State efforts to overhaul school oversight in wake of DeKalb crisis move slowly

As the DeKalb County School District recovers from problems that led to a steep drop in accreditation, little has come from state leaders’ endeavors to make the oversight of all school systems broader and more transparent.

Gov. Nathan Deal said he’s delaying for another year a push to expand the state’s powers to intervene in struggling districts. And the attorney general’s office said talks with the accreditation agency to lift the veil on a private investigative process that relies heavily on anonymous sources have yet to yield agreement.

The dual education-reform efforts arose after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put DeKalb, the state's third-largest school district, on probation in December 2012. Now that DeKalb's situation has improved, critics worry the broader efforts will be side-tracked.