Georgia State Intervention in
Failing Public Schools Amendment (2016) From Ballotpedia
The Georgia State Intervention in Failing Public
Schools Amendment is on the November
8, 2016 ballot in Georgia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The measure, upon voter approval,
would empower the state "to assume the supervision, management, and
operation of public elementary and secondary schools which have been determined
to be failing through any governance model allowed by law."[1]
Approval of the
amendment by voters would trigger the implementation of Senate Bill 133. SB 133 would provide for three governance models of
schools under an "Opportunity School District" (OSD) agency. The
three models would be (1) direct management by the OSD, (2) shared governance
between the OSD and local board of education and (3) transformation of the
school into a charter school. The OSD would also have the power to
close schools as the “intervention of last resort.”[2]
The Athens Banner-Herald said the
amendment is modeled after the Recovery School District in Louisiana.[3]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed
ballot title is:[1]
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“
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Shall the Constitution of Georgia
be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public
schools in order to improve student performance?
( ) Yes
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”
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Constitutional changes
The proposed
amendment would add a Paragraph VIII to the end of Section
5 of Article VIII of the Georgia Constitution. The following text would be added by
the proposed measure's approval:[1]
Paragraph VIII. Opportunity
School District. Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph II of this
section, the General Assembly may provide by general law for the creation of an
Opportunity School District and authorize the state to assume the supervision,
management, and operation of public elementary and secondary schools which have
been determined to be failing through any governance model allowed by law. Such
authorization shall include the power to receive, control, and expend state,
federal, and local funds appropriated for schools under the current or prior
supervision, management, or operation of the Opportunity School District, all
in the manner provided by and in accordance with general law.[4]
Senate Bill 133
(SB 133) is an act dependent upon voter approval of the Georgia State
Intervention in Failing Public Schools Amendment. The act will go into effect
on January 1, 2017, if voters approve the amendment, or will be repealed on
January 1, 2017, if voters defeat the amendment.[2]
Since the
proposed constitutional amendment would allow the state to govern failing
schools "through any governance model allowed by law," SB 133 was
designed to provide three different governance models. The models would be
housed under the authority of an "Opportunity School District" (OSD)
agency. The Georgia Governor would appoint a superintendent to head
the OSD agency, and the superintendent would report directly to the governor.
The OSD
superintendent would be authorized to waive State Board of Education rules,
regulations, policies, procedures and provisions for OSD schools, but not
federal, state or local government rules or court orders. The OSD would be able
to select, approve or remove the OSD schools' principals, transfer teachers,
control the schools' budgets and modify education content.[5]
The OSD would
be authorized to add 20 schools to the OSD program in any single school year
and would have no more than 100 schools under its supervision at any given
time. The selection of schools to be added to the OSD program would be based on
"an analysis of performance over the three-year period with emphasis on
student growth and progress and other considerations."[2]
The following
four intervention plans, the first three of which may be classified as
governance models, would be allowed:[2]
·
Direct management of the school by the OSD.
·
Shared government of the school by the OSD and the local
board of education pursuant to a contract in which the board of education
operates the school and the OSD superintendent has the power to direct changes
to be made at the school.
·
Transformation of the school into an OSD charter school
in which the OSD agency works with the State Charter Schools Commission to
establish the school as a charter school.
·
Closure of the school if the school is not enrolled at
full capacity. This would be the "intervention of last resort."
The OSD
superintendent would implement a process for gaining community feedback to
inform his or her decision regarding the most appropriate intervention model
for a particular school.
Senate Bill Resolution 828
Georgia State
Senator Vincent Fort (D-39) has introduced Senate Bill
Resolution 828, which calls for a revision of the ballot question to read as
follows:
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“
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Shall the Constitution of Georgia
be amended to allow an appointee of the Governor to take over local school
operation, buildings, and control of all federal, state, and local funding if
a school has low scores on standardized tests or for any other reason a
future legislature may allow?[4]
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”
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Fort, when
discussing the use of the phrase "to intervene" in the measure, said
"The public ought to at least have truthful language when they go to the
ballot this November." Fort has introduced Senate Resolution 828 in order
to use the words "take over" and "to control" instead.[6]
Other officials
supporting the measure include:
Organizations
Arguments
Gov. Nathan
Deal was described
by the Atlanta Journal Constitution
as seeing the amendment as "his signature education legislation and his
legacy to Georgia’s student." Gov. Deal contends:
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While Georgia boasts many schools
that achieve academic excellence every year, we still have too many schools
where students have little hope of attaining the skills they need to succeed
in the workforce or in higher education.
We have a moral duty to do
everything we can to help these children. Failing schools keep the cycle of
poverty spinning from one generation to the next.
Education provides the only chance
for breaking that cycle. When we talk about helping failing schools, we’re
talking about rescuing children.
I stand firm on the principle that
every child can learn, and I stand equally firm in the belief that the status
quo isn’t working.[4]
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Opposition to this Amendment
Opponents
·
Valarie Wilson, executive director of the Georgia School
Boards Association
Organizations
·
Georgia Parent‑Teacher Association
Arguments
Rev. Frank
Brown, president of
Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, and Verdaillia Turner,
president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers, deemed the amendment
"hype," saying, "Our kids deserve a great, high-quality public
education that is based on proven strategies, not hype." The pair
elaborated:
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Gov. Nathan Deal is promoting
legislation to create a so-called Opportunity School District that would turn
over control of struggling schools to the state or to private companies that
operate charter schools. Deal is basing his design on other state takeovers,
especially Louisiana’s takeover of New Orleans schools...
The only thing that is trapping
kids in low-performing schools is a resistance to using proven programs that
will help turn around schools and give all kids a great, high-quality public
education. Let’s fix struggling schools with proven programs, not close them,
farm them out or privatize them.
Let’s look at New Orleans, the
highly touted supposed miracle on the Gulf on which Deal’s proposal is based.
Practically every public school there has become a charter school since
Hurricane Katrina.
Here are the facts. No doubt about
it, New Orleans public schools were struggling before Hurricane Katrina, but
the main reason is that they were starved for resources. Yet, research has
found that test scores for New Orleans public schools were rising before
Katrina hit. Today, after the drastic privatization changes, student achievement
in New Orleans schools continues to be near the bottom of all the parishes in
the state of Louisiana...[4]
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The two went on
to offer a few alternative solutions:
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Failed policies won’t fix our
schools. There is a better way.
Take New York City. Years ago, the
teachers union worked closely with the school district to create the
Chancellor’s District, an initiative focused on the lowest-performing
schools. Through reduced class sizes, increased instructional time,
after-school programs, professional development for teachers and other
supports, the Chancellor’s District was able to significantly improve student
outcomes.
Sadly, this innovative and
successful model was disbanded when Mayor Michael Bloomberg came into office.
His strategy of mass school closures, turning to charters and a fixation on
testing failed to improve the public schools.
In Austin, Texas, Reagan Early
College High School was slated for closure, but educators, parents and other
community members fought back. The school became a community school, offering
not just wraparound services for its low-income students but college-level
courses that enable students to graduate with scores of college credits.
Since 2008, Reagan’s graduate rate has soared from 48 percent to 85 percent.
In Cincinnati, every school was
turned into a community school, providing students with access to strong
academics and programs and services addressing kids’ health, social and
emotional needs. Cincinnati is now the highest-performing urban school
district in Ohio.
Let’s do what works, not what
“sounds” good. We can do it if lawmakers are willing to show some fortitude,
grit and backbone to stand up for our kids’ best interest.[4]
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Other arguments
against the amendment include:
·
Philip Lanoue, superintendent of Clarke
County School District, argued, "Educators, school boards and local school
communities have the ultimate responsibility for providing engaging learning
environments that ensure all students achieve. To change the Georgia
Constitution to take away that responsibility will fragment communities across
the state, and sets a very dangerous precedent for future decisions in
educating all Georgia students."[3]
·
Sid Chapman, president of the Georgia Association of
Educators, referring to the possibility of the OSD transforming a school into a
charter school, said, "These schools belong to each community. They do not
belong to outside entities that want to come in and make a profit off of
them."[9]
·
Valarie Wilson, executive director of the Georgia School
Boards Association, has called the debate over the measure "a war...being
waged for our children, for our state," and stated that the number of
schools that qualify as failing represent only four percent of schools in the
state, making it a relatively narrow problem that might not be worth a change
the constitution to fix.[7]
Path to the ballot
A two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Georgia Legislature is required to refer this amendment to
the ballot. Georgia is one of 16 states that require a two-thirds supermajority.
The Georgia Senate approved the amendment on March 5, 2015, with 38
senators voting yea and 15 voting nay.[1] On March 25, 2015, the Georgia
House of Representatives narrowly approved in a 121 to 47 vote.[10]
https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia_State_Intervention_in_Failing_Public_Schools_Amendment_(2016)
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