Charter and IE2 school systems are given freedom from some state rules and regulations that apply to other public schools, but have different management setups. With charters, more decisions are made at the individual school level. IE2 systems are more like traditional school systems, run by a central office.
What is an IE² system?
•Performance-based contract between the local board, state board of education and Governor’s Office of Student Achievement
•Flexibility to innovate in exchange for increased academic accountability
•May result in loss of governance over schools that fail to meet targets
What is a Charter system?
•Performance-based contract between local board and state board of education
•Commitment to higher performance goals in exchange for flexibility
•Expanded culture of school-based decision-making in exchange for increased accountability
Source: Cobb County school system
Decreasing the size of classes. Hiring more teachers. Beefing up the use of iPads and other technology to teach students. Giving parents greater control in choosing school administrators and teachers.
These are just some of the practices educators and parents in Cobb County say they’re looking for as Georgia’s second-largest school system determines whether to seek more flexibility from state regulations and greater control at the local school level in exchange for increased accountability.
Paying for what parents and educators want, however, is likely to prove difficult as districts across the state continue to grapple with budget cuts and deep deficits.
Over the past several weeks, Cobb education leaders have held a series of public meetings on whether the school district should transition to a charter system or an Investing in Educational Excellence system (IE2) or retain the status quo.
The GOP-controlled General Assembly has encouraged school systems for years to look at moving from the traditional school model. Now Georgia’s school systems must determine by June 2015 if they want one of the more flexible options. Larger metro Atlanta districts have already begun making their decision, so that any significant changes can be phased in gradually.
“It doesn’t matter what (kind of) system we choose if we’re not going to fully fund education,” said Melanie Heineman, a parent with two children in Cobb County schools, who attended a Dec. 5 public meeting at Lassiter High School. “That (funding) affects every single idea that was brought up … It just comes back to the funding.”
So far, 22 of the 180 local boards of education in Georgia have chosen one of the options, according to state Department of Education officials. There are 19 approved charter systems, including Fulton County. Three school districts — Rabun County, Forsyth County and Gwinnett County — chose IE2.
Charter and IE2 school systems are given freedom from some state rules and regulations that apply to other public schools, but each has a different management setup. With charters, decisions are generally made at the individual school level. IE2 systems are more like traditional school systems, operated by a central office.
Howard Hendley, policy division director with the state DOE, said school districts are facing funding cuts between 12 and 16 percent this fiscal year and feel uncertain about whether they can meet the needs of students under a new system.
“Will it (funding) be better next year or worse? There’s just that uncertainty,” Hendley said. “I think there’s just some fears in the districts about obligating too much for fear of lack of funds. That’s pretty much what I hear.”
“It’s this whole thing of trying to do more with less,” he added.” There’s a certain trepidation I think regarding that … They don’t want to over-obligate for fear they may not have enough funds to fulfill their obligation.”
Hendley said school districts are also waiting to see if state lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session will present other options, which could include adding a system of charter clusters.
Cobb, which has close to 110,000 students and 112 schools, is forecasting a nearly $79 million deficit for the upcoming budget.
Amy Krause, chief academic officer for Cobb County schools, estimated close to 1,000 people have attended the four community meetings. She said several people have raised concerns about finding additional revenue sources to fill in funding gaps.
Based on the input from the meetings and additional data, Cobb’s school board is expected to choose one of the options this spring, Krause said.
“We’d like to go ahead and declare,” she said. “We want to be able to phase it in. So that’s part of the reason why we want to make a decision early. We want to work with our schools. We want to phase it in over a process.”
Trenton Arnold, a regional superintendent for DeKalb’s school system, said that district has established a 50-member committee of local educators, business leaders, parents and others to study system options and present its findings to the superintendent in March.
Known as the Flexibility Advisory Committee, the group was scheduled to hold its first meeting on Dec. 13, Arnold said. The district is expected to notify the state DOE of its decision by this spring.
A spokeswoman with the Atlanta Public School system did not respond when asked by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for information on how it intends to choose its system model.
As for Cobb County, Denise Cortez, a teacher at Blackwell Elementary who also has three children in Cobb schools, said she’s not sure what option the district should go with. But like other parents, she’d like to see more teachers and smaller class sizes – which she thinks can help keep bullying in check.
“You can catch it more,” Cortez said. “You can have more of a family-style classroom if they’re smaller class sizes. To me, teachers need to develop that relationship with a child so they (students) can tell them things that are going on at home that shouldn’t be — or anywhere in the community.
“They need someone they can trust. And that’s not going to happen when you have 27 to 30 5th graders in a room.”
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