School Board Redesign in Georgia

A state commission on school board reform released their recommendations earlier this month (see here for the original report and task force presentations, courtesy of the Metro Atlanta Chamber ). The AJC characterized the recommendations as "the right path" (see original article here) and I generally agree with that assessment. The recommendations cut the heart of Board make-up, governance and – of course – training. I'm pleased to see that training isn't the only solution presented because there are much more difficult systemic issues that must also be addressed. Most of the recommendations do require legislative action, so we can look forward to a lot of good debate about this over the next few months.

In their response to the Commission, the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) correctly notes that "in Georgia, there are far more success stories than failures." But, in the face of the recent Clayton County debacle (see here (AJC), here (EdWeek) and here (CCPS)), it's hard to argue that the current system is working for everyone.

Here is a summary of the recommendations (again from the AJC). While everyone will be focused on numbers 1, 4 and 6, which address governance issues, I think the tough work will be on ethics (#3) and performance reviews (#8) because they require follow-through and monitoring. It's easy to make a rule, it's hard to implement it.

1. Change state law to allow the state board of education to place troubled school districts in receivership. This would include schools not performing academically, struggling with accreditation problems, financial mismanagement or abuse of power.
   
2. Mandate stricter qualifications for school board members, including criminal background checks and drug screens by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
   
3. Implement a statewide code of ethics and conflict-of-interest guidelines for school board members.
   
4. Prohibit school board members from being paid. Reimburse expenses only.
   
5. Prohibit employees of any public or private K-12 school system in Georgia from serving on a board of education.
   
6. Legislate the size of school boards to be 5 to 7 members.
   
7. Change all school board elections to non-partisan during the general election in November.
   
8. Require school boards to have a strategic plan for timely performance reviews.
   
9. Add more board training and an orientation by the state board of education