In education, Georgia often seeks easy solutions to hard problems. Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposal to empower the state to take over failing schools is one of them.
The proposal – which Deal intends to pursue with the Legislature this year – is patterned after the recovery school district model in New Orleans, put in place after a hurricane leveled the city.
Georgia is not post-Katrina New Orleans. Underperforming schools in rural Georgia will not see the outpouring of donations New Orleans inspired. Hundreds of young idealists flocked to New Orleans to help resurrect the city. I’m not sure we can lure similar young, bright idealists to rural Georgia. Even a decimated New Orleans offered young educators a more exciting social setting than many small Georgia towns can provide.
The biggest problem with Deal’s plan is there is no evidence the state can run schools any better than the locals.
I’m always baffled by local-control advocates — which the governor professes to be — who selectively cheer expansions of state power. The state can barely handle its current responsibilities. Remember last year’s ice storm? How about our highways and rural hospitals? And anybody have a teen getting a driver’s license and tried to book an appointment?
Deal is right in his rationale: Children should not be condemned to failing schools. But the state can’t improve academics simply by taking over schools or handing them to private operators.
Many failing schools are in failing communities with high crime rates and low employment. Failing schools should not be accepted as an inevitable consequence of poverty. Much can be done to improve them, especially funding them fully. That’s where Deal ought to start.
The state has a funding formula – the Quality Basic Education Act – that determines how much money schools earn based on the number of students, class size and teacher salaries. The state has always treated the QBE formula as a suggestion rather than a commitment.
Since 2003, the state austerity cuts to schools have equaled $7.6 billion. In response to a survey by the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, 85 percent of participating districts said they raised class size this year to deal with cuts; 33 percent reduced the school year, and 84 percent employed fewer teachers than they did in 2009.
State slashes to schools exceeded $1 billion dollars this year. At a media forum on education, GBPI senior education budget analyst Claire Suggs mentioned she recently visited Cobb County’s Walton High School. That high school alone lost $1.5 million this year due to state cuts, she said.
Many people condemn public schools without considering the larger trends that impede student learning. And one of those trends should be scaring us to death. More and more of Georgia’s children are poor.
As Dana Rickman, director of policy and research for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, says, “Not only do we have more children in poverty, we are growing exponentially in terms of the rest of the nation.”
Two years ago, Indiana turned five chronically failing schools over to independent management companies that were supposed to turn them around. All five schools are still failing. And some of the companies running the schools say they can’t improve performance without more money.
The research on successful state takeovers shows the critical components were bringing in additional resources and expertise. Even then, the research finds that while state takeovers often improve a school district’s central office functions, they don’t improve academics very much.
After Katrina, the philanthropic dollars and federal aid that flowed into New Orleans boosted per pupil spending to $15,000, said Suggs. On average, Georgia spends $8,900 per student, according to DOE.
“You cannot separate what happened in Louisiana from the money they put into it,” said Suggs, “Money is a game changer. It makes things possible. Yes, you have to use it effectively. But the increase in funding is something that should not be overlooked in talking about the recovery district in New Orleans. What would happen if Georgia put $12,000 or $15,000 into every kid in every school?”
