Why did governor’s Opportunity School District fail?

Gov. Nathan Deal saw six out of 10 Georgians reject his passionate plea to allow him to take over failing schools.

Why?

Voters did not accept the governor’s insistence the best hope for failing Georgia schools rested with proposed his Opportunity School District, patterned after similar state takeover districts in New Orleans and Tennessee.

The marketing plan for Amendment 1 never seemed to coalesce. Besides Deal, few big GOP names got behind the Opportunity School District, perhaps payback for the governor’s veto of the religious liberties and guns-on-campus laws. Many Georgians complained about the overtly racial mailers from the pro OSD campaign.

But at the heart of the defeat was likely the public’s support of local control of their schools. They just did not believe the governor could better run their schools from Atlanta.

To read more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.

About the Author

Blank Foundation to give $6 million to sports programs in metro Atlanta schools

The foundation, in partnership with Atlanta United, the Atlanta Falcons and the PGA Tour Superstore, will provide the funding to six school districts over three years.

Effort to overhaul ‘woke’ college accreditation system raises questions. Here’s what it means.

The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized accreditors. Its desire for new ones raises questions.

Two Georgia universities joining new, controversial accreditor

Columbus State and Georgia Southern are among the 10 schools joining a new accreditation agency, the Commission for Public Higher Education.

The Latest

Credit: Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Blank Foundation to give $6 million to sports programs in metro Atlanta schools

Effort to overhaul ‘woke’ college accreditation system raises questions. Here’s what it means.

Two Georgia universities joining new, controversial accreditor

Featured

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Drugs, Tasers, restraint: Dozens die in Georgia police custody

Thirty-one deaths in Georgia occurred in the past decade as law enforcement officers used restraint methods on suspects.

POLITICALLY GEORGIA

5 takeaways from Fani Willis’ state Senate testimony

The Fulton County district attorney clashed with Republican state senators as she defended her work on a now dismissed election interference case.

Georgia loses 190,000 enrollees in first steps of 2026 ACA enrollment

Expiring pandemic-era federal subsidies are set to spike premiums for some enrollees.