UPDATED
Georgia voters soundly defeated a measure sought by Gov. Nathan Deal to change the state constitution to create a special district to take over low-performing schools.
Unofficial election results from Georgia鈥檚 secretary of state on Wednesday showed that, with all precincts reporting, the measure to create a so-called Opportunity School District was defeated, with 60 percent of voters rejecting it, and 40 percent voting in favor.
The Opportunity School District was expected to be a signature piece of education policy for Deal.
He had framed the district鈥檚 creation in personal terms, arguing that it was the state鈥檚 鈥渕oral鈥� duty to rescue some 68,000 or so students who attend schools that were among the lowest-performing for three consecutive years, and to provide those students with better education options.
The measure鈥檚 defeat was foreshadowed in a poll the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published on Oct. 21, which showed that Thirty-four percent were in favor, and 8 percent were undecided. (The paper, for its part, has been assiduously covering every twist and turn in this debate for nearly a year.)
through early November by groups both for and against the measure, the AJC also reported this month.
An unlikely, but formidable, coalition of teachers鈥� unions, school boards, district administrators, the state PTA , and some conservative Republicans strongly opposed the measure. But, illustrating how fraught backed Gov. Deal. The governor鈥檚 allies also included Democrats and Republicans, as well as national education reform groups such as 50CAN.
The Opportunity District was modeled in part on Louisiana鈥檚 Recovery School District and Tennessee鈥檚 Achievement School District.
However, two things had to fall into place before Georgia could follow Louisiana鈥檚 and Tennessee鈥檚 lead. The legislature had to pass a bill to create the new statewide district. And Georgia had to amend its constitution to create the district, precipitating the need for the ballot question.
The district would have been run by a superintendent who would have reported only to the governor. Up to 20 schools would have been selected annually. 69传媒 would have been subjected to a number of interventions, including closure, charter conversion, or collaboration with the local district to improve them.
While the law required the superintendent to hold community meetings and get feedback from parents and the community on what was best for targeted schools, the final decision about what schools to include in the district and the interventions they would get would have been left to the sole discretion of the superintendent.
Proponents argued the takeover was a temporary鈥攂ut necessary鈥攎easure to provide a better education for students who languish too long in failing schools. They also argued that it would give parents and communities a greater voice in how schools would be run.
Opponents, however, argued that the proposal was an attempt to wrest local control and tax dollars from districts. Some educators, including DeKalb County superintendent Stephen Green and Valarie Wilson of the Georgia School Boards Association, told Education Week last month that districts were already working to turn around chronically low-performing schools, and some had started new programs, including principal support, wraparound services, and teacher-training, in some of those schools. The ballot question鈥檚 language was
Will the rejection of Georgia鈥檚 proposal deter other states from considering this kind of turnaround approach?
Probably not. Georgia&dmash;with the additional layer of the constitutional amendment鈥攎ight just be a special case, Nelson Smith, a senior adviser to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, told us last month as the debate heated up in the Peach State.
鈥淚 do think the fact that [Georgia] requires a constitutional referendum may make it an outlier, and reduce the impact that it might have on other states, because states can go a long way toward doing this administratively or through simple statutes, without having to go through the kind of protracted debates that Georgia is going through,鈥� Smith said.
The Georgia effort had to cross two hurdles.
鈥淚t basically requires two political debates鈥攐ne about the legislation itself, and then the second about the constitutional measure, the referendum,鈥� Nelson said at the time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 before the public for a long time. And, in a sense, that鈥檚 very healthy鈥攊t lets everybody get their views on the table. But it does make it a more pointed political issue.鈥�