Democrat Disapproves of Clayton County’s Opposition to Gov. Deal’s Education Plan
There are signs of bipartisanship in Clayton County as some Democrats are supporting Republican Gov. Nathan Deal’s education reform plan heading into the November election. After the Clayton County school board unanimously approved a symbolic resolution disavowing the Opportunity School District constitutional amendment (which will be on the ballot in November), Democratic State Rep. Valencia Stovall (who represents parts of Clayton County) sent out a press release opposing the resolution.
It is a disappointment for the Clayton County school board to pass a resolution opposing the Opportunity School District (OSD) amendment and not address the fact that 73 percent of our schools scored below a ‘C’ on the College and Career Ready Performance Index. Clayton County schools have the lowest graduation rates in metro Atlanta — lower than the state’s average. Not one of Clayton County’s elementary schools had more than 55 percent of students pass the language arts and math sections on the 2016 Georgia Milestones Assessment. Our economic viability depends upon an effective school system, but this is not what we currently have. The Clayton County school district is failing our students. I remain in support of the passage of the OSD amendment because our students cannot wait.
If approved, the Opportunity School District (OSD) amendment would allow the state to take over “failing” schools. It is one of the most ambitious education reform initiatives being pushed by Gov. Deal. Several school boards have noted their opposition, including the ones in Cherokee, Fayette, and Chatham counties. They claim it will do away with local control of education funding and planning. Several of the school boards, including Clayton County, do not have any schools that currently qualify for state takeovers. Atlanta has 22 schools that would qualify for takeover, but, as of Tuesday night, its school board has declined to take a public position on the OSD amendment.
If a majority of Georgia voters approve of it, the OSD amendment will trigger the enactment of SB 133, which you can read through here. Based on the wording of the ballot question, I would guess that it passes:
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”
About Author
Rob
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
My perception is that there are three main problems with public education here:
1. The way we choose school boards. I think this is sometimes seen as entry-level politics, or an easy way to get on the public payroll. Not sure some school board members in the metro area are committed to better education, or would know what better education was if they came across it. Perhaps we should establish some qualifying criteria for these jobs, but that would likely mean making them appointed rather than elected, which is a big change.
2. School administration. School boards select superintendents and I think principals are picked either by the board or the superintendent, but I think there are too many cases where these jobs are filled not by qualification but by connections. We should raise our standards for these jobs too so we can minimize non-qualified hires.
3. Parental involvement. I don’t think there would be any argument that parental involvement in their kids education is good and necessary for it to work. But when so many leaders express disdain for public education, or that “the government can’t do anything right”, it just makes it that much harder. There are successful public school systems all throughout the world and even plenty in the US so it can be done. Leaders need to buy into it, get the chip off their shoulders and see what others are doing that works. Tell parents they must get involved. Many will listen.
Bonus point: Special needs. I am hesitant to comment on this because I am no expert, but it’s a big issue and needs some sort of change. I think this is a federal issue though. As I understand it, ADA doesn’t let special needs kids be segregated for the main population for more than a small percentage of the day. The rest of the time they must be in a regular classroom. I believe the point is that keeping them segregated doesn’t improve their education, it just becomes babysitting. But the other side of it is that some of these kids are very disruptive to their classrooms and significantly detract from their classmates’ ability to get educated. So there needs to be a more sophisticated way to determine a productive educational path than the following (from ADA):
“Schools must afford students with disabilities with equal opportunities “to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement” as students without disabilities.”
Methods to best handle disruptive students (and in some instances parents) in general are as much an issue relative to the student body as special needs students.