Deeper coverage
To see more about the fact-finding trip to New Orleans and how it applies to Gov. Nathan Deal’s plan to take over struggling schools in Georgia, check out the Political Insider blog on ajc.com. On Monday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will examine what’s at stake for Deal and the remainder of his term as he attempts to move this plan through the General Assembly.
If Georgia lawmakers were expecting a rosy picture of splendid schools and cooperative administrators during their visit to once-failing Louisiana classrooms, they were wrong. They received a candid account of the challenges in taking over struggling schools by the district that pioneered the model more than a decade ago.
In a whirlwind trip hosted by Gov. Nathan Deal, a hand-selected group of lawmakers toured New Orleans schools reborn after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And they heard advice on how to implement the drastic new approach if it is approved: Be strategic about which schools to take over, earn buy-in from the community and start planning now to hire talent.
“How did we succeed when many efforts for state takeovers failed?” former Louisiana state Superintendent Paul Pastorek said. “Changing the captain on the Titanic is not going to change the ship. You’ve got to save the entire ship. There’s no knight on a white horse.”
Test scores have notably improved since the Recovery District took over most of the city’s public schools following Katrina, though the district still trails the state average in many academic measures. The district’s work has been less successful in other parts of Louisiana in part because officials moved too quickly, state leaders say.
The trip was part fact-finding mission and part arm-twisting effort to sway votes for Deal’s signature legislation. The proposal, framed as a constitutional amendment, needs to earn a two-thirds majority in each legislative chamber, making bipartisan support a necessity. And while Deal seems to have earned enough votes in the Senate, it could face a tougher fight in the more fractious House.
Not surprisingly, several Republicans, including House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, said the trip only reinforced their support for Deal’s proposal. A handful of Democrats, meanwhile, remained skeptical.
State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, said she found the visits “interesting” but said she had lingering questions about how the new district would be implemented statewide. State Sen. Elena Parent, D-Decatur, said she’s looking forward to changes in the legislation that seek to build community support.
“We’ve learned in even more detail how much the successes in Louisiana depend on the details and the community involvement,” she said. “I’ll be interested to see what the team offers up as changes after learning what they did here.”
Deal's proposals, laid out in Senate Bill 133 and Senate Resolution 287, would create a statewide "Opportunity School District" that gives the state the power to take control of schools deemed to be perennially failing. The state could run schools, convert them into charters or shut them down completely.
It would include power to oust principals, transfer teachers, change the curriculum and control budgets. A new superintendent would be appointed by Deal to run the schools independent of the state Department of Education, which is overseen by elected Superintendent Richard Woods.
The governor’s office estimates 141 schools would be eligible for the program — many in metro Atlanta. It would be limited to 20 schools a year, although some architects of Louisiana’s district advised lawmakers to move slowly in the early years to make sure initial takeovers are successful.
“This is not for the faint of heart,” said Leslie Jacobs, a longtime state school board member and former elected New Orleans Parish board member. “I feel like state takeover is the option of last resort. It’s disruptive. It’s controversial. And you have to make sure you know it’s going to work.”
Several leaders spoke of the importance of involving the community during the process — a lesson learned the hard way in New Orleans. Over and over again lawmakers heard how parents and community members felt the state takeover was “done to them and not with them.”
That fact was reinforced during a visit to Sci Academy, a Recovery school that was recently the focus of protests by community activists worried about high expulsion rates.
“There’s still a lot of resentment in New Orleans,” said Bill Rouselle, an education activist. “People have to feel like they’re part of the process. It’s important to make it a true community effort, and I think you have the time to do that.”
Woods, Georgia’s state superintendent, has not taken a stance on the proposal. He said he still wants to examine how a similar model is playing out in Tennessee before deciding whether he will commit his support. He also pledged that the state Department of Education would probe how it currently addresses failing schools — and whether more can be done without a change in state law.
“It’s given me a challenge to look at the schools under the jurisdiction of the DOE and how we can improve,” he said. “Whatever happens, we’ve got to do better.”
About the Author
