DeKalb County School District officials have changed course on the type of governance setup they’re choosing for the school system.
They will ask to become a strategic waiver system, an about-face after months of research into seeking a charter district designation.
Being a strategic waiver system means the district could obtain waivers from certain state laws, rules and guidelines, but would face increased accountability by the state for increased student performance. That type of governance contract with the state was formerly known as Investing in Educational Excellence, or IE2.
All districts across the state had to submit letters of intent on their governance by June 30. Options were charter district, strategic waivers or status quo, no change.
To become a charter district, a school system pledges to increase student performance in return for freedom from mandates such as state rules on pay scales, teacher certification and in-seat time for students.
Officials said during the school board’s monthly meeting Monday that changes to the strategic waiver setup made it more attractive. Other regional school districts have expressed interest in pivoting from the charter-district model to the new strategic waiver system as well. In the Atlanta area, DeKalb and Henry counties are among 15 districts who have changed their model from charter district to strategic waiver.
“We kept our ears and eyes open,” DeKalb superintendent Steve Green said during the meeting Monday. “Some other districts were headed down that path (to charter district designation). Once the state made a change into the (Strategic Waivers) application process and the standards therein and the expectations, (other districts) told the story of how they pivoted right way.
“And we were able to pivot as well.”
Questions arose in 15 public hearings across the district about the capacity for governance on the local level in a charter district. Green said seeing others change direction also contributed to the final decision.
“The issues of equal education access and the capacity of Local School Governance Teams,” a required feature of charter systems, “to govern were at the top,” district officials said in delaying the application.
“We could get more autonomy without the added requirement of governance” in a charter district, school district spokesman Quinn Hudson said.
The district had decided to become a charter district under former Superintendent Michael Thurmond, and the decision was met with opposition from the beginning.
DeKalb met the June 30 deadline, telling the Georgia Department of Education it would become a charter district. But the school board voted to delay sending its application, which was due at the end of October.
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