The story so far:
December: The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools places DeKalb County's school system on probation, alleging financial mismanagement, nepotism and meddling by the school board.
Earlier this month: Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson leaves, halfway through her three-year contract, and former state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond is hired as an interim school chief.
Monday: Eugene Walker gives up the chairmanship of the school board.
Tuesday: The board files suit to prevent a hearing by the Georgia Board of Education.
Thursday: The Georgia Board of Education voted unanimously to recommend suspending six of the nine members of the DeKalb County school board.
The dilemma Gov. Nathan Deal faces over replacing DeKalb County’s troubled school board is only the start of a greater debate about giving Georgia broader powers to rein in poorly performing school districts.
And no matter how the governor responds to the recommendation of state education officials who urged him to suspend six of the nine members of the board, the turmoil at the state’s third-largest school district offers frustrated politicians an angle to push for changes at other local school boards.
Deal, who has been somewhat reluctant to interfere in county politics, said he views struggling local school boards as a statewide concern when education woes threaten a community’s business reputation. And he has groused about how local school systems could lose their accreditation because of governance issues rather than lagging academic progress.
“That is pretty much the only mechanism that is in place now,” Deal told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But there have been discussions about whether or not additional or broader legislation might be needed to address it in a more comprehensive fashion.”
Some threads of a broader possible “school governance” overhaul are already working their way through the Gold Dome. But far broader changes will likely be up for consideration next year, as lawmakers debate the role of accrediting agencies and new ways to give parents a greater say in the leadership of their schools.
“It’s not something we can snap our fingers and fix,” said House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta. “We’re beginning the process of demanding more of our school boards.”
One possibility making the rounds could involve finding a new accrediting agency, though many legislators are reluctant to create a new state body to do so.
Opponents of a broader overhaul say that more state oversight over local issues won’t necessarily result in better education. And the Georgia Federation of Teachers said some changes could clear the way for new charter schools that could hand control of “neighborhood public schools to organizations that would undermine and privatize our schools.”
Several proposals under consideration now could offer a preview of more expansive proposals likely ahead:
- House Bill 327, introduced this month with bipartisan backing, would place all school districts in three categories based on a state performance index. Struggling school districts would be placed under increased scrutiny while more successful systems would have more flexibility to pursue programs "unfettered by state oversight."
- Another measure, House Bill 115, would allow the state Board of Education to conduct closed-door deliberations on the fate of troubled school boards and let the governor remove only local school board members who were in office at the time an accrediting agency sanctioned a school rather than the entire board. Senate leaders have already vowed to make changes to the proposal to encourage more transparency.
- A plan that would allow a majority of parents or faculty at a traditional public school to vote to demand that local education officials consider their petition to convert their school into a charter school. House Bill 123, the so-called parent-trigger bill, has already cleared a key education committee and could soon get a vote on the House floor.
DeKalb offers a timely case study for lawmakers hungry for a more sweeping overhaul. The district is in the midst of a shake-up after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put the system on probation in December. The agency determined that the school board mismanaged its finances, abused powers and engaged in nepotism even as academic performance languished.
County Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson announced earlier this month that she would step down, and Eugene Walker resigned last week as the board’s chairman. Michael Thurmond, a former Georgia labor commissioner, has been named interim superintendent, but some parents and local leaders say the changes are too little too late.
“It is a very serious thing to remove an elected official from office. But my constituents have been virtually unanimous in voicing their opinion to me. They have lost trust in the [board] and want them removed. I agree,” said Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb, who represents a swath of DeKalb. “The stakes are just too high to leave this board in place.”
The district is just the latest of school districts from metro Atlanta to rural South Georgia that have faced accreditation woes in recent years. But DeKalb’s troubles could add a sense of urgency.
“DeKalb, unfortunately, is an example of what can happen when a school system is not managed appropriately,” said state Rep. Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek. “The state is ultimately responsible for that education. And if that rankles feathers, so be it.”
The governor has powers to intervene under a law passed after a similar crisis in Clayton County, which became the first school district in nearly 40 years to lose its accreditation. That law gives Deal the power to suspend and replace school board members when a district is at risk of losing accreditation over governance issues.
That authority is now in the cross hairs of attorneys for the DeKalb school board who filed a lawsuit claiming the law was unconstitutional. A judge will consider the request later this week, and the ruling could decide whether Deal can legally oust board members.
For Deal, intervening in a local matter poses risks that he could be branded as a meddler. He’s been reluctant to interfere with some local controversies, such as his decision in January against suspending Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill, who was elected to office despite facing dozens of felony charges.
Yet the specter of a failing DeKalb school system could compel him into action. Already, hundreds of DeKalb residents have signed online petitions urging the governor to replace the board with new members, and local politicians worry about the long-term effects of the board’s dysfunction.
Deal, for his part, said the education crisis has an impact far beyond DeKalb’s borders — especially if it threatens to dent metro Atlanta’s credentials for economic development.
“When these kinds of things happen, it has an effect far beyond the school system,” Deal told the AJC. “It begins to affect whether or not businesses come to the community.”
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