How other states fixed schools

No better argument exists for a state takeover of a local school system than Clayton County, where an obstructionist board of education repelled offers of assistance from the state and caused the district’s loss of accreditation earlier this month.

Unlike 25 other states, Georgia has no mechanism for a state takeover of an entire district. Gov. Sonny Perdue is correct to want to alter that, but unfortunately, the cumbersome legal process to make such a change could drag on too long to benefit Clayton.

Such a measure would require amending the state constitution, which in turn would require legislative approval and then a statewide referendum. The earliest that process could conclude would be 2010, and by then Clayton should have its accreditation back —- maybe.

In fact, Clayton hopes to regain accredited status by next September. If it doesn’t —- if the district is unable to satisfy conditions set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools within the next 12 months, including a functioning and law-abiding school board —- the county would have to start from scratch to win accreditation, which could take as long as three years.

Clayton’s hopes for redemption rest with a still-reconstituting school board. And unfortunately, under the questionable direction of the school board’s attorney, the new board seems set on following the same path to perfidy as its predecessor.

In recent weeks, attorney Julie Lewis has twice advised the school board to duck behind closed doors for discussions that should by law be conducted in public, even though SACS cited the previous board’s repeated violations of the Open Meetings Act as one cause for revocation of accreditation.

The flouting of the state sunshine laws, along with ethics codes transgressions, also pushed Perdue to oust four Clayton school board members, the only step available to him under current state law. An administrative law judge recommended their removal after more than 40 hours of testimony and reviewing thousands of records.

Perdue’s decision reduced the Clayton board to three members, all of whom were newly elected this summer and all of whom should know better than to follow the example of their disgraced predecessors. Yet two members of the newly minted board met in secret to talk about appointments to empty board seats.

The state Open Meetings Act does allow boards to close meetings to discuss litigation, personnel, real estate transactions or student tribunals.

Attorney Lewis contends that discussions of filling school board vacancies fall under the personnel exemption, but that’s hogwash. Political appointees are not employees.

“The Open Meetings Act couldn’t be any clearer: Any discussion about filling vacancies has to take place in public,” said Tom Clyde, an attorney for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Clyde’s opinion was seconded by Clayton board member Michael King, himself an attorney.

In refusing to join his two fellow board members when they went into private session last week in the middle of a public meeting, he made it clear to waiting parents that “We’ve got serious issues, and unless we get this straightened out, we won’t get accreditation back.”

Under current law, there’s little the state can do if this new board repeats the mistakes of the old one.

Other states have legal authority to seize control of low-performing and mismanaged districts.

In 1989, New Jersey was the first state to take that step under its landmark “academic bankruptcy” law. The most ambitious takeover occurred in 2001, when Pennsylvania grabbed the reins of the 200,000-student Philadelphia system and hired a private management company to operate the schools. Other states have seized big-city school systems and delegated their operation to mayors.

However, takeovers have a checkered history. In Philadelphia, for example, a RAND report found that the takeover did not have any statistically significant effects on students’ reading- or math-proficiency scores. States have often been able to straighten out financial messes but unable to achieve significant academic improvement.

In analyzing why previous takeovers failed, a few themes emerge: States didn’t have a real plan for improving academic achievement or a way to measure it; they didn’t engage principals, teachers and the community and they didn’t develop clear exit strategies. In essence, states were unable to turn a hostile takeover into a successful partnership.

If Perdue pursues takeover legislation, he ought to study mistakes of other states. In the meantime, he ought to consider inviting the new Clayton board members to his office for a chat. Sometimes, a visit to the principal —- or the governor —- can go a long way to straighten out errant behavior.

—- Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com)