Time Runs Short to Boost Transparency, Parental Roles in Statewide School Plan

Gov. Nathan Deal’s  proposal to create a statewide Opportunity School District (OSD) to take over persistently low-performing schools could pass out of the Georgia house and sent for the governor’s signature as soon as this week.

This train needs to slow down to give lawmakers time to add better provisions for transparency, accountability and parental involvement to make the plan better fit students’ needs.

Monday members of the House Education Committee approved Senate Bill 133 as well as Senate Resolution 287, which contains the constitutional amendment that gives the state the authority to assume control of local schools. Both bills are set for a full House vote. If approved, voters get final say on the proposed constitutional amendment election day November 2016. Lawmakers started tinkering with SB 133 almost as soon as it was introduced. The bill now outlines overarching strategies OSD schools must use to address discipline issues and identify and respond to students’ instructional needs. It allows waivers from state regulation for schools eligible or likely candidates for takeover by the opportunity district to give flexibility to design and implement innovative reforms. Changes also increased opportunity district disclosure requirements.

Yet the concerns we outlined in our analysis of SB 133 earlier this month persist. This approach to improving schools is modeled on efforts in Louisiana and Tennessee. Policymakers, philanthropists and the media are intrigued by these efforts. But results from these two states are uneven and it is unclear what the most influential reasons are for changed student test scores. Possibilities include increased funding, better facilities, different teacher workforce, charters or parental choice.

Georgia lawmakers can still take time to heed the recommendations in our earlier analysis:

Restrict the number of schools taken over by the opportunity district in its first five years to fewer than the 20 schools-per-year threshold currently proposed

• Design, fund and implement a rigorous analysis of the effects of the reform
• Increase transparency
• Require the OSD to publish findings of the evaluations of qualifying schools selected for takeover
• Include key information on students (e.g. student suspension and transfer rates), teachers (e.g. teacher turnover, experience), and leaders (e.g. turnover, training) in the OSD superintendent’s annual report to the General Assembly

Give parents a greater voice

•  If a majority of local parents disagree with the OSD superintendent’s selected intervention, allow an appeal to the state board of education
• Require governing boards of charters to reserve a seat for a parent

The State Charter School Commission should also publicly report its selection criteria for each charter or education management organization selected when takeover schools are converted to charters.

Lawmakers seem poised to choose this path in hopes of giving many Georgia’s students a better chance at success.  They can still better align it with needs of students and parents and add in a rigorous evaluation mechanism. It is important not to miss this opportunity to make this experiment part of a more comprehensive examination of ways to assess  and improve teaching and learning in schools across the state.