Board Members Want Raise

In northeast Georgia, Oconee County school board members want a raise. Board members voted Monday to increase their compensation from $1,800 to $6,000 a year, the first raise since 1999. The raise would put the board members in the northeast Georgia county on par with pay in school districts such as Forsyth County, which is often compared to Oconee in size and income. Board members say the district has enough money to afford the pay boost. The raises would have to be approved by state lawmakers.

(Associated Press)

School Board Approves Class Size Increase

The state's public schools can add more students to their classes under a measure passed by the state school board today. The board unanimously passed a temporary one-year boost to the state-mandated class size limit. The move is designed to help Georgia's 180 school districts save up to $200-million on the cost for hiring new teachers, given declining state funding.

The statewide waiver will add two students to most classes up through eighth grade for the 2009-10 school year. It does not apply to special education, English as a second language, fine arts and foreign language classrooms. The number of students in core high school classes will not change--remaining at 32 students.

The school Board today also approved Gwinnett County as the first district in Georgia to take advantage of "flexibility contracts". The move allows the largest district in Georgia to operate free of most state education laws and implement new methods for improving student achievement.

Muscogee County School Board votes on version of Bible for schools

Muscogee County School Board (Dave Bender)

Muscogee County's School Board voted Monday to use the King James version of the Bible in two elective course teaching the Bible as history and literature for high school students in the fall.

Muscogee's eleventh and twelfth-graders will also use "The Bible and Its Influence" as a secondary text in the courses, covering the Old Testament and New Testament eras. The courses will only be taught if 15 or more students request them.

Board member Dr. Peggy Connell, chief academic officer for Muscogee County says the issue of whether or not to teach the sacred texts wasn't the controversy, but rather which version of them: “There's not any controversy about that. This was passed by Georgia legislators last year, and the state board has approved the curriculum.”

But there were dissenting voices. Rabbi Tom Friedman of Temple Israel in Columbus told the board that teaching the Bible as history was liable to be a minefield of contesting interpretations of even basis concepts. He called for proper oversight of the curriculum.

Friedmann addressing the board.
(Dave Bender)

"The teaching of the Old and the New Testament periods objectively is very difficult and an requires an extensive amount of training, and a great deal of an academic background. Both courses can be taught objectively – with the proper input,” Friedmann told the board.

Muscogee County is one of the first major school districts statewide to adopt the plan, voted in, in the 2006 legislature to allow state-funded courses on the Bible in public schools.