantages for us.”

State officials say other districts also are considering the idea.

“Our policy division has received some inquiries, but no one has indicated that they are definitely going to apply for the flexibility other than Gwinnett,” Tofig said.

A public hearing on the state Department of Education’s flexibility initiative will be Sept. 10. The proposed rule comes up for a vote from the state Board of Education in October.

School districts seeking flexibility would still be required to administer the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test and meet federal guidelines for student achievement under the No Child Left Behind Act. Schools entering into flexibility contracts who fail to deliver results could be converted into charter schools or taken over by more successful school systems.

Gwinnett school officials said administrators would have to submit a plan for each school and agree to a level of accountability beyond “Adequate Yearly Progress” goals, which the state already requires.

“We are still in the process of discussing what options we might want to consider in a contract,” said Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for Gwinnett’s schools.