Fulton County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney can stay with the district at least until Nov. 9, 2026. The school board unanimously approved a one-year extension of Looney’s contract at a meeting Thursday.
His new contract projects a seven-year tenure, which is rare for a superintendent in a large metro Atlanta school district. State data shows the average district superintendent tenure in Georgia is 2.8 years. Nationally, the average tenure for superintendents in big urban school districts is 3.2 years.
Fulton school board President Kimberly Dove praised Looney’s use of COVID-related federal funds to provide supports for learning loss and literacy instruction. She pointed out that the high school graduation rate in Fulton, Georgia’s fourth-largest school district, increased to 90.3% under Looney.
“You have been fiscally responsible, improved teacher recruitment and retention, and helped operate a high-functioning governance team centered on students,” Dove said.
Looney responded by saying he’s an extension of district employees and said he’s proud of their work.
“We still have a long ways to go,” Looney said. “But we’re on the right path and we’re in a united position to move forward.”
Looney became Fulton’s superintendent in June of 2019 after the board conducted a national superintendent search. State law caps the length of district superintendent contracts at three years. Local boards of education can vote on one- or two-year extensions.
The school board initially extended Looney’s contract by a year in October of 2020, shortly after the pandemic began. Board members continued to offer him one-year extensions in November of 2021 and October of 2022.
Superintendent searches have been more frequent in nearby school districts.
Atlanta Public Schools is in the process of finding a new leader since the board decided not to extend former Superintendent Lisa Herring’s contract in June. It went through a similar situation with former schools chief Meria Carstarphen in 2019. The DeKalb County School District also experienced leadership turnover when board members voted to end former Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris’ contract in the spring of 2022 after less than two years on the job. The DeKalb board recently offered current Superintendent Devon Horton a two-year contract.
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