The Commission on School Board Excellence wants more state involvement in local school boards. The commission was made up mostly of Atlanta and state business leaders and education experts. The group was formed this summer. The move came after the state found it had to sit idly by while the Clayton County school board’s bad management practices pushed that system into loosing accreditation.
The commission issued its’ report to the State School board today which spell out more state control. The recommendations include,
- Create and ethics code for school board members.
- Require management training to avoid micromanagement of schools.
- Limit school boards to no more than 5 or 7 members .
- Make elections non-partisan.
- Stagger 4 year terms.
- Allow the state board to intervene in mismanaged board.
The last point would require voter approval in a constitutional amendment, because Georgia’s constitution guards local control of education. The Georgia school boards association issued a statement saying it values the commission's work, but the group is weary of the details and how these recommendations would be implemented. Meanwhile the commission says it will begin writing bills to get the recommendations into law during the next legislative session. The state school board will discuss the recommendations at its meeting next month.
