These people and issues will change and shape education in Georgia and metro Atlanta in 2016 and 2017. They range from looming state political fights to the actions local leaders are taking. Here are events and leaders that will shape how much money schools will get, who could run them, and how Georgia children will be educated.
Gov. Nathan Deal proposes a statewide school district to take over chronically failing schools
There will be a vote on constitutional amendment 1 on Nov. 7 on Gov. Nathan Deal's proposal to let the state take over chronically failing schools. This issue has attracted a lot of passion as those on both sides argue about how best to address the issue of helping children for whom education may be the one door out of poverty, failure and the "prison pipeline."
Deal says failing schools are now a generational problem and local districts have already taken to long to fix this serious problem. It’s time for action.
Those opposing it argue there are better ways than starting another level of state bureaucracy, and system that takes control of local schools and local taxes.
The statewide district could run the schools, run them in collaboration with the local district, convert them into charter schools or shut them down.
Deal has targeted education reform as a key item for this year’s legislative session, and this looming political fight is already attracting money from out of state.
Gov. Nathan Deal’s other education reforms
Gov. Nathan Deal wants to reform Georgia’s education system, including how the state doles out taxpayers money to local school districts, helping charter schools flourish, increase early learning and teacher retention and pay.
The big ask will be changing state funding. Education spending is a massive slice of the state budget, and the funding formula dates from the 1980s. But whenever leaders begin reassigning money, people get nervous and often fight against change.
Deal appointed a panel of state and local expert and politicians to recommend changes in 2015, but their recommendations were put on the back burner during the General Assembly’s 2016 session.
The governor told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he doesn’t plan to scale back his education agenda in 2017.
At the same time, he may find some resistance in the General Assembly as he braces for the fallout over his vetoes of two measures that passed the Legislature this year, a campus gun-carry law and a “religious liberty” law.
The new president and education
President Barack Obama put in place an active federal Department of Education, led first by Arne Duncan and then by John King.
At a convention of education journalists in Boston in April, Ted Mitchell, the undersecretary for education, joked that he was counting down the number of days left in the Obama administration, but he wasn’t going to sit on his hands and do nothing while waiting for the end to come.
The next month, the Obama administration sent letters to schools directing them to let transgender students use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. That has sparked a public outcry and lawsuits by states contesting the directions.
The federal course could change with a new president. But the direction won’t be known until after January when the new president begins appointing bureaucrats. Both presidential candidates have picked former governors as running mates that both have some experience on the state level in reforming education.
Atlanta’s grand experiment
Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Meria Carstarphen proposed dramatic changes in an effort to improve some of the city's worst schools this year. It's an effort to force rapid improvement in schools, and is being done in part to avoid Gov. Deal's proposed state takeover.
She is closing one school, merging four others and putting five others under the management of charter school groups.
“We’ve been moving really fast on behalf of children who really need us to get this right,” Carstarphen said initially.
If it works, farming out schools as a way of management could be notable for public education. It’s something of a gamble for Carstarphen, who was recruited to Atlanta to bring change to a school system with troubles that have bogged down many urban systems, including the typical problems that plague poor students and a past teacher and administrator cheating scandal.
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