I missed several notable education debates last week while on vacation including one around Nathan Deal’s interest in empowering the state to seize control of failing schools through the recovery district model pioneered in New Orleans.
Under the model, low-performing traditional public schools convert to charter schools that then become part of a state recovery district, freeing them from their local boards of education.
Credit: Maureen Downey
Credit: Maureen Downey
While Deal praised the approach in a recent campaign appearance with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the governor has been more temperate in subsequent comments, saying he is only recommending Georgia study the idea.
Deal’s comments have prompted concerns despite the retreat from his initial public exultation of the recovery district concept.
The AJC reported:
"If we truly want to move Georgia forward, blindly adopting an unproven model is not the answer,” said Valarie Wilson, the Democratic candidate for state school superintendent.
Richard L. Woods, the Republican candidate for state superintendent, said he supports the governor's focus on low-performing schools. But Woods said "time is needed to fully implement and fully assess the policies that we currently have in place."
Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said setting up another system for the creation of charter schools is unnecessary. "We already have a statewide charter commission, so it would be adding yet another layer of bureaucracy,” Callahan said. "It would also appear to be a large-scale repudiation of public schools as a 'failed system, ' which educators, parents and anyone connected with our state's public schools would find repugnant. Perhaps (Deal) got carried away on the stump and that's not really where his heart is. We certainly hope so."
Louisiana pioneered the recovery district idea a decade ago, and it's since been picked up in Tennessee. Schools that persistently under-perform for several years are moved into a state-run recovery district and converted to charter schools.
Charter schools are public schools, but they are run differently than traditional public schools. Typically, a management board oversees them, and the schools are granted staffing and instructional flexibility in exchange for a promise to deliver specific academic results.
Most of the focus in Louisiana has been on troubled schools in New Orleans. The widespread destruction of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 gave state leaders a sort of blank slate, and they transferred low-performing schools in New Orleans into the recovery district. There have been some academic improvements in New Orleans schools, but it's not clear that those improvements are directly tied to the recovery district.
"The New Orleans miracle is more myth than miracle,” said Verdaillia Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers. Turner said schools in Louisiana and Georgia that get proper funding and strong teachers will see improvements.
In New Orleans, the recovery school district remains a source of division and rancor. That rancor was amplified when, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Orleans Parish School Board fired more than 7,000 of its educators. Many of the parish's schools were moved into the recovery district, which brought in its own educators.
The former parish educators sued, and, earlier this year, they won a judgment that could reach $1.5 billion. But bitterness remains.
Implementing a recovery school district in Georgia would be a sea change that would require new laws. Right now, the state does not have the authority to take over struggling schools. The state can direct targeted assistance to those schools, but there is no mechanism in place that allows the state to pull a struggling school from its local district and convert it to a charter school.
About the Author
