Teacher groups expect payback for Opportunity School District fight

Now the governor's staff is looking into how local school districts collect more than $18 million in dues for the state's two major teacher organizations, possibly with an eye toward the 2017 General Assembly session, which opens in January.

The General Assembly, by law, allows districts to use payroll withholding to collect the dues, and that law can always be changed.

The battle for Amendment 1, which would allow the state to directly intervene in chronically low-performing schools, has been costly, bitter and at times personal. Opponents have spent big money on TV ads saying that the power-hungry state is trying to wipe out local control by "taking over" schools. Local school boards have very publicly voted to oppose the measure. Critics have characterized a contract the governor's daughter-in-law has to raise money for a fund heavily bankrolling the pro-Amendment 1 campaign as a "pay-for-play scheme to move money from the schoolhouse to Deal's house."

Deal, meanwhile, has promised closer scrutiny of local school boards, whom he accused of often doing too little to help children in poor-performing schools. Deal staffers said the governor is ready to take away local school boards' flexibility over how they use state money for teacher pay raises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month that only 40 percent of districts used the $300 million the state allocated for raises this year for permanent pay hikes.

Read more about the OSD fight, and the possible consequences for teacher groups, at myajc.com